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28 Sep 08

Not 2.0? - O'Reilly Radar

  • Dale Dougherty came up with it a year and a half ago in a conference planning session (leading to our Web 2.0 Conference) is because it does capture the widespread sense that there's something qualitatively different about today's web.
  • More immediately, Web 2.0 is the era when people have come to realize that it's not the software that enables the web that matters so much as the services that are delivered over the web.

O'Reilly Network: The Network Really Is the Computer

  • Before I start, though, I want to introduce a few concepts that give a
    foundation for thinking about the spread of technologies as well. The first of
    these concepts come from ecology.



    You may think that I want to bring in ecology because O'Reilly's books all have animals on the cover, but it really does go deeper than that!



    First off, ecology teaches us that it takes a web of cooperating species to
    create a truly rich environment. Each of us depends on thousands, if not
    millions, of other organisms, each pursuing its own selfish goals, yet somehow
    weaving a cooperative web that, for the most part, benefits all. I believe that
    open source has many parallels to a functioning ecology. Each developer builds
    for his own use, and that of his friends, but also makes it easy for collateral
    benefits to accrue to others he or she doesn't know. And the open source
    developer contributes even his failures back into the environment, to enrich the
    soil from which other innovations can grow.



    Second, ecology teaches us that a rich environment takes time to evolve. One
    species prepares the ground for another. For example, lichens and mosses break
    down rock, creating soil that can support more complex plants. Ecological
    succession takes time. But as the substrate laid down by simple organisms grows
    richer, the possibilities for complexity increase.

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