Shelley Powers uses descriptive terminology to explain the evolution of Web, and not the dumb numbers. I agree, numbers are not a good way of tracking concepts and ideas. They fail to convey the value and leaves everything for interpretation. Why do you think everyone has a different interpretation of what Web 2.0 is!
Of course, as we are trying to go up the DIKW hierarchy, we are trying to capture more metadata. But this is all good within the software industry, using these to increment numbers and use them to educate the common man is a losing proposal. The real evolution of Web, for the common man, can be tracked only by what he/she can do with it. Like other software, its value lies in its benefits, not names and version numbers.
