There's been a bunch of talk on the blogs lately about Web 2.0 and the new (not really new, but they are hot) technologies like AJAX and so on. All I want to say in this post is for everyone to not for get that MOST of the money is and will be in Web 1.0 applications for some time. Most companies I've talked with, read about or in anyway know about are still wrapping their minds around Web 1.0. They still don't have most of their internal applications webified, they still send paper checks to their employees, they still use physical timeclocks, they still have you make reservations by calling someone. So while all us geeks get caught up with nifty AJAX widgets let's just not forget that those things aren't going to be on any companies "required features" list for a long long time.

That doesn't mean this technologies and their exploration aren't important or that some folks won't make money with them (see 37signals). Just that most companies simply want help webifying their current infrastructure. They want reliability and support. You don't need these new riskier¹ technologies to make money and be in business. If it's the right thing to do for your business then great, but there's no need to feel like you have to use them or you'll be behind. The fact is that if you even know about this stuff you're still way way ahead of most businesses out there. And hey just look at Ebay. One of the biggest companies in the world, a company that helped create what the web is today still has a site out of 1995.

1. In the sense that they're less tested as well as the fact that you have less experience using them.