Web 2.0: New definition of web

Web 2.0 is no longer a buzzword or a myth. Since its emergence it has revolutionized the way Web should be used. With the help of technologies like JavaScript, XML, ASP.Net, PHP/Perl, My SQL, etc, it opened different avenues for various software companies and gave the Web a different way of handling data. It took its time to find its belonging, but now is among the hottest trends to look out for. It's already creating a huge roar in the enterprise segment after being a success story on the commercial and social front.

What makes it hot?

It literally took the 'tech' out of 'technology' and made a common platform for all of us to collaborate, share, and interact. A layman can post his views in a Blog without having to know a single word of HTML. Now users can not only access data but also contribute to it. This Rich Internet Architecture for using the Web in a participatory manner has caused the corporate world to pay so much attention to it. So much so that this year, most of the corporate world was trying to figure out how to integrate Web 2.0 features within their own Intranets and portals.

There are endless ways through which an enterprise can leverage the power of Web 2.0---integrating applications in a web browser, allowing users to modify content in real time, allowing multiple users to interact, aggregating content from other sites into your own, hosting desktops on the Web, providing online videos, audioblogging, webinars, blogging are just a few possibilities that come to mind.

The story so far:

• Sites like Orkut, YouTube, and FlickR made social networking over the Web a reality.

• All major software vendors of 'Web 2.0' enable their collaborative solutions.
• Enterprises started adding features like blogging, RSS feeds, and Wiki into their own portals for their employees.
• The concept of Web OSs came into the market, allowing users to access any operating system through a Web browser.

Key technologies
Technologies such as AJAX, Flex, Meshup, Atom, Podcast, XML, Javascripts, RSS Feed, Wiki, P2P, and Blog form the backbone of Web 2.0. AJAX enables the exchange of small amount of data with the server behind the scene, making the webpage more responsive and thus avoiding the entire webpage from reloading during a refresh. The main programming language is JavaScript wherein AJAX functions are made and with the use of XML the data which is asynchronously retrieved and kept are formatted.

So when you log into your Gmail account, you would notice it to be refreshed after a particular interval without actually loading the whole page all over again, it just asynchronously checks for new data. The biggest advantage is that this is a cross-platform technology, hence can be used across various OSs, Computer Architectures, and Web browsers.

Mash-up is a value-added service source from a third party, which is to be integrated into a Web application. It sources the content from a third party via a public interface or API. Mash-ups opened up new avenues for the enterprise as it renders interoperability and can also be used to source content from disparate Web Services. Podcast made audio blogging a reality. It is mainly a digital media file or collection of such files which can be distributed over the Internet using syndication feeds for playback on portable media players and PCs.

Wiki even though existed for a long time is now an important knowledge sharing platform. On the hardware front the emergence of Broadband and storage becoming cheaper played a big part on the success of Web 2.0. All these have made up what Web 2.0 is all about.

Latest developments
The big news in Web 2.0 this year was that most major software vendors introduced Web 2.0 technologies in their current and future products. Enterprises started leveraging this technology in many creative ways. So things like allowing your customers who are visiting your e-commmerce portal to interact with your staff members is now possible. Some use Podcasts, Webinars, and Blogs as marketing tools on their sites. Some use Mash-up, RSS Feed, and Atoms to get the right information to the right people. Many SaaS model-based applications are now being developed to be used as a Web application.