Now What? Web 3.0!

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Most people are still trying to get their heads around Web 2.0. Warning: techies are already buzzing about the coming of Web 3.0. Normally, I would wait for them to get their head out of the clouds, but it's all about the clouds and, frankly, it's something to think about.

Before I go any further; no I'm not this smart. But Mark Benioff, the Chairman and CEO of Salesforce.com is. You must check out Benioff's treatise on Web 3.0. It's wonderful food for thought.

Benioff sums it up this way.

Web 1.0 was "anyone can transact:

Web 2.0 was "anyone can participate"

Web 3.0 is "anyone can innovate"

Web 3.0 is here, sort of. It's a perfect storm of factors; cloud computing, open source solutions and loads of people getting laid off that need to do something to stay afloat.

With Web 3.0, as Benioff notes, anyone can now develop and mashup applications into something completely new and useful. With cloud computing, IT departments are spared all the hardware issues - like reworking the network, adding on servers, configuration, etc. Smaller businesses, especially, can harness far more computing power through the cloud for elaborate development projects without making the investment in extra servers, etc.

If you're looking for evidence that this cloud computing thing is more than thin air; just look at who's throwing their hat into the ring.

- Amazon
- Google
- Microsoft (just announced this week)
- Salesforce.com
- IBM (Blue Cloud - cute!)

That's a short list, not an exhaustive list.

Renee Oricchio is a technology writer and former supervising news producer for CNN Financial News. She has been covering the computer industry since 1987. @oricchio