I recently started to research what the hype is around Web2.0. Well, I think it is more than just hype. So far I believe that Web2.0 is about web services, better and quicker development tools and the most important aspect, better user interaction via browsers — no more page flashes and slow updates. Another aspect is user generated content (more on this later) — yes, myspace.com and youtube.com. Yes, I know it is also about wiki’s, mashups, blogs and podcasts.
Web Services:
Sites like Google.com, Amazon.com and also ERP vendors like SAP are making it very easy to find and use Web Services.
Have a look at some of these not-so-well-known sites to get a feeling of what Web2.0 is all about: travbuddy.com, thinkfree.com (Microsoft Office on the Web!), and evoca.com from Savannah.
Development tools:
I don’t have too much information on this yet, however you can start by reviewing Ruby on Rails. SAP also provides a strong enterprise grade development environment to develop Webdynpro transactions.
User experience:
In the “old” days we were used to see whole page screen refreshes when we used application via a browser. These days the user experience and interaction is mind blowing — think Google Spreadsheets. It is now possible to update each pixel on a web page without a full page refresh. Technologies like AJAX, Adobe Flex and SAP’s Webdynpro make this possible.
This is just the introduction. I plan to write a lot more about Web2.0, especially how enterprises can use the “web-only” technologies and use it in an ERP world. I have 12 years of experience with SAP and will therefor mostly focus on SAP’s Enterprise Service Architecture (ESA).
Interesting links:
