Amazon.com at the Forefront of Web 2.0

Amazon.com has been integrating AJAX, tags, blogs, and wikis to their e-commerce website. As with their product reviews, recommendations, and lists, these tools give consumers the ability to add their knowledge and opinions to products. This post on The New Face of Amazon speaks favorably of these innovations, even if Wall St. disagrees.

What is Web 2.0?

I think I have a definition. Once upon a time, back in the days of IE5 and Netscape Navigator, I gave up on doing much of anything in the browser. It was a nightmare.

So, now, I'm working using AJAX using ruby and prototype and have become a big fan of RESTful
interfaces. All of these technologies use the basic HTTP building blocks. The HTTP error codes are useful, GET vs. POST vs. DELETE is useful. It's all useful. So reading an interview with Sir Tim Berners-Lee of "I invented the web" fame he says some interesting things:

LANINGHAM: "You know, with Web 2.0, a common explanation out there is Web 1.0 was about connecting computers and making information available; and Web 2 is about connecting people and facilitating new kinds of collaboration. Is that how you see Web 2.0?"

BERNERS-LEE: "Totally not. Web 1.0 was all about connecting people. It was an interactive space, and I think Web 2.0 is of course a piece of jargon, nobody even knows what it means. If Web 2.0 for you is blogs and wikis, then that is people to people. But that was what the Web was supposed to be all along."

"And in fact, you know, this Web 2.0, quote, it means using the standards which have been produced by all these people working on Web 1.0. It means using the document object model, it means for HTML and SCG and so on, it's using HTTP, so it's building stuff using the Web standards, plus Java script of course.

So Web 2.0 for some people it means moving some of the thinking client side so making it more immediate, but the idea of the Web as interaction between people is really what the Web is. That was what it was designed to be as a collaborative space where people can interact."

So ... really... from a technical point of view, I offer this definition of "Web 2.0":

The era when both an open source browser lives up to the web standards and Microsoft isn't screwing it up too badly so people can actually make stuff.

Rich Internet Applications - AJAX Will Dominate

There are two main camps in the Rich Internet Applications arena, Flash and AJAX. While Adobe is Flexing its muscle for universal adoption of Flash as a programming environment, I believe AJAX will win out in the end. Here's why:

1. More gradual learning curve - with AJAX libraries such as prototype and scriptaculous, only a cursory knowledge of Javascript is required. In contrast, ActionScript powers Flash.
2. Widely supported in ASP.NET, Java, Ruby/Rails, PHP Frameworks (CakePHP, Symfony, etc.).
3. Shorter browser loading times. .swf files tend to take more time to download and start.
4. No additional costs to developers (Flash Basic 8 is $399 while Flash Pro 8 is $699).

While Flash does allow you to a create phenomenal website experience, AJAX provides a sufficiently rich experience to win the battle. It's important to note that this is not zero sum game. However, the winner will dictate how we experience the web in the next 3-5 years.