Lots of questions. My take on the answers (in order):

How do you build an architecture of participation?

The same way you have been, by providing services that will allow your visiters to interact with you as the author, and each other, as peers.

Is collaborative filtering only possible on large data stores?

No, it can be done on any arbitrarily sized data store. However, it usually doesn’t make too much sense if you have a small data set. Collaborative filtering is important when you have an impossibly large data set, and you want to find information that other people also find interesting.

What is the difference between Web 2.0 and the Semantic Web?

W2 is about interaction and user experience. Semantic Web is a tool that enables W2. Semantic Web implies all content will have a meaning that is understood by machines, closing the human-computer gap.

Is Ajax a Web 2.0 technology? Does the distinction matter?

Yes. We’ve defined W2 as being about interaction through standards-based interfaces. Ajax enables this. The distinction matters only as much as W2 is an abstract concept or collection, whereas Ajax is a concrete tool to enable W2

Is there a future for a web-based Office suite?

Not a robust one. People tend to forget the large swaths of the world without broadband on this planet.

How long will the distinction between a search engine and a blog search engine last?

A blog search engine is a subset/refined search by a “real” search engine. There isn’t a distinction today –except in the presentation. It’s all data.

Will RSS or Atom supercede XHTML as the display format of choice?

Considering XHTML is XML, as is RSS, I don’t think it matters too much. However, if we’re trying to move to a W2 model, you’ll want to encourage the interactive, community-building aspects that a “real” web browser will allow (think forums).

Who controls content?

The Author.

What’s the difference between an application, a platform, an API, and an interface?

They still have the same definitions from Intro to CompSci 101. These definitions won’t change.

How do you monetize…X?

The same way everyone does now. Banner ads.

What are the limits of social software?

Conceptually, there are no limits to social software. Currently, the technology dictates the limitations (bandwidth, XHTML/CSS/DOM, mouse, screen, etc.)

What will Microsoft do?

They will wait. They don’t need to push forward, as they still hold on to the lion’s share of the browser market. We, in our über-cutting edge bubble always fail to remember how small that bubble really is.

Who’s Buying Who[m]?

It seems a lot of companies are going for diversity. Expect it to continue.

Is Web 2.0 a marketing ploy, or something real?

It is both. These ideas aren’t incongruous.

eep. Your preview is showing the mark-up, but when I actually hit post, it’s stripping out the tags. That should have been a definition list. Would it be possible to 1) tell us what tags are available, and 2) change the live preview to be accurate based on (1)?

Wait, what parts of Flash are going open-source?

Joshua, I just found your blog yesterday and subscribed. I selected to answer your posted questions over on my blog today: http://www.gideonmarken.com/index.cfm?blog=515

Thanks for the effort and time, I’ll be reading

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In Reply To: Andrew

I’m not sure what ‘parts’ of Flash Joshua is referring to – possibly Laszlo: http://www.openlaszlo.org/ which is
an xml-based mechanism for generating Flash components and pages – and is now open source. The demos are slick!

CM, I reformatted your post. And your suggestion is in the queue. You are much more sure about your answers than I am…

“Wait, what parts of Flash are going open-source?”

I’m not sure of the exact intent either, but I do know that opensource work is a vital part of the larger Flash Platform… here are some current projects:
http://osflash.org/

(Me, I don’t care much about “Ajax vs Flash” discussions… they’re both client software, parts of audience capability you can rely upon… it’s more about finding which technology works best for what than for shoehorning. imho.

jd/mm

Hello,

You ask: is AJAX a Web 2.0 technology? I’d argue that it is an implementation detail. There are a number of UE technologies that can be the front end for a Web 2.0 application. I think there are some qualities that are important: statefullness, the ability to consume and composite multiple back end data sources in multiple formats, scriptability, ubiquity. Ajax, Flash/Flex, and perhaps in the (distant) future MSFT Presentation Foundation all fit the bill.

Regards,
David
(Macromedia)

Web 2.0 does seem to be a bust. Undoubtedly some good tech has come from it, but it’s certainly more spectacle than anything else. I’d say the best part is content sharing and syndication. The bad is that it’s so stereotyped that you almost want to mock it and joke about it.

Unfortunately it’s really no different from the dotcom bubble and bust from before (well it is, but also has some similarities)… it’s just going to be time to determine whether developers lose trust from investors before or after they go back to what’s really more important (quality design, accessibly and work).