Anyone who remotely follows technology, and even some of those who don't, has heard the term "Web 2.0". I've heard it used and misused in several different ways, and there is quite a bit of discussion about whether or not it is the next big thing, or the next bubble. Regardless, a crop of products leveraging "Web 2.0" technologies has been popping up that are bringing on the "Office 2.0" era.

What is "Web 2.0"? Real briefly, let me just clarify that when I mention "Web 2.0", I am generally referring to the underlying implementation technology. This usually means AJAX, or Asynchronous JavaScript And XML, but could also be Java, Flash or something similiar. If you aren't a programmer or web-person, that probably doesn't mean much. To the end user, it just means a technology that lets web pages communicate with the server and update just a portion of the web page instead of having to go to a whole new page or redraw the entire page. Perhaps the most famous example is Google Maps. If you want to see what the hub-bub is about, go to Google Maps and enter your home address. Zoom in. Zoom out. Pan left. Pan right. Now, go to Mapquest and do the same thing. See the difference? The adoption of this technology is spurring a whole new generation of web applications that are bringing functionality into your browser that once was only possible on the desktop. If you want more info, read Tim O'Reily's Blog on the subject.

OK, so then what is "Office 2.0"? The essence of Office 2.0 is that your daily productivity tools move onto the web. You don't keep your files on your computer, you keep them on the web. That way, they are universally accessible. But it is even beyond that, in that you don't need any, well, much, software on the computer. Want to make a Word document, but don't have MS Office? No problem. Need to make a flow chart, but don't have Visio? Piece of cake! How about managing all of your digital pictures? Gotchya' covered. So what? Well, that depends on the user. In my case, I work on three different computers during the course of the week. My workstation at home, my workstation at home, and a notebook. I thought I was cool when I was the last guy on the block with a USB drive so I could take my files from computer to computer to computer. But then I stumbled on this blog and was immediately intrigued. Since then, I've gone from copying files from USB drive to computer to USB Drive to computer ad nausium to using these various "Office 2.0" productivity tools. I'm hooked. This week, I've been slowly adding my Favorites from my various computers in my Del.icio.us account. Now, all my Favorites are in one place and I can get to them from anywhere. I can even share them with everybody.

"...share them with everybody." This is actually what many people say is the central theme to "Web 2.0". The "social" aspect. Let's explore that a bit further.

My other interest in Web/Office 2.0 is in "collaboration" tools. That's another hot buzzword right now. So what's the deal? Well, imagine the situation where you have 5 people on a team working on a project. What if they all live and work in different cities? What is the best way for them to communicate? Share ideas? How do they brainstorm? Sure, this isn't a new problem at all, but there are a lot of new products on the market that can be very useful for these types of teams. One of the features of most of the Web 2.0 products is the ability to share, or "publish", your work. This could be to the general public, or just to private groups. ThinkFree.com allows you to create a Word or Excel document and share it. One of my favorite sites is Imagination Cubed's whiteboard. This was made as part of a marketing campaign for GE, but really shows what can be done. For many software developers and engineers, a whiteboard is a critical part of almost daily communications. Being able to have a geographically disperse team effectively whiteboard is a coup (unfortunately, I don't think I^3's site is the answer yet).

A couple of companies, like Zoho are trying to package an entire "web-top" (i.e., a play on the word "desktop") into a single application. I'm interested in these, because piecing together all the best of breed applications is a bit of work. Then again, being tied to a single solution keeps you from seeing just how good the options might actually be.

Perhaps that is why I am so interested, even excited, about "Office 2.0": it stands to rock the status quo and break the stagnation of the core office technology that I attribute to the lack of competition that has pervaded ever since Microsoft took hold of the desktop. But now, engineers and entrepreneurs are reaching users without having to get them to install anything, and the innovation is flowing. That is always good for the consumer, and it will be fun to watch the market, and the story, unfold.

--Chris