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"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."  -Aristotle

About Me

I am a co-founder of Notches, an early stage startup currently based in NYC. We are building a free, open reviews network that anyone can participate in and anyone can build on top of. You can find out more on our official blog.

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All Tags » Web 2.0 » Innovation » Software Development (RSS)
  • There's no such thing as Web 2.0

    I've said before that I hate the term Web 2.0 but that it's more than a buzzword . Perhaps what I meant to say is what Marc Andreessen said: there's no such thing as Web 2.0 ( via Fred Wilson ) - thing being the key word there. The first Web 2.0 conference was held in the fall of 2004, and coincided with a large number of people in the tech industry (myself included) peeking our heads out from the fallout from the nuclear winter of 2001-2003 and realizing that the Web was not only not dead, it was thriving. From there, it was easy to conclude that "Web 2.0" was a thing , a noun, something to which you could refer to explain a new generation of Web services and Web companies. Many people have since pointed out that there is no clear definition of Web 2.0. Tim O'Reilly, whose organization created the conference (and the term), attempted to define Web 2.0 as follows: "Web 2.0 is the network as platform, spanning all connected devices; Web 2.0 applications are those that make the most of the...
  • An Anthropologist's Take on Web 2.0

    The Machine is us. ( Link to the video )
  • Web 2.0 is more than a buzzword

    I hate buzzwords , but I agree with Kathy when she says that Web 2.0 is more than just a buzzword . It is not a meaningless term (or as Letterman might say, it's "not nothing"). Kathy makes the ever-important distinction between buzzwords (bad) and jargon (good). Ultimately, she says, Web 2.0 gives us vocabulary to discuss an otherwise complex and abstract idea and allows us to have more intelligent conversations about what's really going on. While this vocabulary does facilitate discussions, it also allows us to be lazy and gloss over what is really important. Much like architecture , the Web 2.0 principles are important as long as they are consciously applied and we don't lose sight of why the feature matters in the first place.
  • Interesting Developments with Windows Live

    Microsoft is embedding Live services within the operating system . This isn't really too surprising, considering it was one of the stated principles behind the effort from the start. (As a developer, it is exciting though). Microsoft appears to recognize that web applications are a complement, and not a substitute, for desktop applications. The goal is to deliver the richest experience available on a particular piece of hardware, and no matter how many times Steve Gillmor says it , that will never be in a browser. In fact, the example I use most often to illustrate the point above comes from Microsoft's Exchange Server. If I'm on a machine that has Outlook, I'm invariably going to choose that over Outlook Web Access - but I appreciate being able to use the rich OWA interface when I am on a machine with just a web browser. And if all I have is my mobile device, Outlook Mobile Access offers a simplified interface. The important thing is that, in each case, I'm accessing the same data. I think...