It is pretty exciting to see all the buzz around Web 2.0 & Ajax, having only just "dipped my toe in the water". I'm really liking what I see and I think given time the concepts will yet again revolutionize the way we view, use and manage computing. Note that I deliberately avoid use of the 'old' IT acronymn. IT is probably still what it is, but it just feels to old a term to still be using it.
The BIG question on my mind is how far can Web 2.0 be taken, such that it obviates the need for Desktop Management such as what currently is being done with products such as SMS in the Windows world (making up at least about 90% of the corporate desktops). In the same vain, it might render desktop virtualization techniques (such as server based computing and VMware player-like technologies) unnecessary as these technologies have arisen as an answer to the difficulty of managing the corporate desktop.
In such a new world the concept of ASP takes on new meaning as well. Will the new Web 2.0 incarnations of the 'old' standard productivity applications be offered only by a few big players (Google, Microsoft, Yahoo)? Will Web 2.0 change the paradigm such that our needs change and we f.i. no longer need full blown Word Processors because the only place we need to publish our data is on the Web. Should data be publish offline (to create a book or report) then I'm sure there will be tools available to compile and format our online data automatically such that it can be printed for offline usage.
One issue that I believe is unanswered by all Web 2.0 technology that I've seen today is that of security. In other words how well is my data protected from both external as well as internal threats. I don't think SSL is an answer here. At best a small part of the answer. If Web 2.0 is going to be a broad as possible solution, viable from the mom & pop shops right thru to the large enterprises, we need to have answers (solutions) that deal with (federated) Identify and Access Management questions to deal with distrectionary as well as mandatory access control across the Web 2.0 world...
technorati tags: Web2.0, Desktop, Management
