Are you Web 2.0 yet? Check against this list if you are not sure.

I am expecting our readers reaction to this article’s title as something like - What!! another web 2.0 article? … I don’t believe this.

I know the hype around Web 2.0 is over and how web evangelists are talking about the death of Web 2.0. But I think a lot of people are still not doing it right. So I have gathered a brief list of characteristics of Web 2.0 web sites.

Checklist of characteristics for Web 2.0 Applications -

• Internet as a platform
  Your Application is delivered entirely through a browser, or even a micro-browser that resides on a handheld device such as a PDA or mobile phone.
• Collaborative environment
  Your app act as a hub for sharing content. Your app or site is fully controlled by users i.e. Users may supply, even control, the published content.
• Social Networking
  Your app include features that connect people with common interests.
• Mashups
  Your web app site allows third-party applications to integrate both data and functions from existing ones.
• Rich media interfaces
  Your Web app uses Flash, AJAX or any other kind of Rich Media interactions. Compared to the original concept of the Web as a collection of HTML hypertext documents, user interfaces are now more dynamic and more interactive, incorporating a variety of media including audio and video streams and voice interactions.

So if you think you have Web 2.0 site, think again and check against this list.

Now after reading the article - Do you really think you have have a web 2.0 app? or if you would like to add to this list Please feel free to leave your comments at the end of article under comments section.

Free (few Open Source) Browser and OS releases coming in 2009

Microsoft Corp intend to keep up the pace with Internet Explorer 8

Mozilla’s Firefox 3.5 promises a native parser for JavaScript Object Notation (JSON), a data exchange format frequently used in Web apps, and several features to enhance rich media Web content, including support for the HTML 5 video element and the Ogg Vorbis and Theora open audio and video codecs.

And then there’s new version of Google’s Chrome browser, based on the open-source WebKit engine. The company is playing it close to the vest, but we do know Mac and Linux versions of the browser are in development.

 

Ubuntu 9.04, the Jaunty Jackalope.

Linux fans have much to look forward to, too. Following the release of Ubuntu 9.04, the "Jaunty Jackalope," in April, the Ubuntu team is planning for Ubuntu 9.10, the "Karmic Koala," to see the light of day in October 2009. Among the promised new features are integration with the Amazon EC2 APIs, so users can set up their own cloud using entirely open tools, and a kernel mode setting for a smooth and flicker-free start-up. The Ubuntu Netbook Edition will get the latest technology from the mobile Internet project Moblin, including better screen support.

Every other Linux distribution is sure to get better, too, along with associated operating system components. For example, openSUSE 11.2, scheduled for November, should include KDE 4.3, GNOME 2.28, Linux kernel 2.6.30 (or higher), a Web-based YaST interface and netbook support.

Red Hat Fedora 11 is slated for release by this summer, with several updates. The project’s goals include making Fedora boot and shut down faster (you’d be at the log-in screen in 20 seconds), changing supported architectures and default installed kernels, and improving support for fingerprint readers.

Will Google be able to buy Twitter? or will they start there own Gwitter?

There has been speculations of Google trying to buy out Twitter since TechCrunch break the news on 2nd April this week. There has been rumors around the tech world that Internet will soon hear the news of a take over or a merger. You can have an idea of the pace at which news is spreading by the frequency of update - TechCrunch have three updates of the news since 2nd April.

Breaking news on TechCrunch -

Here’s a heck of a rumor that we’ve sourced from two separate people close to the negotiations: Google is in late stage negotiations to acquire Twitter. We don’t know the price but can assume its well, well north of the $250 million valuation that they saw in their recent funding.

Update 1 (2/3/09)

Yet another source says the acquisition discussions are still fairly early stage, and the two companies are also considering working together on a Google real time search engine. But discussions between the companies are confirmed.

Update 2 (3/3/09)

Google’s internal valuation, however, would value the company at a token premium above Twitter’s last round of financing valuation, around $250 million. Some Twitter insiders want the deal, but our sources say CEO Evan Williams wouldn’t sell even for $1 billion. “He may blink, but he wouldn’t do it,” said one source.

Update 3 (4/3/09)

In a non-denial blog post entitled “Sometimes We Talk” Twitter co-Founder Biz Stone says: “It should come as no surprise that Twitter engages in discussions with other companies regularly and on a variety of subjects.”

Would Google pay more than $1 billion for Twitter? No idea. But it seems like Google has not been successful to strike a deal so far.

But there’s no way Microsoft lets a deal be negotiated without putting its bid in, too. And if these two giants see Twitter as the future of search, $1 billion is peanuts.

Well I do wonder though - With all the expertise and money that both Google and Microsoft have, Will it not be easier for them just to create there own Gwitter (Google’s version of Twitter) or probably Mwitter (Microsoft’s version of Twitter). Well this is open for discussion, please leave your comments in the Comments section.

