Web 2.0 is about data abstraction. All those Web 2.0 functions people love to talk about, such as tagging, sharing, XML, open APIs (define), and mashups, only became possible because we now understand how to free information from containers. Though the Web credo “information wants to be free” has been around for a while, we’ve only recently been able to make it happen. Pulling information out of proprietary containers allows you to do pretty much whatever you want with it, whether driving collaborative sites, interfacing with mobile devices, or something else.

Web 2.0 takes broadband and Moore’s Law for granted. Sites like YouTube and Google Docs & Spreadsheets wouldn’t be possible in a non-broadband world populated by powerful computers. All Web 2.0′s multimedia features, especially video, start with the assumption bandwidth is basically free and readily accessible.

via [webdeveloper2]