---
title: Web 2.0 = Open Systems 2.0
date: 2005-08-31T22:41:47Z
modified: 2005-08-31T22:41:47Z
permalink: "https://redmonk.com/jgovernor/web-20-open-systems-20/"
type: post
status: publish
excerpt: ""
wpid: 330
categories:
  - Uncategorized
timestamp: 2005-08-31T22:41:47Z
tags:
  - Uncategorized
---

After my last post I mosied on over to O’Reilly to check up on the ongoing [Web 2.0 debate](http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2005/08/not_20.html).

It got me to thinking about Open Systems and how utterly bankrupt the term has become. It is meaningless (far more so than Web 2.0 or AJAX or blog).

Its important to understand than the “web” in Web 2.0, like the “web” in Web Services, doesn’t actually mean only available on the internet. Its a style that rests on “open Internet standards” and technologies, but is just as applicable _within enterprise boundaries_, sometimes more so.

Could it be that what we’re attempting to define is not so much a new model for rich internet, but a new model for Open Systems. Truly open systems that is, where data, metadata, processing model and UI are all separate concerns.

Are we debating the wrong thing? Is this debate really about Web 2.0?

Or are we actually in the process of redefining Open Systems for the early 21st century? If so then proprietary players had better watch out. After all, remember what happened when the IBM mainframe was labelled and framed “proprietary”? Unix sales skyrocketed.

Are you ready for Open Systems 2.0