Web 1 (1980s- early 2000's)
Web1 refers to the first version of the Internet / World Wide Web (WWW), which was mainly providing the everyday consumers with online content. There were only a few content creators in Web1 with a huge majority being consumers of content. Users were only able to read information or content online and cannot interact. I was incredibly static.What is Web 2.0?
Web 2 is the version of the internet that we all know and use today. As Web1 was static and "read-only" Web2 was "read-write". In Web2 content consumers also became creators. Web2 was dynamic and users could interact and create content on the internet themselves.Web2 saw a huge rise in the use of smartphones and most of the internet was used using mobile apps, hardware made by the companies like Apple, Google, Facebook, etc. With this more people started using the internet and the internet was becoming increasingly controlled by these companies.
In this centralized internet, everyday users have less privacy, security, and control over their own information. These companies can de-platform anyone they want without anyone's permission. We also see lots of data breaches happening all over the internet due to which it became easy for users to become victims of identity theft, personal attacks, etc.
What is Web 3.0?
Web 3, the future of the internet. Web3 is a fully decentralized internet. In Web3 the internet is shared online and governed by the collective "we" rather than centralized authorities. The Web3 world has open-source protocols at its foundation. Web3 is building internet production and services in such a way that it benefits people rather than entities.Web3 is:
- Trustless (trustless means that interaction and transactions can take place between two parties without the need for a trusted third party).
- Self-governing
- Verifiable
- Permission less
- Distributed
- etc
In Web3 applications either run on blockchains, decentralized networks of many peer-to-peer nodes (servers), or a combination of two that forms a cryptoeconomic protocol. These apps are often referred to as dapps (decentralized apps) which you will see often used in web3 space.
When you hear about web3, you'll notice that cryptocurrency is often part of the conversation. This is because cryptocurrency plays a big role in many of these protocols. It provides a financial incentive (tokens) for anyone who wants to create, govern, contribute to, or improve one of the projects themselves.
These protocols may often offer a variety of different services like compute, storage, bandwidth, identity, hosting, and other web services commonly provided by cloud providers in the past.
Web3 limitations right now:
- Scalability - transactions are slower on web3 because they're decentralized
- UX - interaction with web3 applications can require extra steps, software, and education.
- Accessibility - the lack of integration in modern web browsers makes web3 less accessible to most users.
- Cost - most successful dapps put a very small portion of their code on the blockchain as it's expensive.
Summary:
- Web1: Read
- Web2: Read-Write
- Web3: Read-Write-Own