C|NET sponsors the first Webware 100 Awards.
C|NET is sponsoring a contest in which people can vote for their favorite Web 2.0 applications. While the voting aspect is nice, the big value to me of the Webware 100 Awards is that all these applications — the best on the Web — are gathered and categorized in one place.
For someone like me who doesn’t have enough time to search out all the best stuff on my own, this filters out the noise and gives me the strongest signal.
Web-based application services like Amazon’s storage (S3) and cloud computing (EC2) are fantastic. But their failure can be crippling on a wide scale.
Despite all the hoo-hah about applications moving from the desktop to the browser, I remain old-school about the hype. I don’t like being held hostage to Web apps, no matter their utility —in fact, especially because of their increased utility — because you can lose Web connectivity at any time. Or be stuck in places without wireless access. And the recent failure of Amazon’s S3 Web services only underscores that fear.
In any case, here are the award categories. If I find anything of note, I’ll note it in future posts.
Audio
Music, podcasts, audiobooks
Browsing
Browsers, start pages, RSS readers, widgets, runtime engines
Commerce and events
Retail, auctions, travel, real estate, concerts, conferences
Communication
E-mail, chat, voice
Productivity
Application suites, to-do lists, groupware
Publishing and photography
Blogging, content management, photo sites
Search and reference
Search engines, encyclopedias, mapping
Social
Social networking, family sites, recommendations, online worlds, contests
Utility and security
Infrastructure providers, storage, online protection
Video
Video storage, playback, streaming, editing, and animation
