So on this post, let's talk Web 2.0 Technologies. First thought? It ain't new.
XML (eXtensible Markup Language)
Initially defined in 1998 by the World Wide Web Consortium (w3c.org), this is essentially a data communication protocol so that different systems can talk to one another. According to Wikipedia, "Its primary purpose is to facilitate the sharing of structured data across different information systems, particularly via the Internet". Groups of users - and in particular, industries - can come together to determine how to label their data so that their systems can exchange information easily. The labels or "tags" look something like this:
Different industries have come up with their own standard XML specifications - Like the OTA XML by the OpenTravel Alliance (whose members range from Accor to Hertz to Expedia to American Airlines to Pegasus). XML is not particularly new but it is important and is sometimes lumped in as Web 2.0.
AJAX (Asynchronous Javascript And Xml)
Wikipedia: Ajax, or AJAX, is a web development technique used for creating interactive web applications. As you can see by the unabbreviated version, AJAX is just Javascript and XML being used together. Javascript has been around since 1995 when Netscape launched their 2nd version. Proper implementation allows metasearch sites like Kayak.com to display information as it comes in from different data source. You do not have to wait for the page to finish before interacting with the content. Google made this technique popular when incorporated it in their Google Maps allowing users to pan in different directions by clicking and dragging the map and having the new maps load up without refreshing the whole page. So 1995 and 1998 technology? As I said, it ain't new. Just the implementation.
RSS (Really Simple Syndication)
RSS is a name applied to a particular XML specification and its usage. Anyone can build an RSS "feed" by wrapping their data (news, offers, promos) around specific XML labels/tags standards for the information. A few developers started building readers for the feeds, and RSS took off as more and more online media started pushing their content out. The readers allow users to filter and customize the news/content that they get. RSS development started out as earlier as 1995 at Netscape and was more formalized in 2002.
YouTube
Well the technology seems new (founded in Feb 2005) and the company's meteoric rise shouts Web 2.0, but the technology is not new. The videos are using a Flash-based video player which has been around since 2002 (and Flash was developed by Macromedia back in 1997). What was really cool was that you could upload almost any kind of video format (MPEG, MPEG-2, QuickTime, MPEG4, avi, etc.) and it would convert it to Flash-video within minutes. These converters have been available in software applications and some online. But YouTube made it so easy to upload, convert AND SHARE, that it became ubiquitous.
Flickr
Flickr did the same for pictures what YouTube did for videos. A nicer interface to upload and edit pictures and a great way to share.
A blog is nothing more than another website. The difference is the content, the genre...the way in which the content is written. It is a personal online diary of sorts, written informally and "off the cuff". There is no new technology. Blogger.com. WordPress, and Typepad are well-known today as companies that let people blog easily, but they are essentially content management systems (CMS). But these CMSes are so easy to use, they should really be "CMS for Dummies".
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Ultimately, Web 2.0 is not about new technology. There are no new discoveries. But there are plenty of beautiful implementation of existing technology that makes it so easy for people to create and share. It increased the user participation in online activities and created new business models.
(UPDATE) As Max Starkov wrote in a wiwih.com post, "Although the term suggests a new version of the World Wide Web, it does not refer to an update to Web technical specifications, but to changes in the ways software developers and end-users use the web as a platform."
But what does this mean to a business? To a company? To an industry? That's another blog entry for another day.
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