Web 2.0 Surf the Wave

Excel SoftSources specializes in building, testing and deploying rich internet applications ("RIA's"), which characterizes the concept of Web 2.0.  First, what does Web 2.0 mean?  In order to understand Web 2.0, once must understand its predecessor, Web 1.0.

Web 1.0

Web 1.0 is a retronym used to describe the beginning of the World Wide Web from 1991 up until the stock market crash in March of 2000.  The first large players on the WWW were companies such as Amazon, EBay, Yahoo and Monster.  Their web sites featured basic functionality such as:

1. Static web pages with limited client-side processing
2. Cascase style sheets
3. Framesets and forms
4. Basic database interaction
5. Shopping carts connected to eCommerce middleware such as Web Logic Server
6. Banner advertising with cost-per-click or cost-per-impression price models

The stock market reacted and in some cases over-reacted as money was invested in may companies with cool web sites, but lacking in a fundamental business plan. Over-time, prices became overinflated in the internet sector, as well as, in the general market.  This evolved into a .NET bubble and generally over-priced stock market, which resulted in a market correction.  Other factors came to play which resulted in a major decline starting in March of 2000.  For the next few years, both business and consumers cringed at the notion of investing in .COM or the world wide web.

The world wide web never disappeared.  In fact, it grew and evolved, but perhaps at an altered pace, due to the reaction and fallout of the financial markets.

In fact, investment in the World Wide Web persisently increased over the next few years, despite the lack of wall street support during the first decade.  What most agree to today is that the technology component and capability of Web 1.0 was never realized due to the stock market reaction.  Thus, Web 2.0 is closer to the actual realization of technology and capability had there not been such a heavy impact by the financial markets.  Web 2.0 is a more mature, stable developed evolution of the first generation world wide web.

Web 2.0

Web 2.0 is features applications that are highly interactive with a focus on user experience, collaboration, security and operability. Some of the characters include the following:

1. Fully functional and interactive web sites driven by server side processing
2. Hosted and/or managed services such as CRM online
3. Social and business networking such as Linked In
4. Media sharing
5. Blogs, wikis and forums
6. Highly interactive experiences such as live video customer support
7. eCommerce and enterprise applications as a commodity or managed/hosted services

All of the capabilities of Web 2.0 have been developed through common family of technology frameworks.  In some cases, technology such as live video, was enabled by the natural growth of network infrastructure and inexpensive access to broad band internet.

The leading family of  frameworks are:  Ajax, Flex, Java and Java FX,  Microsoft Silverlight.  All of which are complemented by advanced applications server platforms and supported by PHP, Java and .NET.

Rich Internet Applications "RIA's" have Five Major Characteristics

Rich Internet Applications or RIA's are considered the resulting product of all Web 2.0 technologies and concepts.  Generally speaking, RIAs are characterized by:

1. Database driven web sites
2. Modern middleware which encapsulates all business logic
3. Modern front-end frameworks which support "richness" and "high interaction."
4. Real-time integration of multiple data and media formats using common frameworks such as web services
5. Platform independency as code on the server and rendered to the desktop via an HTML based browser.  In some cases a plugin is required.

Excel SoftSources specializes in Web 2.0 technology and can help companies catch the 2.0 wave, at reduced costs.