November 4th, 2005
Web 2.0 dissed, big time
Joel Spolsky, CEO of Fog Creek Software, admits he was in a "bitchy" mood when he wrote this scathing indictment of what he sees as the latest round of "architecture astronautics", but nonetheless wonders if all the hype and excitement around Web 2.0 isn’t all stuff we’ve been through before, countless times.
I’ll let Joel speak for himself:
"When I wrote my original complaint about architecture astronauts more than four years ago, it was P2P this and messaging that: ‘That’s one sure tip-off to the fact that you’re being assaulted by an Architecture Astronaut: the incredible amount of bombast; the heroic, utopian grandiloquence; the boastfulness; the complete lack of reality. And people buy it! The business press goes wild!’
"Now it’s tagging and folksonomies and syndication, and we’re all supposed to fall in line with the theory that cool new stuff like Google Maps, Wikipedia, and Del.icio.us are somehow bigger than the sum of their parts. The Long Tail! Attention Economy! Creative Commons! Peer production! Web 2.0!
"The term Web 2.0 particularly bugs me. It’s not a real concept. It has no meaning. It’s a big, vague, nebulous cloud of pure architectural nothingness. When people use the term Web 2.0, I always feel a little bit stupider for the rest of the day."
Is Joel just a jaded, cynical New Yorker, or does he see the emperor wearing no clothes?
Joe McKendrick is an author and consultant with deep knowledge and insights regarding trends and developments in the technology industry. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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