In terms of contemporary naming, SaaS is really just 'ASP 2.0'. I can't see how Jeff's definition really differs that much from this one for ASP.

As a digital technologies veteren (DTT, DTV, iTV, DAB, web 1.0, ADSL, GPRS, 3G, VoIP, CMS ISV)  I am more inclined to the view of Tim Berners-Lee here and the Gartner Hype Cycle here in the assessment of Web 2.0 .

However, beyond my in-built cynicism born of years of hype exposure I can see the value of the 2.0 wave as an innovation engine. As observed in other postings on this site, many sectors of the IT industry are facing broad commoditisation and massive consolidation as many of the 'digital revolution' technologies and solutions reach maturity and, as Gartner describes it, the 'plateau of productivity'.

We want this to happen as we understand that IT works best when it is standardised, ubiquitous and essentially a utility. At the same time though, we want to explore new and different ways of doing things and challenge conventions and pre-conceived ideas. That, for me, is what Web 2.0 is all about - opportunity spaces beyond commoditisation.

Blogs and wikis, for instance, really start to challenge conventions of word processing as more and more people get used to, and enjoy, creating written content in a simpler, connected and collaborative environment beyond the over-bloated and largely disconnected desktop apps like Word. For example, there are some great new features and more relevant ways of doing things that are emerging in offerings such as ZohoWriter and Writely and other desktop alternatives from the likes of 37signals et al. These types of developments are really starting to expand the ideas of what can be done in a browser based environment, for example, and are providing a superb catalyst for ISV developers who are always looking for better ways to do things.

I write this surrounded by colleagues who hail from emerging economies in India, China and Eastern Europe who can see through the hype but who also understand that smaller development teams can make a big impact with ideas that are more in tune with the ways that SMBs actually work.

Definitely a challenging but exciting time :-)