Web 4.0: A New Hype

posted by Jeff Moriarty on November 14, 2006

Here at Intel we’re no longer the stodgy, behind the curve company your parents (or perhaps your older siblings) remember. No, we’re now hip, happening, trendy, and zippy. We’re so far out in front we can see the back of our own heads. Web 2.0 may have been about web applications and combining data, and Web 3.0 may have been about the great availability of the super-information cloud through aggregated applications leveraging articulated APIs, but now we’re on the dawn of the cusp of Web 4.0, and Intel is in the lead.

Web 4.0 is the impending state at which all information converges into a great ball of benevolent self-aware light, and solves every problem from world peace to why Lost stinks this season. All humans will begin working 24x7 to feed our new data overlord on a steady diet of email, PowerPoint foils, and cute pictures of our grandkids and/or dogs. The final transition to this state of computational bliss will be achieved by the soon to be announced Super Core Infinity Grande processor line, which puts an infinite number of cores in a single processor. We will officially announce this processor the day before a nameless competitor announces their Infinity+1 line of processors, which will puncture a hole in the fabric of space and destroy us all. The upside of this annihilation is that it will prevent anyone from coming up with Web 5.0…

…or not…

All seriousness aside, “Web 2.0” gives me a raging headache. In the battle of Style vs. Substance, this topic spends too much time in the wardrobe department. I hear the tale of Web 2.0 in grand, sweeping terms, with rare details. I hear it from people who seem more concerned with being attached to “the next big thing” than really driving value from it. I hear it from companies whose managers read about Web 2.0 in a magazine, and want to catch the vibe. And if I hear one more frothy Web 2.0 evangelist tells me it is primarily about the “culture”, he had better start running.

I get this Headache 2.0 because there is something of value at the core that I want, but all the hype makes it harder to achieve. Marty asked about this value, so here’s my answer. What I’m after from this Brave New Paradigm is the value that comes from combining data, letting it flow, and having it influence people (and companies) in unexpected ways. Intel’s culture is still one of separated groups and deep structure. We could be an immensely more agile company if we had more open, dynamic dialogues, both internally and between us and our customers. Yet we struggle with the most basic elements. Our internal blogs get little use, and the few managers that do “blog” mostly just have their assistants put up press-releases once a month. (Marty is one of the exceptions). Not much discussion there. We have an internal wiki that is doing well, and just celebrated its 1st Birthday, but is grossly underutilized for a company like Intel. Even these external blogs arrived only after fierce battles and crazy amounts of approvals and red tape.

The people inside Intel that see the value of these tools and free-flowing information are pushing hard, and change is starting to come, but I can’t help but think how much further along we would be if people weren’t expecting glorious shining lights and fresh minty breath just by being in the same room as this stuff. I laughed out loud when we announced our SuiteTwo Web 2.0 package. We’re Web 2.0, are we cool yet?

Perhaps Web 2.0 is just like any other Flavor of the Moment that sweeps our industry. If you believe in its value you just have to roll up your sleeves, brace yourself for a lot of fights, and directly participate in making it happen… there is no short cut. I just think it would be a danged sight easier if the carnival barkers would shut up for a while. Well… if not easier, at least it would be quieter.

Comments (8)

tagged: blog, infinity, information, transformation, Web 2.0, wiki