The sad tales of Web 1.0 veterans

"I lived through Web 1.0 and survived." I've heard variations on this phrase for a long time and used it myself a few times, especially when talking to investors for some reason. It has been a long time since the bubble burst, longer than it lasted in fact.

Yet people at conferences say this still, talking about "Web 1.0" like it was World War One. You'd think these guys were recalling the horror of trench warfare, rats gnawing on the rotting bodies of their buddies, instead of remembering a time when a lot of cocktail shrimp, beer and wine was consumed and fortunes were made and lost.

Moreover, "Web 2.0," whatever the hell that might mean to you, is not World War Two, even though we have wars of words over who is "evil" and "aggressive." It's just networks becoming more complex and challenges of building a successful business are changing. No one's dying because of a new programming language or winning key "battles" because of their collaborative software. They're just changing the way they work and going to conferences to talk, even though we all start sounding like our fathers or grandfathers (and, for my younger readers) talking about the Battle of the Bulge or the War to End All Wars.

Let's get over the versioning trope. Analogies to biology and warfare are killing richer thoughts. It would allow us to have much more grounded discussions about strategy and tactics.