[Air-l] Web 2.0 - "the machine is us?"

[elw at stderr.org]

> Mehhhh 2.0.  It's greatest weakness is its popularity, and, well, the fact that
> is DOES actually do some things that 1.0 didn't.


Like what?  [And can you define what gets inclusion in web 1.0?]

My understanding is that the only technological innovation involved is the 
occasional use of the XMLHttpRequest object, which dates back to 2000 or 
so.  (Wikipedia says the Mozilla implementation was 2002, the IE one in 
2000.)

Nobody will give a solid example of what "Web 2.0" is - methinks because 
it is an invented term still seeking a definition.  I hope O'Reilly is 
making plenty of cash from the coinage of the term.

I can't find *one solitary thing* about Web 2.0 that isn't easily 
implementable using "plain old web technologies" -- what, then, describes 
the ascribed monumental change?

Saying that 'web 2.0' is "all about the social" or something similar is 
not enough, it seems... nor is it enough to talk about the bare 
technologies being used.  Neither of these two things have fundamentally 
changed, IMHO....

Maybe Web 2.0 is just supposed to describe some new flavor of creativeness 
among application authors?  That's about all I can figure....

--e