Web 2.0: New Definition of Web

Web 2.0 is no longer a buzzword or a myth. Since its emergence it has

revolutionized the way Web should be used. With the help of technologies like

JavaScript, XML, ASP.Net, PHP/Perl, My SQL, etc, it opened different avenues for

various software companies and gave the Web a different way of handling data. It

took its time to find its belonging, but now is among the hottest trends to look

out for. It's already creating a huge roar in the enterprise segment after being

a success story on the commercial and social front.

What makes it hot?



The reason why it is so widely talked and discussed is because of the huge

business opportunity it has created for enterprises and software developers. Web

has never been so interactive before: ask the young brigades about Orkut,

YouTube, or Flickr and you would know how much impact it has made on their daily

lives. Now Web is more a platform for interactivity than a static source of

information. It literally took the 'tech' out of 'technology' and made a common

platform for all of us to collaborate, share, and interact. A layman can post

his views in a Blog without having to know a single word of HTML. Now users can

not only access data but also contribute to it. This Rich Internet Architecture

for using the Web in a participatory manner has caused the corporate world to

pay so much attention to it. So much so that this year, most of the corporate

world was trying to figure out how to integrate Web 2.0 features within their

own Intranets and portals.

There are endless ways through which an enterprise can leverage the power of

Web 2.0---integrating applications in a web browser, allowing users to modify

content in real time, allowing multiple users to interact, aggregating content

from other sites into your own, hosting desktops on the Web, providing online

videos, audioblogging, webinars, blogging are just a few possibilities that come

to mind.

Key technologies



Technologies such as AJAX, Flex, Meshup, Atom, Podcast, XML, Javascripts,

RSS Feed, Wiki, P2P, and Blog form the backbone of Web 2.0. AJAX enables the

exchange of small amount of data with the server behind the scene, making the

webpage more responsive and thus avoiding the entire webpage from reloading

during a refresh. The main programming language is JavaScript wherein AJAX

functions are made and with the use of XML the data which is asynchronously

retrieved and kept are formatted. So when you log into your Gmail account, you

would notice it to be refreshed after a particular interval without actually

loading the whole page all over again, it just asynchronously checks for new

data. The biggest advantage is that this is a cross-platform technology, hence

can be used across various OSs, Computer Architectures, and Web browsers.

Mash-up is a value-added service source from a third party, which is to be

integrated into a Web application. It sources the content from a third party via

a public interface or API. Mash-ups opened up new avenues for the enterprise as

it renders interoperability and can also be used to source content from

disparate Web Services. Podcast made audio blogging a reality. It is mainly a

digital media file or collection of such files which can be distributed over the

Internet using syndication feeds for playback on portable media players and PCs.

Wiki even though existed for a long time is now an important knowledge

sharing platform. On the hardware front the emergence of Broadband and storage

becoming cheaper played a big part on the success of Web 2.0. All these have

made up what Web 2.0 is all about.

Latest developments



The big news in Web 2.0 this year was that most
major software vendors introduced Web 2.0 technologies in their current and

future products. Enterprises started leveraging this technology in many creative

ways. So things like allowing your customers who are visiting your e-commmerce

portal to interact with your staff members is now possible. Some use Podcasts,

Webinars, and Blogs as marketing tools on their sites. Some use Mash-up, RSS

Feed, and Atoms to get the right information to the right people. Many SaaS

model-based applications are now being developed to be used as a Web

application.

Second Life



A key development in the Web space is the emergence of Second life. Some big

enterprises are using an interface with Second life which allows customers to

visualize their potential purchases alongside their property. Second Life, a 3D

online digital world since its emergence has given a new dimension to human

visualization. It is mainly a 3D virtual world where users can interact with

each other through motion avatars providing advanced levels of social network

services in an environment where people interact (via their avatars) with one

another in cyber space which use metaphors of the real world minus its physical

limitations. It threw up new business opportunities for various verticals, as

enterprises can use the platform to collaborate, do research and

conceptualization, do prototyping and promote their brand, and also communicate

in a completely different manner. With enterprises focusing more and more on

collaboration and automation of all their branches, this will open a new mode of

collaboration and communication medium. Still in its initial days this will

surely become a trend to look out for and will take Web beyond Web 2.0.

Some key functionalities of Web 2.0 which help enterprises make their portal solution interactive and user friendly

The journey beyond Web 2.0



The future looks challenging and bright, with more opportunities being created

and demand coming in from various quarters for added functionalities. We are

looking toward a future where we will witness a better Web 2.0 platform with

utility of serious applications, while retaining all the power of a simple Web

delivery that a JavaScript + HTML based UI offers.

Soon we will have browser versions which will have offline support for AJAX Web

applications. We may also see some level of automated artificial intelligence

routines that manage various aspects of our digital life. It won't be a surprise

to see a Web-based calendar application that intelligently arranges the

schedules based on inputs from other's calendars minus any inputs from the user

himself.

There is lot of talk about Semantic Web, which is supposed to draw sense out of

data in a meaningful and impactful manner. Also, semantic Web developers are

releasing a new XML format, which supposedly would be the final step to the

completion of Web 3.0. All the more technology offerings like a deductive

calculator can solve arbitrary problems using the math knowledge encoded in the

Web. So we are moving toward the world where computers will be capable of

understanding information and performing tedious tasks such as finding, sharing,

and combining on the Web.

Some key technologies that will drive the future of Web are RDF (Resource

Description Framework), a simple language for expressing data models which

eventually refer to object and their relationship and OWL (Web Ontology

Language) which adds more vocabulary for describing properties and classes as

well as relationship between classes, characteristic of properties, etc.