I don’t have the best memory. I don’t remember when I first started using Google or Wikipedia. The only reason I remember why I started watching certain shows is because of my personal blog, where I can retrace the steps that got me to a certain point. When you’re 15 you don’t blog about using Wikipedia or Google. They just become a part of what you do on a day to day basis. I know that there was a time before Wikipedia and Google, but I don’t remember them. They’ve always been there and they will always be there, at least in my memory.
For me, in my poor memory, the web has always been 2.0. Based on the article by Tim O’Reilly and cursory look at the Web 2.0 article on Wikipedia, this makes sense. My family had a dial-up service fairly early on and I remember logging on to AOL and then Netscape to access the internet. I don’t really remember what I did on the internet at that age, though I suspect it probably had something to do with PBS (I’ve been a history nerd since I was at least 6, so you can see the appeal there.) But the web, as I know it and can remember it didn’t really start until I signed up for my first real email account with Yahoo!* I was in my early teens at that point which would have been around 2001. So based on sources already stated, I really started interacting with the web right when web 2.0 was starting. 2001 was the year that Wikipedia started and Google had already been around for about five years. Based on my memory Web 2.0 is the only kind of web that has ever existed.
But what is Web 2.0? Both articles go some way to explaining what it is but to someone who’s only really known Web 2.0 their explanations don’t really help that much. So here’s my definition. Web 2.0 is interactive and collaborative. Web 2.0 allows people to interface with each other and the web in a way that isn’t confusing and can be done by someone who didn’t major in comp. sci. To me Web 2.0 is blogging, Google, wikis, Twitter, and Facebook all wrapped together in one big happy family. And the reasoning behind my definition is that because I’ve only known Web 2.0, everything associated with what I know as the internet must be Web 2.0.
But** that doesn’t really answer the question either. That’s the problem with the web. It’s constantly evolving so the web doesn’t stand still for observation. We can try and categorize it, but what’s the point? I say, let the web happen and when something new comes along to take over the web we can try and define it then. The internet, as easily accessible by ordinary people, has only been around for twenty or so years. Give it some time to grow.

*This account was setup in 2003, so while I can remember why I chose “cyd” to be part of it (I was a dancer and adored Cyd Charisse) I can’t explain the rest. So please don’t ask me to explain that particular address, I can’t explain it.
**I hate it when I start two paragraphs the same way. So this is my apology for things like that. And any sentences with missing connective words. I type fast and have a tendency to only check for spelling. You’ll get use to it.