Tim O’reilly’s Web 2.0

Tim O’reilly is a good observer of where our world is headed. Something I noticed though that he didn’t mention is why there’s this huge collective push towards user-centered data and usability. I would argue that in the 90’s the computer while fairly cheap and friendly really hadn’t hit the mainstream yet. I mean nowadays you’re gimp if you don’t have a computer in your home.

 I would compare the internet and information explosion to the rise of the TV. Before we had B&W tv’s right, that would be the 80’s for computers, expensive and still not quite streamlined as today. Then came the color TV’s and the remote and suddenly TV became less of a chore to get up and change channels and more lively. Now, the average household has 2.5 TV’s in their house, hell I have 3 in mine.

 The computer really started in the 80’s with Apple and the PC. As technology grew so did the price drop on computers. So as computers become cheaper, the market becomes bigger and more wide spread. Now that computers are as cheap as a decently sized TV, those new people now have access to the internet.

My point here is this: it took about 10 years but finally, everyone has access to the internet more or less. So, now that we have it where do we go? Think about this, when was the last time you heard about a new AOL 76.0 coming out? Exactly, we hate those damn discs, we’re lazy creatures by nature. We don’t want unnecessary junk. So, eventually the market got it in their heads that it’s better to just release a software update and hope it sells well. That my friends is Capatilism at work. Then with the invention of user-sharing we found it’s better and easier to see what other people are doing instead of listening to the corporate conglomerates telling us what to do. Besides it’s more personal to interact with people than the beauracratic bs we go through on our phones to pay our bills.

 I guess I’m saying it’s inevitable that this would happen this collective intelligence, but where do you go from there? What will be Web 3.0? I think eventually, companies will just give us the tools to design our own stuff at this rate and then release it to the masses. Portable devices are just going to get smaller and easier to use, desktops will get faster and more powerful, in time we’ll probably have the Virtual Internet where literally the internet is it’s own world.