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Web 2.0

By Eyebee, on June 10th, 2007
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A recent survey I saw somewhere online suggested that many people perceive web 2.0 as yet another marketing ploy.

Now, me, being one of the kings of anti-hype, would disagree. For one thing, no one company above another is pushing Web 2.0.

I suppose Google are to the front in some ways, but there are many Web 2.0 apps out there, such as Facebook, Twitter, Del.icio.us, and blogging itself.

I’m a big fan of open source software, and a big supporter of open standards too. SO, to that end, I’m pretty much anti-Microsoft who want to not only have all the market to themselves, which is kind of acceptable in terms of how large companies try to position themselves; but they also want to ride slipshod over most of the agreed standards, which ultimately forces everyone to use Microsoft products, which is not acceptable at all. No one company makes the best software for every use, and Microsoft are no exception.

Anyway, this isn’t really a Microsoft rant.

For me, there are two main advantages to online technologies.

Portability, and cross platform use.

I want to be able to access data on as many computers as possible. With just about all computers connected to the Internet these days, that is less and less of a problem. Also I can put files onto a USB stick or a CD. However, we come back to the open standards I mention above. For example OpenOffice will open many more file formats than Microsoft Office will. So, guess what? I use OpenOffice – not withstanding that it’s as capable as MS Office, and rather less expensive – free actually.

So that’s got around that issue, and as for portability OpenOffice runs just fine (ok, it runs faster too) on my Ubuntu machines as it does the Windows ones.

As does Firefox, and Thunderbird, my email client.

So now, I can grab a computer at a friends house, at a clients, or at an internet cafe, and I can blog, read/write/print documents, and communicate with my friends, family and colleagues.

At home we have a peer to peer network – so files aren’t stored on a central server, but with this kind of portability, I can be using my lappie or Kathy’s machine equally easily as my own main desktop.

OK, I can’t resist one more little dig, but no Microsoft product was used in the creation or transmission of this blog article.

June 10th, 2007 | Category: Computers, Ubuntu
  • I have been dealing with a few programs of late which require the Microsoft .NET framework installed. WTF exactly IS this? Microsoft do not spell out the meaning of this piece of bloatware apart from saying that it makes the interactive office experience easier by enabling co-workers to interact more easily with each other. from my experience it appears to install a few hundred megabytes of code which for many home users would find absolutely frikkin useless. I, myself cannot find any justification to install the dot net framework besides that some programs REQUIRE this to run. You look like an educated chap, perhaps you may be able to explain this to me, please? Help! I am on the verge of wiping my drive AND the other four machines on my network and going over to Kubuntu (with the Kde desktop)

    I would realy appreciate an educated opinion. jan@peecees.co.uk
  • Also I am extremely interested in the cross platform portability of files. MicroCoff appears to be against this ideal, prefering people to favour their own flavour of format. They appear to have been successful with many younger innexperienced bods, many of whom have asked me "How can I open this Word file?"

    People in general have been conditioned to thinking that you must have Microsoft Offfice installed to open a MS word file. Most are unaware that Word can save any file as a PDF. which would make their work aviliable to most OS's.

    How daft can you get?
  • Of course Microsoft is against it. That's the thing that annoys me about Microsoft so much, they want to tie you into them for everything, and abuse standards that are agreed worldwide to do so.

    You do NOT need Micorsoft Office to open a word file. You can download the excellent open source and free OpenOffice.


    It will read AND write word files, and also WordPerfect ones too (some folks still have word perfect).

    It also reads/writes Excel spreadsheets, and Powerpoint files, and MS-Access Databases too.

    It also has its own native OD (open Document ) format for these files, and they are considerably smaller if using the files locally or with someone else with open office, No need to use Word format then.

    I use both Windows and Linux machines here, and the cross platform capability is useful, and as OpenOffice, along with Firefox and Thunderbird, run on Linux machines as well as Windows ones, I dont' need to learn another program when switching machines.

    Linux flavor here? Ubuntu with Gnome desktop.
  • Thnx for the reply. You're the first person who has been able to explain in a nutshell what the framework is about. Most people I know, including the more literate ones install this stuff just because some other program requires it.

    I have always held off as unless I knew exactly what it was (it could have been anything, spyware etc.) but I will still avoid like the plague. Kubuntu is looking very attractive at the moment.

    Last year I installed Open Office for a girl friend who had been weaned on Microsoft stuff. I just recently at her bequest removed it from her machine as she found the interface "different".

    Some people just cant be bothered to learn anything different, so stuck in their ways. Microsoft? Resistance is futile - you will be assimilated.....
  • That's the reason why Microsoft have such a share of the market. Not because they produce the best product, but it's what most folks are 'weaned" on as you say.

    Microsoft products are necessarily all bad, but they're often not the best, yet it's all a lot of people know.

    I used to use MS office and Outlook myself, and when it came to paying out for yet another upgrade, I took a long hard look at OpenOffice/Thunderbird, and although I was a little unsure at first, it's grown on me, and I have no need at all to go back to the bloated, overpriced Microsoft offerings.

    I always compare Microsoft to McDonalds. Mediocre product; brilliant marketing. Again why search out a McDonalds when the burgers are smoe ofthe blandest, soggiest God-awful specimens on earth - literally.
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