As a quick continuation of my last article I am beginning to see that while Web 2.0 is thriving, it’s reaching the point where it’s not evolving as much. Sure, change is slow, but I think this has grounds in a fundamental problem - Web 2.0 is based on 1.0. What I mean by this is that most Web 2.0 technologies are based on an infrastructure that was only built for 1.0. What I think we need is for the infrastructure to begin to incorporate into Web 2.0. A house built on the properly shaped foundation is, after all, a much more stable house than the alternative.

The remnants of the original web still litter our lives - XHTML, although better than HTML, is still based on that markup language which was built for static pages. Yes, we can write server-side scripts to output dynamic XHTML and use JavaScript to alter it client-side, but I think we can do better. I don’t have any idea what would be better (I do like the elegance of XML which is why I can’t entirely fault XHTML) but I do think it’s time that things moved forward. We’ve had essentially a single markup language for the whole life of the web, so shouldn’t the needs of Web 2.0 indicate that we need to change? Of course, hardware itself would probably have to be upgraded to meet these new needs.

Of course as soon as we start talking about change we have to consider backwards compatibility. What about all those people on older computers that just want to check their email? Well, why I do see the need to support backwards compatibility to a degree I think that change is necessary. Change keeps us from stagnation. Yes, not everyone will be happy. And no, I don’t want the web to be some kind of elite data network where only those who can afford the newest technology can use it.

I would just like to see something come out that totally surpasses HTML, XHTML and other web technologies and blows the mind of every web developer out there.

The Spry Team Annouced the Upcoming Release of Spry 1.6

Some interesting news features listed there. By the sounds of it it’s going to be another prerelease. I would be hesitant to use it in commercial projects but have played around with it in the past and found it to be a good framework. Of course, that made me start thinking of working on trying to integrate Spry into ASP.NET as custom server controls. I think it’s possible and I plan to look into it some more this weekend. The only problem I could see is updating it with subsequent versions of Spry, but that primarily depends on whether Adobe decides to make changes in the required markup and JavaScript calls.

I’ve been recently pondering what types of web technologies we’re going to see emerging in the next 5 or 10 years. Over the last 5 years the trend has been toward data, multimedia, interactivity, and community. Every week there’s some a few new startup websites/web applications. Every month there’s maybe one or two that is actually a progressive idea, but very few companies are developing new technologies.

PHP 4 is being dropped at the end of the year, replaced by PHP 5, if it hasn’t pretty much been already, ASP.NET 3.5 is due out sometime in January, and companies like Microsoft are inventing new technologies like Silverlight (albeit a Flash competitor, it has its differences). We are also starting to see a blurring of the lines between what is a website and what is a traditional application. Web apps are behaving more like the traditional and vice versa. An excellent example is Adobe AIR, which allows developers with web programming skills to code for the desktop. 20 or 30 years from now we may be using an operating system that had no difference in terms of interactivity between the web and the desktop. The web could become integrated with the user’s own personal computer. I will be able to copy large files off the internet as if they were on my local hard drive. I would love to see a company develop in this direction.

All this technology is pushing. Pushing what, though? Well, certainly the limits of hardware technology. With rumors abound about companies like Comcast limiting customer bandwidth, is the very infrastructure of the web going to be able to withstand the explosion of tech around the corner? Of course it will, it just might take time.

So here we go! Developers keep demanding! Companies keep innovating! Future Ahoy!

I have added a link page with a variety of links I find important. I will update these links from time to time as I find others. If you have any suggestions for links, feel free to send them in.