alpha…beta…gamma…delta…epsilon… (etc.)
I’m hating that the web is in beta. Everywhere you turn. Every site you visit. Every link you click. This four letter sequence hits you like it’s supposed to mean something. There’s no point in websites being in beta. Not when they’re working fine and have been for over a year now! Take gmail for instance. Is there anything wrong yet? Has it not been tested enough? The fact that they keep adding features to it does not qualify it to still be in a beta stage. I have even seen websites in alpha version! People, alpha versions are not supposed to be used publicly anyway! Oh yeah, and flickr is in “gamma”? What’s up with that? Are they just going to go through the whole Greek alphabet until they run out of letters? Is this the new way to name versions of software now? Or is this just another web 2.0 trend (don’t even get me started on the whole “web 2.0″ shindig)? Because, let me tell you, omega is not for another 21 letters and if it takes THAT long for them to go through the first three then I don’t even want to think about how long it will take them to finish this project.
OK, I should stop ranting now.
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Gmail surely still is beta. They just only started the implementation with other platform like Calendar and they surely still have a long way to go.
Flickr explained that Gamma was to have a laugh at the beta-hype, but actually meant that they are non-stop updating their product and working at it.
Otherwise, having studied the web2.0 quite some time now, there surely is such a thing and it is damn innovating. But this week it died, and old school companies, Dotcoms or MainStream Media have accepted the influence of it and are starting to buy out or launch their own platform.
Get ready for Web3.0 now.
Commented on November 12th, 2006 at 12:45 pmI didn’t read about flickr’s gamma stage being a joke but I trust you did.
As for web 2.0, I am not saying there isn’t such a thing. But not everything carrying a gradient banner with a glass reflection and the word “beta” stamped at the top is part of web 2.0. Adding a little bit of AJAX code that will display a clock(only an example I’m not talking about a specific site) but will break the back button of your browser does not qualify as web 2.0!
OK, seriously, I should never talk about these things, they always get me ranting!
I think many people look to much at the technical part of websites when judging the web2.0.
It is more about interaction, sharing (read : as well content as services, hell maybe even widgets that break your back button, a button you can finally use now more and more people ditch target=”_blank”) and new possibilities.
Never have there been that many options to use (free) services, interact and even to build your own thing within minutes.
Gradients, glass reflexions aso, damn go hate Apple. Every time they launch a new sub-site, all the
sheepdesigners have to imitate this and create a new hype. Although I must admit that the 30’s wallpaper dark backgrounds never featured on an Apple page, but I do see them way too often lately.But still the web looks better. And often thanks to new services.
Also the user-generated content has started a new online era, one I estimate more than traditional (main stream) media dictating me what is going on in the world and trying to manipulate my thoughts.
Yesterday I had to accept the opinion of one journalist, today I have 400 bloggers writing about the same thing and every second week the same stuff on digg’s homepage and tomorrow I will have 4000 people
writing that digg is over-ratedbeing critical. Almost daily I get to read more and moreBSin-depth analysis about the stuff that interests one/me. I think that is the nice thing about web-d’oh.And also developers actually listen to their crowd. Even retailers start to do so.
Technology? Will always evolve, no matter if online or offline (funny how Firefox 2 spell checker doesn’t recognize/accept offline - lmao)
But to resume, I’ld rather be an alpha male than a gamma one.
Commented on November 20th, 2006 at 10:02 pmHere’s the link for Gamma. Found in the help section.
As for Gmail, I guess even Google doesn’t know yet where they are heading, but I don’t think they see it as just an email platform. Many things can/will still be implemented. Spreadsheets and Docs, Calendar, Click to Call, Maps and last but not least geo-targetted ads (hopefully based on click behavior, smart ads?)
Actually come to think off, I don’t think Gmail is a final product, but rather a service they have planned to implement in something else.
Google Apps maybe? The problems encountered with Gmail at Google Apps justify why the service still is in beta stage. Several users have reported that emails got lost, or that mails ended up being marked spam.
Actually did you know that there are only 50k Gmail users so far? One would have thought this number to be much higher. And 30k probably are spam engines.
And now I’ll stop. And notice how nice I was not to integrate links to all those Google services
Commented on November 20th, 2006 at 10:24 pmColin, especially for you : The mother of all modern Betas, Google in 1998.
Commented on November 23rd, 2006 at 5:25 pm