Wisdump’s Top 10 of Web 2.0 Losers - Right, or Wrong?

Wisdump, a bin for news, factoids, detritus, and everything in between, put up a list of ten “losers” of the Web 2.0 world that’s been floating around the web for quite a while, and I thought it was time to give it another once over to see if the list still sticks. I won’t go through them all, because I’d hate to be accused of copycatting a blog post, but I’ll do my best to sum it up.

What I first got from my most recent encounter with the ‘Top 10 Losers’ list, is the imperative with which one should go about avoiding naming one’s company in a term ending with the vowel ‘o’. It’s fairly certain to doom your efforts if you do. With Odeo, Squidoo, and Edgeio out of the way, things get a little more complicated.

Netscape’s #5? It’s documented that Netscape officially lost out to IE in the first browser war to rock Web 1.0, but Netscape’s also responsible for Firefox’s backbone, and, um… isn’t Firefox a hell of a lot better than IE? Wisdump doesn’t focus on that shift of power, however, instead feeding on the failure of the Digg.com clone that is Netscape.com, to garner a hefty user base, even with payments made to their top submitters. (Digg does no such thing, and has amassed a following in the tens of millions.) Still, when it comes to strict Web 2.0 development, Netscape is at the low end of the spectrum, no matter who they’re competing against.

Wait, Microsoft’s on the list too? Yes, apparently so, and it’s thanks to the tumbleweed MSN Spaces and the struggling Soapbox for making it happen. MSN Spaces is perhaps the most ignored blog host residing on the web today, and it’s likely to continue to get buried by Blogger and Wordpress, and SixApart.

Which brings me to my final comment on this group. SixApart!? SixApart is a Web 2.0 loser? Ok, maybe in the sheer number of users they’re behind Wordpress, but when some of the most frequented blogs on the net are run on SixApart software, such credentials tend to make the product rather than break it. Sorry, Wisdump, but I have to call you guys out on this pick.

Look over the list for yourself to see if you’re allied or opposed to some selections or the complete set.

Note: I’ve gotta hand it to Wisdump. And they’re devoid of distractions like flashy banners that we’ve all grown to either tolerate or abhor. We’ve got plenty of things pulling us away from our focus all the time: email clients, instant messengers, podcast and blog news aggregators. The list goes on. Cheers to clean and easy, Wisdump.