What is Web 2.0

Web 2.0 refers to the current version of the internet that most of us are familiar with. A web dominated by businesses that offer services in exchange for your personal information. Decentralized apps that operate on the blockchain are referred to as Web 3.0 in the context of Ethereum. These are apps that allow anyone to join without their personal information being sold.

The advantages of Web 3.0

Because of Ethereum's intrinsic decentralization, many Web3 developers have chosen to construct dapps: everyone on the network has permission to access the service – or, in other words, permission isn't necessary. No one can prevent you from using the service or deny you access. The native token, ether, is used to make payments (ETH). Because Ethereum is turing-complete, you can program almost anything with it.

Practical comparisons Twitter can censor any account or tweet, Web3 tweets would be uncensorable because control is decentralized Payment service may decide to not allow payments for certain types of work, Web3 payment apps require no personal data and can't prevent payments Servers for gig-economy apps could go down and affect worker income, Web3 servers can't go down, they use Ethereum, a decentralized network of 1000s of computers as their backend

Centralized Systems

• Low network diameter (all participants are connected to a central authority); information propagates quickly, as propagation is handled by a central authority with lots of computational resources.

• Usually higher performance (higher throughput, fewer total computational resources expended) and easier to implement.

• In the event of conflicting data, resolution is clear and easy: the ultimate source of truth is the central authority.

• Single point of failure: malicious actors may be able to take down the network by targeting the central authority.

• Coordination among network participants is much easier, and is handled by a central authority. Central authority can compel network participants to adopt upgrades, protocol updates, etc., with very little friction.

• Central authority can censor data, potentially cutting off parts of the network from interacting with the rest of the network.

• Participation in the network is controlled by the central authority.

Decentralized Systems

• The furthest participants on the network may potentially be many edges away from each other. Information broadcast from one side of the network may take a long time to reach the other side.

• Usually lower performance (lower throughput, more total computational resources expended) and more complex to implement.

• A protocol (often complex) is needed for dispute resolution, if peers make conflicting claims about the state of data which participants are meant to be synchronized on.

• No single point of failure: network can still function even if a large proportion of participants are attacked/taken out.

• Coordination is often difficult, as no single agent has the final say in network-level decisions, protocol upgrades, etc. In the worst case, network is prone to fracturing when there are disagreements about protocol changes

• Censorship is much harder, as information has many ways to propagate across the network.

• Anyone can participate in the network; there are no “gatekeepers.” Ideally, the cost of participation is very low.

Further reading

• The Architecture of a Web 3.0 application - Preethi Kasireddy
  • The Meaning of Decentralization Feb 6, 2017 - Vitalik Buterin
  • Why Decentralization Matters Feb 18, 2018 - Chris Dixon
  • What Is Web 3.0 & Why It Matters Dec 31, 2019 - Max Mersch and Richard Muirhead

References Web2 vs Web3 Learn to Solve Problems Using Blockchain Technology Learn more about Dapp using Check out Zuri Team