Recovered from the Wayback Machine.
I think Web 2.0 is killing Web 1.0. I think there’s a ‘young eating their parent’ thing going on.
Amazon has been using its resources to put out S3 and the new video service at the same time that the company’s bread & butter online store seems to be taking a hit. Maybe it’s just me and my machines and my internet access, but the site is slow, the redirecting is broken, and the pages are excessively cluttered now.
Google’s another. I really like Google maps, and gmail was OK, but much of the new functionality the company is putting out seems to only appeal to a small group of geeks. The office style products are, to put it delicately, uninspiring. In the meantime, I’ve noticed more and more that searches return links to stores or businesses, rather than useful information. The SEOs are winning, while Google is focused on profitable good works.
Yahoo, on the other hand, bought its way into Web 2.0–perhaps as a strategy to keep from being eaten by the young ‘uns.
eBay bought Skype and Paypal, and we know why it bought Paypal, but I think we’re all collectively scratching our heads on the Skype. Meanwhile, it flounders around now trying to find new revenue streams, while it’s core functionality is being phished to death.
Even the venerable conferences of yore are giving way to SillyValley “Meet Mike” or “Stick it to Tim” shmooze and booze sessions where any pretense of actually discussing technology has given way to breathless panting about startups: hot or not. Isn’t it nice to know that the long tail is being wagged by a puppy?
