Essentia - Will it be the Mosaic/Netscape Navigator of web 3.0?

Hello Steemians! For steemians who are old enough, you probably heard of the earliest web browsers that had a Graphical User Interface (GUI), Mosaic. Having a GUI was a huge thing back in 1993 and it was really the spark which led to mass adoption of the internet. After knowing the potential, several companies started to build web browsers and it was Netscape Navigator which subsequently became the most dominant web browser when the internet was taking off. Just for your information, Netscape Navigator was developed by Netscape Communications Corporation, a former subsidiary of AOL.

Web 3.0, the next generation of Web

Quite some time back, I blogged about Web 3.0 which is still in the conceptualization phase. We know that Web 1.0 was static web, where users of the web only had read access. Web 2.0 is interactive web, whereby users have read and write access. However, there is no formal definition for Web 3.0 yet.

The development of the internet is decentralized. There are companies and individuals who are continuously developing new capabilities on the internet and there is no one central organization which sets the direction for the progress of internet. Hence the definitions for Web x.0 are usually after-the-fact. When people observe a paradigm shift from the previous generation, someone will declare, "we have now entered Web x.0!". And people will start to agree or disagree. We have not seen the paradigm shift from Web 2.0 to Web 3.0 yet, therefore the definition of Web 3.0 is not agreed upon.

That being said, based on the general directions of internet developments, we can observe the following trends that might lead to a paradigm shift and hence, Web 3.0:

• Decentralized applications relying on blockchain technologies
• Identity based full data ownership
• Smarter web browsing experience through the use of artificial intelligence

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Essentia is leading the charge to Web 3.0

We have briefly talked about how Mosaic and Netscape sparked the growth of internet. The reason is simple, a GUI-based web browser significantly lowered the barrier of entry to interact with the internet. Before these browsers, there were other lesser known GUI-based web browsers that were difficult to setup and install. And before GUI-based web browsers, interactions with the web was pure text-based. For the current generation, it is probably inconceivable how a text-based interaction was even a thing 😂.

Similar to the time when the internet was unheard of, dApps today are also relatively new to most people. The key problem here, in my opinion, is that data is scattered all over the place and there is no single framework to link individual identities to the data across different dApps. As a result, it is difficult to start using dApps as each of them is accessed differently. For instance, a dApp on Ethereum is accessed via browser plugins like Metamask, but Steemit, is accessed via its own userid + key combination.

Source

Essentia is trying to solve the problem by improving interoperability across different blockchains/dApps, and linking data from different dApps to their rightful owners. What it means to end users like us is that we will have one universal app or in this case a dApp browser to access all dApps. Here is the team's description of their solution,

Essentia is a modular decentralised interoperability and data management framework.
Although it may sound complicated, it’s composed of two main components: Essences and Synergies.
In Essences, entities own their data, interlinking them across multiple services. They can be of individuals, companies, groups or organisations, effectively creating decentralised internet users, making interoperability between them also possible by subIDs, permissions and self-triggering, information related, smart contracts.
Synergies are the connective tissue of operations. They link different platforms, resources and modules together for them to be able to interoperate.
Developers can build on top of them and users can pay for leaner, more powerful and efficient applications on the Essentia framework that run across all the best technologies around the globe, opposed to a single one.

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Promising MVP

Essentia already has a minimally viable product (MVP) which has integrated several dApps onto their platform. What you need is just your keystore file and and your encryption password to access their dApp launchpad.

The following dApps are already integrated and ready to be accessed via the Essentia app.

For example, I can directly make trades on IDEX via Essentia app without having to go to the IDEX website itself.

Another cool thing is that Essentia constantly listens to the community to decide which dApp to be integrated next. On the Essentia app, there is a page where users can vote for the next dApp to be integrated.

In the previous round of voting, Steemit and Bancor were selected. And based on this announcement, we can look forward to them being integrated with the Essentia platform really soon! In the same announcement, they have also talked about their upcoming release of desktop and mobile versions of the Essentia App scheduled for release by end of August.

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Conclusion

Based on the statistics on dAppRadar, we are seeing that the activity on dApps is still lacklustre. If we believe dApps are a part of Web 3.0, then we need to be able to encourage more users to use dApps. I think Essentia is a project on the right direction and if done correctly, it can spark the growth of dApps just like how Mosaic and Netscape sparked the growth of the internet. By the way, Essentia is also on Steemit and you can follow them at @essentia.one.

On a side note, I can't help but to comment on the cryptocurrencies market again. Yesterday we saw a fresh round of crash, bringing the market cap down to Nov 2017 level. The market cap during Nov 2017 was actually achieved at a rather gradual pace. This is the kind of growth that I will like to see moving forward. However, things went parabolic and the market cap shot up to >$800 billions within 2 months. At today's market cap of $212 billion, we have basically erased the gains from the unjustified parabolic rise. In my opinion, from a technological perspective, we are now in a much better position than in Nov 2017. Many good projects are continuously developing. Just today, I read about Substratum's new v0.3.4 node release and Oyster Protocol's development update. As for Steem, you probably have read about the HF20 update scheduled on 25th September.

At a time where the technology side of things are seeing so much development, the market chose to ignore all these and focus on Bitcoin ETF. The recent crash can largely be attributed to overly high expectations for a quick approval of the ETF. My opinion is that if the market continue to hold such expectations, there is going to be more disappointments as I don't think the ETFs will be approved any time soon. So guys, please focus on the positive developments that can lead to more adoption and not be too caught up by things like ETFs. If I am to wear my conspiracy theorist hat, the saga around Bitcoin ETF is just a way for some people to manipulate the price so that they can profit from the volatility. The news around the ETF was deliberately made to sound important, but they actually aren't such a huge deal. It is a common tactic to use mainstream media to misdirect the attention of the masses to things the manipulators will like everyone to see. Much like a magician on stage... and the guys in this GIF...

Anyway, thanks for reading! As usual, let me know your thoughts about Essentia or Web 3.0 and what maybe your take on the current state of the crypto market. Till next time!

Projects/Services I am working on:

• Steem-Oracle Project
• Byteball to Steem conversion service

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You can find me in these communities: