It shouldn't be a shock that Eric Schmidt, a man on the ground floor at Google, would have some clairvoyance of what was to come in the way of technological innovations. But this video from 2007 that's part of our Module 1 class materials was still really interesting. When asked about future innovations and the burgeoning shift to something seemingly amorphous called "Web 2.0", Schmidt distills it down to exactly our experience today. Again, this was eight years ago. In the video Schmidt describes Web 2.0 as something where "applications are pieced together, relatively small, data is in the cloud, applications can run on any device (PC or phone), are very fast and very customizable and furthermore are distributed virally, by social networks, by email...that's a very different application model than we've ever seen in computing...and works everywhere."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0QJmmdw3b0
Now, I grant that I am still a bit confused because Schmidt seems to initially dismiss the idea of "Web 3.0" as something the journalist just invented and then begins discussing "Web 2.0". When he later mentions "Web 3.0" I am not sure if he misspeaks or grants the questioner his premise.
Either way, it is a very interesting bit of insight from a time where even the camera filming this event provides quality that looks straight from the 80's and only appears in youtube as 240p. Whatever Schmidt is referring to here - Web 2.0 or 3.0 he absolutely nails what was right around the corner.
The blog is looking very nice, John!
ReplyDeleteIt's uncanny to see how spot on this man's predictions for Web 2.0 are, but I guess when you're that involved with developing technology on a day-to-day basis, you start to see a path that your work is headed on. I for one though certainly wouldn't have been able to predict the information world we live in today ten years or so ago.