There has been quite some buzz about web 2.0 over the last year or. I suppose almost everyone working with development and design has read Tim O’Reilly’s article What is Web 2.0, so I will not go into details about that.

What strikes me the most when browsing developer and company sites these days is that it seems like there are two kinds of persons speaking about Web 2.0 – designers and developers. Not surprisingly these two groups have cornered themselves into positions it’s hard to escape from: While most developers I know keep saying “I hate all that hype. I’ve been doing that in JavaScript for the last 83 years or so”, designers like it because it looks good – or at least so I’m told they think.

So what do I think? For starters I sometimes feel like Sheryl Crow with all the hip things going around:

Don’t like the scene anyhow
I dropped acid on a Saturday night
Just to see what the fuss was about.
There goes the neighborhood.

I’m not in love with the idea about Web 2.0 because it is trendy. Anyone who’s seen my wardrobe should know that I’m not really into trends (or they should consider buying a magazine about fashion). I think Web 2.0 is cool because it makes me able to do stuff that wasn’t possible on the web some years ago.

I like to get RSS feeds in my browser, I like the open minded approach of wikipedia (even though I haven’t contributed myself), I like that even my friends can create a blog, et cetera. Especially I like that you don’t have to have a clue about syndication, create database tables and XMLHTTP requests.

With Web 2.0 applications you can access your information anywhere anytime without using Microsoft VPN and other old school techniques. I personally find it unbelievable that in the year 2006 I haven’t got the same possibilities when I’m not around at the office because of mere technicalities; Microsoft VPN just doesn’t do the work and Outlook Web Access is so bad it is upright insulting - even though Microsoft has made use of all the stuff that is hip in Web 2.0. Gmail, however, lets me read my mails when I want it the way I want it.

Also I like to personalize applications in my browser, just as I do whenever I get a new program or switch machine – what is important features for most persons not apply to my use. Netvibes and live.com let’s me do that.

Wordpress let’s anyone create a blog in five minutes – even me. I couldn’t care less if Wordpress is written in PHP, ASP or assembly language. It makes me focus on the task at hand (writing something interesting) and takes care of all the boring stuff like updating the menu, archive, search functions and so on.

But this is not a matter of technology and some of the stuff you’ve mentioned has been possible for some years now, I hear my developer friends cry out. Well, that’s just fine by me. It might have been available for programmers, but I’m not interested in programmers – I’m interested in genuine people like the ones you meet in the metro.

This is similar to mobile phones; I don’t care if my mobile uses GSM, UMTS, WLAN or a fourth fancy technology. That I’ll leave to some engineers at SonyEricsson or my phone company. I don’t even want to know if the work is done by SonyEricsson or my phone company. I care if my mobile does what I want it to.

Call it DHTML, AJAX, ATLAS or Web 2.0… Call it what you want. The point is not what it is called or some specific programming language. The point is that anyone can benefit from it.

So why is this post relevant for the average user of TraceWorks products? Because we’ve put a lot a development hours in making our forthcoming product flexible – you can drag and drop boxes and charts just as you like. We don’t know what is important to you – but surely you do. Also you don’t have to reload the whole page every time you make a minor change, but only the section you’ve changed.

You see we don’t just add fancy stuff because it sounds smart, but because it makes our applications smarter, faster and better.