By now, everyone has visited a website that utilizes Flash multimedia within its design. Since 1996, the use of Flash has grown in popularity thanks to its ability to add animation and interactivity to websites. More recently, Flash has become an essential component in the prolific distribution of intrusive “pop-ups,” or web-based advertisements. Flash also grants designers the ability to integrate video into web pages, and this has led many within the Web 2.0 space to use Flash to develop rich Internet applications. Many companies, including my own, Denver interactive agency Fusionbox, offer streaming Flash Video Solutions to clients in need of online video.
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Everybody is now talking about Web 2.0, a Web that is more dynamic, richer, more interactive, and, ultimately – much more exciting than anything we know now. It’s just human nature to look for unusual and new stuff. But, what does that mean for business applications?

Let’s look at Google Maps. Yes, we are all excited by Google Maps. It looks great. It is very interactive. And, most importantly, it behaves completely differently from what we expect to see in a “normal” browser. But, compared to any realistic business application – say something like trivial Internet banking – Google Maps is nothing. It supports just a few use cases compared to the hundreds or thousands of use cases for a typical business application.
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Websites have changed significantly in the Web 2.0 world. The youtube generation has quite different expectations about websites in general. For starters, websites with plain HTML forms and smartly laid text are passé, and are being replaced by websites full of dynamic content: Google Maps, Gap’s highly interactive website and Nike’s all new Flash website are all examples of the new generation of websites. Not only are the sites getting richer – more rich media, video etc. – they enable users to do a lot more. Companies like Timberland, Ikea, Home Depot, Sherwin Williams, have created websites that offer sophisticated applications that allow users to create-a-custom-product or try-before-you-buy.
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Web 2.0 is the term used for web based applications that allow more interaction and collaboration between users. Examples of Web 2.0 technology are blogs, wikis, podcasts, RSS feeders and interactive websites, such as YouTube and SecondLife. These resources can be searched for information that you can use for papers and projects.
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Prior to 2001, web sites were relatively static, designed to push information to users in a manner that was not interactive. But proving that adversity can be the path to enlightenment, following the dot-com crash in late 2001 a new, stronger Web emerged. And unlike its predecessor, the new Web lived up to its name – sites became sticky hubs of interactive content, constantly changing and morphing based on the wants and needs of its visitors. Today, the technology that enables Web 2.0 is merely the vehicle, the transport mechanism from point A to point B. It is the user – those members of the particular web community – who ultimately drives the destination.
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