While the latest obsession with Web 2.0 will pass as David Hayden alludes to in his blog (and his comment about the fact that no versioning is necessary is spot on), his obsession with Google and Microsoft seems to be in line with the rest of the industry. David (and others) give way too much credit to Google and Microsoft, implying that they are driving the Web towards its demise. It's wonderful allegory (nicely done David) but he isn't giving credit where credit is due. Both Microsoft and Google (and Microsoft especially) have done wonderful jobs of making the Web and technology more accessible and friendly to use. Google turned search into something useful at a time when the Web was exploding with content and no one else could keep up with it. Microsoft has consistently advanced the technology just enough to meet the needs of the lowest common denominator of user and being crystal clear with its marketing messages as to why you should use its products.
Give Microsoft and Google credit for making the Web more accessible. But don't give them too much credit, or blame for that matter. Truth be told, Google and Microsoft aren't driving much of anything on the Web. Microsoft is more interested in building another version of Windows than making the Web a better place for users. Vista will be a platform adopted by millions and will be a pervasive presence on the Web and will make Microsoft a lot of money (they're already charging people $6 a pop for beta 2 of Vista - even Google hasn't figured out how to charge people money for its beta products yet.) But Vista will be responsible for driving more traffic for patches and bug fixes than for innovative use. As for Google, VP of search products Marisa Mayer has said that "our core and where we innovate most is search." Which means that if its not search related, they won'Ât aggressively develop it. Look at GMail - still in "beta" after nearly a year and a half. Look at their other "products." The further away they are from search, the less developed and robust they are.
Microsoft and Google have left a lot of room for the rest of the world to come up with innovative uses for the Web. We saw that yesterday. We see it today. And we'll see it tomorrow. Perhaps it's only now that we noticed all the companies out there innovating and decided to label this the time of Web 2.0. And while the label of Web 2.0 will pass - it seems we'll never really be able to get past the 800 lb gorillas in the room.
