The birth certificate of Web 2.0

There is to doubt, no more, the Microsoft war machine is set for a new objective. The Web 2.0 universe. Remember the Gates' Internet Tidal Wave memo that transformed (successfully) Microsoft?
(french version of this post)

We now have one for the "Disruptive Internet Services ".

Web 2.0 represents a transition from the isolated universe of lonely Web sites towards free flows of contents and open services based on a Web platform. Microsoft is aiming exactly at that.

Two " internal memos" just hit on Internet yesterday (November 9). One come from Bill Gates himself, the other of the chief technology officer Ray Ozzie.

Ones might be suspicious about memos' disclosure, but ones must say they reveal a tremendious move from the Redmont Giant toward Web 2.0 model (that they call "Internet Software Services").

This is a bomb!

The new battle field of Gates
Mr Gates declares, as serious and grave as in his memo about Internet Tidal Wave, that: "this coming" services wave "will be very disruptive. "

Gates stress out that the next wave will be the Web Services one: "We will build our strategies around Internet services and we will provide has broad set of service APIs and uses them in all of our key applications. "

The Microsoft's founder affirms, and I do not have hard time to believe him, that the company has the resources to harness the wave and to take advantage over it quickly.

But wait! Here's the crux: "Advertising has emerged have has powerful new means by which to directly and indirectly fund the creation and delivery of software and services along with subscriptions and license fees"

Advertising is recognized a vital vector on Internet! An explicit recognition of the Google business' model(that is, adSense, its key word advertising) as a viable model, trustable bet and the future of the software, the services and the contents on Internet.

That also means, that MS wants to beat Google on its own business' model, on its ground.

This announced the beginning of the Web Platforme war and this memo is really a declaration of war.

But not necessarily a dirty war.

The birth certificate of Web 2.0
In the second memo, the Ozzie's one, much longer, much more detailed and by far the most interesting and the most fruitful - this very memo indeed - it is the birth certificate of Web 2.0.

Not the birth itself. The birth certificate . Recognition, in other words, by the authority of the authorities, Microsoft itself, that the web 2.0 phenomenon forms a true basic wave. Lets call a cat a cat, "Internet Software Services" is Web 2.0 core phenomenon...

Yes. This phenomenon has existed for a few years, obviously. But as Microsoft speaks about it, and because it is precisely Microsoft itself. this will show the next move to so many more business people than all the blogosphere had succeeded in the five last years.

In other words, Microsoft has just made credible this phenomenon, simply by naming it.

The Ozzie Manifesto, " The Internet Services Disruption ", embrace three Key tenets:

1. The power of the advertising-supported economic model.

Online advertising has emerged as a significant new means by which to directly and indirectly fund the creation and delivery of software and services. In some cases, it may be possible for one to obtain more revenue through the advertising model than through a traditional licensing model.

2. The effectiveness of a new delivery and adoption model.

Products are now discovered through a combination of blogs, search keyword-based advertising, online product marketing and word-of-mouth. It’s now expected that anything discovered can be sampled and experienced through self-service exploration and download.

3. The demand for compelling, integrated user experiences that “just work”.

The PC has morphed into new form factors and new roles, and we increasingly have more than one in our lives – at work, at home, laptops, tablets, even in the living room. Cell phones have become ubiquitous. There are a myriad of handheld devices. Set-top boxes, PVRs and game consoles are changing what and how we watch television. Photos, music and voice communications are all rapidly going digital and being driven by software. Automobiles are on a path to become smart and connected. The emergence of the digital lifestyle that utilizes all these technologies is changing how we learn, play games, watch TV, communicate with friends and family, listen to music and share memories.

"Products must now embrace has" discover, learn, try, buy, recommend "cycle - sometimes with one of those phases being free, another AD-supported, and yet another being subscription-based. "

Complexity kills , Ozzie Says. It is necessary to develop light and reduce complexity.

And therefore: "We will design and license Windows and our Internet-based services have separate products, so customers edge choose Windows with gold without Microsoft' S services."

Yes, you didn't had hallucination. The Microsoft Internet services will be modular and works seemlessly with other services.

Shall I repeat if you didn't get it already : "We' ll design and license Windows and our services one terms that provide third left with the same ability to benefit from the Windows platform that Microsoft' S services enjoy."

I insist, please read again: "Our services innovations will include tight integration with the Windows customer via documented interfaces, so that competing services edge plug into Windows in the same manner have Microsoft' services. "

That is, the end of Web 1.0...

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References
Source of the scoop: Scripting News of Dave Winer
Memo from Bill Gates: Internet Software Services
Memo from Ray Ozzie: The Internet Services Disruption
Financial Times: The Microsoft memos revealed
Tim O' Reilly: What Is Web 2.0 (Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software)
Nicolas Carr: The amorality of Web 2.0 (just to show we aren't making religion out of Web 2.0)
News.com: Gates telegraphs Microsoft' S software services
News.com: Microsoft to reorg; Allchin to withdraws
NY Times: Crucial Internet Services, Microsoft Memos Say
Web 2.0 (wikipedia)
Web 2.0 posts sorted by Technorati