Web 2.0 is not so much a defined iteration to replace what could be called Web 1.0 that is used now but instead more of a different way of utilizing the web for social networking and business. New technologies such as Asynchronous JavaScript with XML (AJAX), RSS, and XHTML are allowing web developers and network specialists to change the way people use the web and how the web can process data. Dynamic content, Flash, Shockwave, AJAX or ASP is fast becoming the standard for the World Wide Web. Using the term “Web 2.0” is merely a way to refer to these changes and new direction the web is taking.
What does all this mean for the user? Well, the user is going to start seeing web interfaces that resemble local, rich applications on their hard drive. The increases in bandwidth and the unrelenting march forward of Moore’s Law means that computing becomes more network intensive and more powerful with each passing day. Off-hand, I can think of one excellent example of how quickly processing power is gaining momentum. About 5 months ago, I was working on a project for UOP about a totally centralized enterprise computing solution utilizing nothing more than a central supercomputer and thin-clients. Not to mention, a whole lot of fiber-optics. At that time, the fastest Cray (http://www.cray.com) supercomputer was the XT4. Each XT4 cabinet had 1 teraflop of computing power. Essentially, that means that one cabinet could perform 1 trillion floating-point calculations per second. I checked again about 2 weeks ago on the Cray website and the XT5 had come out which has 7 teraflops per cabinet instead of 1.
Web 2.0 is the natural outcome of these increases in computing power and the rise of broadband. Pardon the author’s prognostication, but is it not unrealistic to see that one day all computers will be a thin-client or at least a thin-fat hybrid client with hard drives becoming a thing only computer users over 35 remember. If Moore’s Law holds true, the client may not even be a PC at all but a implant within the users skull that shows output directly to their optical and auditory nerves. Perhaps the user will control the browsing with a mere thought.
All of this may seem irrational but consider that Web 2.0 is already going to make web applications and interfaces remarkably similar to local rich client applications. Is it not reasonable to assume that eventually the differences and capabilities of the former and the latter will disappear completely? I can remember, when I was about 8, my Father said to me “640K is enough memory for anything you’re going to do Bob.” Looking back on those times now, it is almost as if they never existed. The command line has all but disappeared in the Windows systems of today. What was once essential to the functionality of the user is now just a faded memory. Now the minimum memory amount I would recommend to someone is 2 GB.
Web 2.0 is just another logical step in the direction of progress in both technology and innovation. I think that one day we will have to call the World Wide Web something different entirely and that the platform it provides will drastically change the face of human existence. Why will humans go to school when a neural-wireless interface is within their brain that allows them to access all the information known to mankind in the literal blink of an eye? Who will visit a library when upon birth they are implanted with their neural-interface device that allows them to communicate, access, collaborate, and create without even moving their arms and legs?
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