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Ajit Jaokar's Mobile Web 2.0 Blog: "Web 2.0, Blind Men and the Elephant"

"Perpetual beta" applies to data more than it applies to software
By Ajit Jaokar
Article Rating:
March 3, 2006 12:15 PM EST
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 21,318
Since I have an interest in Mobile Web 2.0 (and by extension with Web 2.0 in general), I get some interesting reactions from people. Everyone has a view on Web 2.0 - it's almost getting to the stage that we can't discuss religion, politics AND Web 2.0! Anyway, here are two recent incidents...p>

A person who I met a few weeks ago insisted that web 2.0 is ‘community’. My point was – yes – it has some community features – but no it’s not ONLY about community. See my blog and Tim o Reilly’s original seven points and Dion Hinchcliffe’s post about thinking in web 2.0 to get an idea of how complex it really is. Somehow, many blindmen.JPGpeople want to take a one dimensional view when it comes to web 2.0 i.e. like the proverbial blind men – look at only one facet of web 2.0 and insist that it’s the whole.

Another example of this recently was someone who said that their software is in ‘perpetual beta’ – hence they believed they were using some features of web 2.0. (My feeling is they have too many bugs!) .. But .. more seriously .. perpetual beta applies to data more than it applies to software .. think indexing when you talk perpetual beta ..

There’s certainly a lot of confusion and many bandwagon seekers out there!

Image: http://www.wordfocus.com/word-act-blindmen.html

Published March 3, 2006 – Reads 21,318
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More Stories By Ajit Jaokar

Ajit Jaokar is the author of the book 'Mobile Web 2.0' and is also a member of the Web2.0 workgroup. Currently, he plays an advisory role to a number of mobile start-ups in the UK and Scandinavia. He also works with the government and trade missions of a number of countries including South Korea and Ireland. He is a regular speaker at SYS-CON events including AJAXWorld Conference & Expo.

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SYS-CON Belgium News Desk 03/03/06 11:19:59 AM EST

Since I have an interest in Mobile Web 2.0 (and by extension with Web 2.0 in general), I get some interesting reactions from people. Everyone has a view on Web 2.0 - it's almost getting to the stage that we can't discuss religion, politics AND Web 2.0! Anyway, here are two recent incidents...