In my last post I mentioned that I’ve been “struggling to articulate the things in my head into words”. Well, it seems for a large chunk of it I no longer have to. On 30th September Tim O’Reilly published an article entitled “What Is Web 2.0: Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software“. Although I wouldn’t refer to it as “Web 2.0” because it’s more just the web evolving into something else slowly rather than a new version as such (which Tim actually hints at himself), it covers a large chunk of what I’ve been thinking about recently in terms of the web’s next step in building the “Information Age”.
From the article:
1) Services, not packaged software, with cost-effective scalability
2) Control over unique, hard-to-recreate data sources that get richer as more people use them
3) Trusting users as co-developers
4) Harnessing collective intelligence
5) Leveraging the long tail through customer self-service
6) Software above the level of a single device
7) Lightweight user interfaces, development models, AND business models
Although at least from an engineering perspective I’m still not convinced the web is the right platform for all this, it is evolving and it’s likely better to let the web become something new rather than trying to create something new from scratch simply because it’s already out there, everywhere. I believe that this list of seven identifiable trends ultimately set the scene for the convergence of computing, communications and media in a really big way and for the ideas I’m working on to come to fruition. My ideas are still very underdeveloped but at least I have something to aim at.
And now back to my ordinary everyday life, I have to make something to eat.
But first, while I’m in a wild, predictive mood… Look out for a Google Calendar, iPod Video (and another new iPod of some variety by the end of next week), eventually a handheld device which is basically just a lot of storage and a big display with approximately one button and *lots* of connectivity, a replacement for the traditional office suite, the death of 3G by 2009 and the old-school-set-in-their-ways software and media industries getting very scared. OK I’m done with speculation now.