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The World Wide Rewrite

You might expect the original World Wide Web to be a crude prototype of today’s web. In many ways it is, but when physicist Tim Berners-Lee unveiled the first browser in 1991 it had a key feature that most current browsers lack: editing.

That was fine for academics and the military, but when the web exploded in popularity a few years later it was essentially only a one-way medium.

Finally, we’re getting the web we deserve. The web is being reinvented—and a renewed turf war is being fought for market leadership. Silicon Valley venture capitalists are partying like it’s 1995—poring over their latest prospects—while companies like Microsoft are making sure they don’t get caught napping twice. Once again, the minnows can challenge the megacorps.

Grant Ryan, Christchurch- based chairman of Eurekster and SLI Systems, says this time around there’s some substance behind the hype. “We lived through the boom–bust so I have scepticism running in my blood,” he says. “But the big difference this time is that a lot of these companies, even obscure companies, are profitable.”

Not surprisingly, the term Web 2.0 has been coined to describe the new web. Others prefer to talk about the social web or the two-way web. We’ll use the term chosen by Wellington writer and analyst Richard MacManus: the read/write web.

Frankly, it’s a bit nebulous, but the read/write web is characterised by customised, interactive websites and services—pioneered by Amazon, Ebay and our own Trade Me—and by a user experience that’s closer to a desktop program than traditional websites. The click- wait, click-wait loop is no more.

Two events are driving the read/write web. The first is that—finally!—older browsers that don’t support modern markup, such as the infamous Netscape 4, are no longer in widespread use. The second is the rise of weblogs. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, blogs are the perfect illustration of the ‘social web’. Many bloggers aren’t technically savvy and yet millions are able to share their thoughts on politics and religion alongside pictures of their cats.

One of the better-known examples is Google’s webmail service. When Gmail was released in 2004 it wowed the industry with its user-friendliness; although mail was stored on Google’s servers, users felt as if the data was on the local machine. Overnight, webmail providers such as Microsoft’s Hotmail and Yahoo realised they would have to redesign their products to compete.

New arrivals are carving out their own territory, such as Flickr (photo sharing) and Del.icio.us (shared bookmarks). These companies allow users to ‘tag’ pictures and links—their own, and other users’—so their online communities work together to organise collections.

Other companies are using the read/write web to challenge some well-trodden and well-defended turf. Zimbra (the name is taken from a Talking Heads song) is building a competitor to Microsoft Exchange, the corporate email platform. Microsoft itself recently introduced its own online tools, Office Live and Windows Live. Those services aren’t touted as replacements for the desktop Windows and Office—Microsoft’s bread and butter—but could replace a few competitors. Windows Live, for example, includes a Skype-like Internet phone call feature.

So what benefit does the read/write web hold for New Zealanders? For entrepreneurs, new online business models are emerging. “There’s definitely a lot of scope for New Zealanders,” MacManus says. “It’s relatively cheap to build these services. The infrastructure is pretty cheap.” (See MacManus’ list of the best Web 2.0 businesses  on this website.)

If you’re not trading online yet, it might be time to take another look. Consider using the web also to communicate with customers and partners. “If you look at the trend of the web, it’s all about personal publishing,” says Ryan. “I’m a really recent convert to blogs. It’s very easy to dismiss these things as a fad and not worth it, but it really is a nice way to have a conversation with customers.”

Matt Cooney is editor of Idealog and was a web developer in an earlier version

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