Web 2.0: What it is – How it “feels” – What is available
If you are not familiar with the term Web 2.0, this introductory article lists some links as a quick jump-start. In the second part, we try to point out what this development means for enterprise software.
Tim O’Reilly was among the first to come up with the term. Web 2.0 represents a shift in who creates content, moving from a small group of programmers and content developers to nearly everyone that has a computer and Internet access. One of the effects is the increased focus on web user interfaces and the technologies that are being used to develop a better, improved user experience. These new technologies make the interface smooth and intuitive just like desktop software and hide distributed processing from the user.
This Wikipedia article explains the background of Web 2.0. Listed below is a collection of useful Web 2.0 links:
Overview of Web 2.0 Applications and Web Services
- Web 2.0 References as Icons: www.go2web20.net
- German Web 2.0 References: www.web2null.de
Applications
- Google applications: www.google.com/a/
- Google’s Online word processing application: online word processing application
- Web based mail client: mail.yahoo.com
- Online image manipulation application: demo.neximage.com
Blogging
- Blog tool and weblog platform: wordpress.org
- Blog search: technorati.com
Collaborative Work
- Project collaboration, management and tasks: www.basecamphq.com
- Get and stay organized: Keep your to-dos, notes, ideas and schedule online: backpackit.com
- Collaborative writing software online with Writeboard. Write, share, revise, compare: www.writeboard.com
- Think together – collaborative online mind mapping tool: www.mindmeister.com
- A place to share and discover slideshows and presentations: www.slideshare.net
- Open source messaging, calendar platform: www.zimbra.com
Developing
- Public source code repository to store and organize code snippets: snipplr.com
- Sharing developer bookmarks: www.dzone.com
Social Networking
- Maintain your social network – focused on Europe: www.xing.com
- Maintain your social network – focused on US: www.linkedin.com
- Social bookmarking: del.icio.us
- Store, sort, search and share photos: www.flickr.com
- Flex application visualizing Flickr networks: www.marumushi.com/apps/flickrgraph
Traveling / Maps
- Route planning, interactive maps: www.map24.com
- Regional restaurants, shops, business … meet people (German, English coming soon): www.qype.com
- Switzerland: weather, traffic, news, restaurants, culture, shopping: map.search.ch
Enterprise Web 2.0
What does this mean for enterprise software? Increasingly customers will expect business software to offer the same ease of use they are experiencing at other web sites.
For example, users that appreciate Flickr’s “edit in place” description fields will expect other web software to offer similar features.
Or, they will expect the collaborative benefits of tagging, commenting, as well as following changes by RSS feed in their business workflow applications.
See also this recent post by Gapingvoid on the convergence of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and social software:
The main story about social software is not about how it allows you to carry out existing company functions, just more quickly and easily. It’s bigger than that. In the future, companies will grow around social software, not the other way around.
The question is: What does your software need to meet this Web 2.0 culture and how can your business profit?
See also Hans-Dirk’s initial post.
