Web 2.0 weenies are partial to science fiction, perhaps because they write a lot of it in their business plans. Over the past several months, however, a new trend in Web 2.0 science fiction has begun to emerge: the use of higher numbers after the "Web" to talk (often satirically) about The Future. Apparently this got started in January when Jeffrey Zeldman joked about Web 3.0 after accurately characterizing shop talk about Web 2.0 as "a taste of ass." Then Philipp Lenssen posted the above graphic, which shows how much people were using phrases like "Web X.0" on the Interblags about 11 months ago.
It's worth noting that use of "Web 10.0" is now up to 34,000,000 hits, so this chart is a bit out of date. You have to go up to "Web 20.0" to get to a sparse 1,000,000 hits (one of which, from Yup.com, is tragically earnest in its description of the company's space as "more like Web 20.0").
There's also a new blog called Web 3.0, whose author writes frighteningly:
I think the short answer is yes.
I love Jabber, but their PR folks should be slapped for calling their company's new product "Jabber Messenger for the Web 5.0." Does that mean I can't use it until we've reached The Footur?
Jeffrey points out that his neighbors are converting their garage into a new internet that will be the platform for web 6.0. "If my neighbors can build Web 6.0 in their garage, you might be able to build 6.1 in yours," he points out sagely.
Meanwhile, over at "Welcome to the Home of Web 8.0," Chris Minnick predicts that Web 8.0 will be exactly like Web 2.0,
but that the intervening Webs will be crippled by censorware and "totalbreakdown." So Web 8.0 will be the renaissance of today'sporno-saturated wonderland.
But what will happen at Web 100.0? Isn't that long past the Singularity? Well, there are only about 60 hits for it on Google, so you can swoop in now and make it YOUR SCIENCE FICTION MEME. If you want to arm the human race against the future, it's time to start talking Web 100.0.
