What to expect from Web 3.0

Any veteran of the software industry will tell you that version 2.0 of any product tends to be a short-lived staging post on the way to 3.0, which is where it finally hits the mark. There is a possibility that Web 2.0 also turns out to be just a staging post on the way to a much more mature and durable Web 3.0 and it is going to deliver a new generation of business applications. There could be some new players like WebEx, WebSideStory, NetSuite etc. along with the old players like Google, Amazon etc. As with any shift from one generation to the next, there's plenty of scope for new leaders to emerge.

One thing about Web 3.0 is that it isn't just about shopping, entertainment and search. It's also going to deliver a new generation of business applications that will see business computing converge on the same fundamental on-demand architecture as consumer applications.

The Web 3.0 is divided into three (and a half) distinct layers: API services, Aggregation services, Application services, Serviced clients (half layer).

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What is Open Office and How do I use it ?

Open Office is an Open source software, which is absolutely FREE for all to use. To make things easier it is also compatible with Microsoft Office Suite.

Contributed by:

Romit Dasgupta

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New funding values LinkedIn at $1 billion

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - LinkedIn, an online destination for professional networking, raised $53 million from investors in a fourth round of financing, giving the company an estimated valuation of just over $1 billion, LinkedIn Chief Executive Dan Nye said.
Private equity firm Bain Capital's Bain Capital Ventures led the investment round, and LinkedIn's existing investors, venture capital firms Sequoia Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners and Greylock Partners also put in money, the company said.
Jeffrey Glass, Venture Partner at Bain Capital Ventures, said the $1 billion valuation is a "big number if you think about it in absolute terms."
But Bain felt comfortable with its calculation given LinkedIn's popularity and the growth opportunities that lie ahead, Glass said. "We... feel like we'll make a nice set of multiples on our money."
A handful of Web 2.0 start-ups, providing people innovative ways to interact online, have recently secured high valuations.

Source: Reuters

Full Article: http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSN1625440420080618

Comments :

A lot of us would find the valuations of Social Networks creeping up while the general market is at a Low. Ever wondered why it is so? In my personal opinion, I feel that social networks will revolutionize the future of Search Technology.

Social Networks have already started making a move from being associated with “products” to being a “technology”. Very soon, We would hear people say, “This product is built using Social Networking Technology”

On a Philosophical note, life is all about who knows who, i.e Personal Networks. Very often we hear people giving their Introduction by qualifying their personal connections. This is exactly what Social Networks have done. In years to come, I expect to see more “focus group” networks than general purpose networks. It’s a space that every youngster should watch out for. Just remember that Mark Zuckerberg founded Facebook while he was still a student at Harvard.
He was a teenager then, and today 4 years later, Facebook is valued at over 15 Billion US Dollars…

Romit Dasgupta

(Globsyn Business School)

Who Will Rule The New Internet?

It's been riveting to watch three of the most innovative companies in Silicon Valley—each representing a fundamental phase of the information era—battle it out. Apple, Google and Facebook are, respectively, an icon from the pioneering days of personal computers; the biggest, most profitable company yet born on the Web; and a feisty upstart whose name is synonymous with the current migration to social networks.

In many ways, these companies are technology's standard-bearers, though their guiding philosophies differ. Google, for instance, advocates an "open" Web and tends to push for open standards and alliances among developers. Facebook, with its gated community of 70 million active users, offers a more controlled experience and, so far at least, wants to keep its users safely within its walls. Apple comes from the old world. Its elegant products cocoon customers from the chaos of the information age, but the Apple experience tends to be highly controlled, with Apple hardware at the end points and Apple software and services, like the iTunes Music Store, in between.

The winners of the platform wars stand to make billions selling devices, selling eyeballs to advertisers, selling services such as music, movies, even computer power on demand. Yet the outcome here is far more important than who makes the most money. The future of the Internet—how we get information, how we communicate with one another and, most important, who controls it—is at stake.

source: an excerpt from CNN.com

Full Article : www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1811814,00.html