Boyink! - Spring Forward on the Web

For technology professionals, one of the results of the Web 2.0 explosion is a realization of the potential for ambitious, talented, and experienced people to start their own companies and create their own Web products without spending very much money. Article on DigitalWeb.com >>

If you’ve been coming to Boyink.com for any amount of time, you know that I tend to be cynical.  Or skeptical.  Or both.

Every time I read about “Web 2.0” I feel like I missed a geek party where some special Kool-aid was passed out.  I just don’t get it.  I’m not seeing how some new interface gee-gaws are fundamentally changing the web design and development world.

If the *only* differentiator for your web service is that it uses AJAX, is that enough?  Are there examples of money-making ventures out there that couldn’t have been done without any “Web 2.0” - whatever that is?

Maybe that’s it - I just don’t have enough of a good definition of “Web 2.0” to fully attribute any changes in the marketplace to it.

But having lived and worked through the first internet bubble all the 2.0 hype is raising the hair on the back of my neck.

Comments are closed, but you can read the comments other people left.

1. nate Klaiber on March 15, 2006

   Well said, I agree with you completely.

2. Frank Johnson on March 16, 2006

   Have you seen Woot (http://www.woot.com)? Reportedly worth $40M.

   From a technology standpoint, I’m not sure if you would call it Web 2.0 (I’m not sure largely because technology is not my forte), but from a philosophical standpoint, I think it has a lot of the flavor of the Web 2.0 world (commenting, blogs, community, very open about their stats, feeds, etc.). Click on the “Discuss This Product” link to get an idea of what I’m talking about.

   The What is Woot? page is well worth the visit, even if you just want a good chuckle.

   Could all this be done without Web 2.0 technology? I guess. But again, my interest in Web 2.0 is not the technology, but the environment and atmosphere that the technology may or may not have created. If you read the Wikipedia article on web 2.0, the first paragraph starts out talking about the technology but has some thoughts about how it has become a buzzword to encompass a lot more than the technology.

3. Michael Boyink (Author) on March 16, 2006

   Heh…there..see?  I didn’t know “clean URLS” were Web 2.0.  I won’t open that can of worms again….:)  But “clean URLs” are representative of one of the primary things that bothers me about Web 2.0 talk—too geek oriented / technology focused.

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