Wednesday, November 02, 2005 12:02 PM
When people talk about Web 2.0, I think they mean lots of different things [
here is what the Wikipedia says it is]. But one core value seems to be improving both the speed and usefulness of the web experience itself.
Google and Yahoo! are often thought of as the dominant players in the race towards Web 2.0. Conversely, Microsoft is often seen as a dinosaur left over from the 1990's, still focused on the desktop while the world moves to the web as the platform.
And, yet, it is a Microsoft site that I wanted to point out as a good example of an application (in this case a portal) that addresses the "speed and usefulness" values of Web 2.0. Check out Live.com. Play around with it. Drag and drop the modules (gadgets), move things around, subscribe to an RSS feed or two; just give it a test drive.
One thing to notice while you are doing this; how few times you have to totally refresh the web page. The site is fast with a capital F. Also, you might compare the speed and functionality of Live.com versus some existing personal portal applications like MyYahoo!. Content aside, which portal would you prefer to use?
Of course, undoubtedly Yahoo!, Google, etcetera have similar applications in the works. For now, my sole conclusion is this: if Web 2.0 means applications like Live.com, count me in.