Becoming a Millennial

191. More on Web 3.0

Just as you begin figuring out what Web 2.0 is all about ... talk of Web 3.0 begins to surface. 

Back in September, drawing on an eWeek article by Jim Rapoza, I posted an entry describing some rapidly developing trends that may end up being classified as "Web 3.0". 

In a December article, Is This The Birth of Web 3.0?, Julien Lecomte follows a similar line of thinking.  Lecomte describes the evolution of the web as follows:

Web 1.0 -- "the good old web of the 1990's"

Web 2.0 -- "the emergence of social media (Internet users creating most of the content), powered by mature technologies (DHTML, Ajax) on somewhat stable web browsers.

Web 3.0 -- "will lead to the blurring of that artificial wall between the web browser and the desktop"

Up until very recently there has been a clear distinction between web applications and desktop applications.  To access online information you open your browser.  For everything else you open an application installed on your computer.

But the lines are getting blurred.  Is iTunes a website or a desktop application?  Is the Office template you just chose coming from your hard drive or Microsoft's website?  Desktop applications are  beginning to seamlessly access the web for certain functions.

Soon you won't need the desktop app at all!  With Google and other developers writing fully-online versions of word processors, spreadsheets, graphic editors, 3-D modeling, language translation, and more, there won't be a need to install client software.  There might not be a need for Windows.  Just make sure you have a browser running on your machine.  And a network connection (although apparently this won't even be required all the time).

Whatever Web 3.0 turns out to be it will be here sooner than we think.

179. Web 3.0

Web 2.0 has been the topic of several of my recent postings.  The natural question is, "What's next?"  I don't know if this is what will be labeled as Web 3.0, but Jim Rapoza in eWeek Aug 27, 2007 wrote a fascinating article 5 Steps to Next-Generation Web Applications. 

He writes that new web applications are bringing us closer to the web as an operating system.  Applications that have typically been installed locally on one's computer (e.g. word processor and spreadsheet) are beginning to be provided as web applications. 

"Can't work", you say, "What happens when you aren't connected to the web?"  Emerging technologies are being developed for these applications to function off-line, as well!  You'll be able to begin a document connected to wireless in the airport ... and finish it off-line on the plane.

What happens to Microsoft and other developers who have made their millions providing costly software packages to users who will soon be able to get them inexpensively (or free!) as a web app?  Interesting days are ahead.