This weekend Mark Cuban sets off the webosphere’s flocking instinct by asserting that the internet is dead and boring. Sexy title aside, he does raise some good points about the web as a utility. Unfortunately, despite my best efforts I have to side with the pundits on this one and disagree with his sentiment.

Is The Internet Dead?

The Question: Is the internet dead, or at least so boring that it might as well be?

Of course not. Is the internet becoming less “novel”, maybe. Saying the internet is dead because it has become a utility, would be like saying that a gaming console is dead as soon as developers learn how to use it to its full potential. The web is in no way on its death bed, instead I would say that it’s quickly approaching awkward adolescence.

Right now programmers, pundits and marketers are bashing their heads against the wall trying to figure out what this “internet” thing is good for. Social networks, social media, social news, collaborative authoring, all of these buzz words are what we have come up with so far. They are by no means what the internet will end up being.

Like a child who spent his early years wanting to be a Fireman and ended up as a Tax Attorney, the internet is still trying to find itself. The exciting territory is not going to be found if all you see the internet as is a platform to roll your own social network. The exciting landscape is exploring how the web can be used to make other technology better. Mobile phones, expert systems, medical technology, collaborative learning all of these products and industries could benefit substantial from a “Web 2.0″ makeover.

What we need to see more of are those at the bleeding edge of web technology, looking back at industries outside of their sphere of concern and trying to come up with innovative ways that the web to improve upon them. Allowing doctors to collaborate on a diagnoses, mobile classrooms where professors from all over the world can teach a subject at the same time to a class of millions, even something as simple as mobile web technology that actually “worked” all the time. These are just the random thoughts floating around in my brain, they represent not even a fraction of what is still left to do on the web.

Web 2.0 Roundup

We might all be just a little bit too caught up in the present to see the difference between growing pains and stagnation. The web is alive and kicking, though if you stare too long into the echo chamber it’s difficult to see that. Whether it becomes a utility or not, that is not necessarily the sign of a technologies death. As long as there are still paths along which innovation can come, and those willing to take the time to innovate, the internet still has a few more good years left in it.

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