Meanwhile, business discussions between Twitter and Google continue. The deal Google wants is a real time feed of Twitter updates to speed indexing. Without that feed Google must independently index each Twitter user periodically to look for updates. That means it will be dreadfully slow in grabbing all those Twitter posts. And it will also be very expensive from a computing resource standpoint. A real time feed would be of huge value to Google, and they would be smart to nail down a long term deal sooner rather than later.

Web Platform Installer (Click once install) Beta 2.0 released for Windows 7, Vista SP1, and XP SP3

The Microsoft Web Platform Installer has evolved this week from version 1.0 to 2.0. In fact, as MIX09 debuted, the Redmond company made available for download the Beta development milestone of Web Platform Installer 2.0.

Web Platform installer 2.0 beta allows users to install popular open source ASP.NET and PHP web apps with the Web PI. This feature was not there in Web platform installer 1.0.

Web Platform Installer 2.0 Beta is only supported on Windows Vista RTM and SP1, Windows XP SP2 and SP3, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008. However, the bits also manage to integrate with the next iteration of the Windows operating system, Windows 7. With version 2.0 the software giant aims to take the already simplified download and install process of its collection of web solutions a step further.

“It includes everything that you need to get up and running to build your web solutions – from servers, tools, and technologies, including the most recently updated products. This means you don’t have to go to a different website and download to set up your dev machines or servers! With the WebPI, you can install the entire stack all from one website – www.microsoft.com/web and one installer. Additionally, the WebPI installs the community version of PHP 5.2.9-1 so you have easy integration with popular web applications. All you need is a Windows machine or hosted version of Windows,” revealed Mark Brown, Microsoft senior product manager.

What is Web Platform Installer? or as I call it - Click Once Install for Microsoft Web Solutions.

The WebPI provides a simplified download/install experience for Microsoft’s free web products. It includes everything that you need to get up and running to build your web solutions – from servers, tools, and technologies, including the most recently updated products. This means you don’t have to go to a different website and download to set up your dev machines or servers! With the WebPI, you can install the entire stack all from one website – www.microsoft.com/web and one installer. Additionally, the WebPI installs the community version of PHP 5.2.9-1 so you have easy integration with popular web applications. All you need is a Windows machine or hosted version of Windows.

What makes the Web Platform Installer 2.0 Beta - 

• IIS 5.1, 6.0 or 7.0 depending on your version of Windows
• SQL Server 2008 Express
• .NET Framework 3.5 SP1
• Visual Web Developer 2008 Express Edition
• IIS Extensions including: Media Services 3.0, Admin Pack, DB Manager, WebDav 7.5, FTP 7.5, FastCGI for PHP support, URL Rewriter, Application Routing, Web Deployment Tool
• ASP.NET and features such as ASP.NET MVC
• Silverlight Tools for Visual Studio
• The Community Version of PHP v5.2.9-1

Microsoft Azure now supports PHP and allows full trust development

Microsoft at the Mix09 conference on Wednesday revealed several moves intended to bolster its Windows Azure cloud computing platform, adding support for PHP application development and native code as well as full trust capabilities.

Some important highlights of the announcements at conference -

• Managed code to native code support
• Enablement of full trust, which is how most applications or services are written
• Offering FastCGI support to allow PHP development

"Basically, the Windows Server team has done a ton of work with FastCGI that allows Windows Server to now support programming languages beyond just .Net and Visual Studio," said Prashant Ketkar, director of product marketing for cloud infrastructure services at Microsoft, in an interview at the conference in Las Vegas.. Through the FastCGI interface, developers can take existing PHP skills and PHP applications and services and run them on Azure.

Microsoft’s vision is to open up the platform to more languages, Ketkar said. Microsoft wants Azure to offer a "frictionless" development platform beyond just supporting .Net development, he said.

With full trust capabilities, Microsoft is expanding Azure beyond the medium trust capabilities that it had had since its original launch at the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference in October 2008.

What will FastCGI support do?

FastCGI allows developers to deploy and run web applications written with 3rd party programming languages such as PHP. This provides developers using non-Microsoft languages the ability to take advantage of scalability on Windows Azure.

From Azure’s official website -

One of our goals for MIX was to give our developers more flexibility while ensuring they still benefit from the unique time-saving deployment, monitoring, and management features of Windows Azure.  One way in which we went about this was to enable IIS FastCGI module in the Web role.  This module enables developers to deploy and run applications written with 3^rd party programming languages such as PHP.

Now this is the good news for PHP developers. Probably we can see some fellow blogger’s moving there blog hosting to Windows Azure with there PHP built blogs in WordPress and Drupal (depending on the cost though).

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