Roughly 5 years after the onset of Web 2.0 development and technology, pretty much any moderately successful website is incorporating it. Being a heavy Google products user, my life is filled with web 2.0.
Gmail was probably the first example of a web 2.0 page that I began using regularly. As discussed in class, the aspect of the gmail interface that makes it 2.0 are the server side rendering that don't require a complete refresh of the page. Occasionally I'll stumble upon a website (or more frequently, a blog) that doesn't incorporate this kind of server-side rendering, and it is incredibly annoying. We've come along way since the low baud-rate dial-ups of the early to mid 90's, and now, we've become completely impatient with sites that don't adopt the latest (and quickest) technologies.
The other Google products I regularly use are iGoogle, Google Reader, Google Talk (IM client), and Google Voice. All of these products are web apps, which means that you don't download or install software directly on to your computer. To have a rich user experience while maintaining this cloud-located software, web 2.0 is integral. It allows Google to create web apps that behave like computer-based software. Its also brilliant insofar as Google doesn't have to send out updates when it patches pieces of the software, it allows people on a wide range of internet devices to utilize the same experience (including low-powered phones), it makes collaboration a lot easier, it rids people of a need for increasing memory capacities, its automatically backed up, you can access your information anywhere you go and on any device that has an internet connection. I'm sure there are even more benefits, but as you can see, Web 2.0 is the step that allowed cloud computing to really begin to take off. I'm not sure what Web 3.0 will bring, but I will assume it will further push our computing into the cloud while further enriching the experience of interacting with our software (or webware).
Google is a one of a kind corporation. They offer almost everything. They are now developing Google Fiber. Google Fiber is a new internet service that is suspected to be 200 times faster than a normal browser.
ReplyDeleteAs remarked in this blog, technological advances in the last few decades are amazing. I remember when I was young and opening new pages would usually take a significant amount of time to download. Now with new advances like Web 2.0, you can generally access websites instantly. It seems that Google is at the forefront of every internet related advancement these days, and Web 3.0 will definitely be something to watch for.
ReplyDeleteIt amazes me the difference between 1.0 and 2.0 and Google is the perfect example of this. With all the advancements that are being made continuously within the technology field, I wonder what comes after 2.0.( I know the obvious answer is 3.0) but what will this new "3.0" entail to enrich the online experience.
ReplyDeleteGoogle does so many things right! So many other technology firms could learn from their examples; Their applications tend to run smoothly, they are always looking for input, interactivity between applications is amazing, even the way that they treat their employees is a testament to the amazing innovations that they are making in the business world!
ReplyDeleteTaking this class I got to see just how big google has become. I had no idea that they were doing all these things. I thought they were just a good search engine. I mean i do use them as my home page and preffer the how google's search engine works. I guess that google is just trying to expaned.
ReplyDelete