Recently, the term “Web 3.0” has been very popular on the internet. However, there is no real definition on what web 3.0 is. Google CEO Eric Schmidt[1] was asked about the definition of web 3.0 at the Seoul Digital Forum. He said that while Web 2.0 was based on Ajax, Web 3.0 will be "applications that are pieced together". - with the characteristics that the apps are relatively small, the data is in the cloud, the apps can run on any device (PC or mobile), the apps are very fast and very customizable, and are distributed virtually (social networks, email, etc). While it is true that application will be pieced together and available everywhere as said by Eric Schmidt, What are the applications that web 3.0 will bring to us? What technical problem we are facing.
In my point of view, the features of web 3.0 include cloud computing, web operating system (WebOS, here not referring to palm webOS) and the ubiquitous nature. After we discuss that, we will look into the technologies and challenge of implementing web 3.0.
Cloud computing has been talked for years. It includes two parts – computing and storage. With cloud computing and storage, our terminal machines (pc or mobile phone) don’t require heavy computational power and storage space as before and can access the same set of data and applications via internet. Heavy computing work can be assisted by the server depends on computational power of terminal devices. Nowadays, computer games with great graphics can only be played in high performance computers. With the assist from servers, we may play the same game on both our mobile phones and desktop computers. This also benefits the gaming companies because all game files are located at the cloud and this help to protect against private copies. Cloud storage also provides great flexibility and adaptability on Files. Files can be placed on cloud and can be accessed anywhere with any machines (ie. Desktop and mobile phone can access the same set of data on the web). However, this can be done in old days via ftp or samba. The innovation here is we can access those data in real time. For example, people use either their mobile phone or mp3 players to listen to music on travel. If we can have a faster network, all files in the cloud servers can be accessed by mobile devices like they are stored in the devices. Moreover, file backup are done by professionals of webOS providers and we can forget the pain on losing our data. Overall, Cloud computing requires less computational storage power of our handheld devices for heavy work and provides consistent and reliable data storage.
Web Operation system is a composition of all available web applications like instant messengers, email and google doc into a single website for accessing. However, the story doesn’t end here. When WebOS partners with cloud computing, it will be even more powerful than traditional OS like Windows and Linux. WebOS provides provide extra computational power and reliable storage via cloud computing. This gives webOS an advantage as we can access the same webOS, applications and data everywhere with just an internet browser. As WebOS will be used everywhere with different hardware, the interface will be highly customizable. For example, a user can define different UI-one for mobile phone, one for desktop computer and one for iPad. The WebOS can detect which platform you are using and change the UI, applications and even services accordingly. Applications will be highly integrated in the WebOS. Unlike traditional OS like Windows, there is no centralized software stored for buying software. WebOS will provide an online store for buying applications, ebooks, music and movies. Users can read their ebooks, listen to their music and watch their movies via WebOS at anytime anywhere. Traditional web services like file hosting (eg. ftp), webpage hosting will all integrated to WebOS. Users can design their own webpage or define shared file folder for friends with drag-and-drop tools. Social network will be integrated in the WebOS. It will provide all the existing functions of current social network website like facebook, but allow users to share almost everything they like(suppose it is not copyrighted) in the network easily because all the files, musics and applications are all hosted in WebOS. WebOS will become a gateway for user to access their applications, contents and data at anytime anywhere with just a single web browser and it will also be an entrance in the internet to allow users share their thoughts and lives.
The ubiquitous nature of web 3.0 is the key to access all features and applications of web 3.0. Without the ubiquitous nature, no matter how many great things we have on the internet, we just cannot access them. 3.5G or 4G mobile phone networks are very important to Web 3.0. With our smartphones, we can access all features of webOS via mobile network. However, the ubiquitous nature doesn’t only mean that. We will have most of our electronics devices connected to the network and can be access via our WebOS. Let’s look at an example. Some researchers at New York University's interactive telecommunications program have come up with a device that can let the plants tell the owner whenever they need water or have too much water via the social network blogging service Twitter[2]. To extend the idea here, we can have our lighting and air conditioner connected to our WebOS. For example, when we leave our home, the position of users is sent by the mobile phone to our WebOS and all the unused electronics deivces like lighting, air conditioners will be turned off. When will are going to come back home, we can remotely control our air conditioners to turn on 10 minutes before we arrive home. With the ubiquitous nature of web, not only we can access the internet anytime anywhere, but we can also access all of our electronics devices anytime anywhere. The ubiquitous nature of web will change our lives.
We have looked into the features of web 3.0, let’s look at the technologies required to implement it and the potential problems we may need to tackle. The most difficult part to implement web3.0 is to have a fast, stable and ubiquitous network. Mobile network is almost ubiquitous, but is it fast and stable enough? With our current 3.5G network, it can provide up to 14Mbps downlink speed [3]. The value seems fast enough, but it is just an ideal value. The service can be much slower in some indoor area. This should affect a lot of new usage of our new features. Therefore, 4G network will be introduced and the target speed is 100Mbps. However, since it still doesn’t cover many places, we may need time to see if it really can fulfill all the requirements. Another question for ubiquitous network is the number of ip address. Do we have enough ip for connecting all our in-house devices to the internet? Ipv6 has been out for years, but it is still not very common in many areas. This is another thing we need to wait. The Last problem we have is the security problem. As we are going to put more and more thing on the web, how can we secure them? Nowadays, most website like gmail, facebook and yahoo require only one login username and password to access all the information we have on the internet. However, it will be a lot different when we put all of our data or connect all electronic devices on the internet. We may require a more secure way to identify the user. An electronic certificate can be used to do that. However, we may need an organization to generate and control all electronic certificates. This will be a long way to go.
To sum up, web3.0 will have 3 features including cloud computing, WebOS and ubiquitous nature. However, many things are required for implementing it such as a fast, stable and ubiquitous network, ipv6 and a more secure login method. All those requirements may need time to fulfill and web 3.0 will surely bring a completely different daily life to us.
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