In the most recent edition of Wired Magazine, the cover proclaims “The Web is Dead”.  Every so often we have a technology pundit or publication proclaim a technology is dead.  Microsoft alone probably has a dozen products that have been proclaimed dead in recent years.  Several years back Internet Explorer was declared to be dead.  Microsoft Office, dead.  Windows Server, dead.  I even saw a post about Linux being dead.  Don’t tell Apple that.  Practically all of their products are based off the Linux kernel.

So what is this “dead” business really all about?  Many web developers will tell you that even today, 5 years after it was proclaimed dead, Internet Explorer is still the bane of their creative existence.  Apple is hardly feeling the woes of Linux being dead.   No, none of these technologies are truly dead.   The web is no different.  It is impossible to say the web is dead because it is the medium that powers so much.  No, the truth is that even if mobile devices completely take over online traffic, they cannot kill the web.

So, web is not dead.  Is it at risk to lose its reign as the main medium for online collaboration and communication?  Yes.  The shift isn’t in our immediate future, but it exists on the horizon and that is enough for those who live on the bleeding edge to acknowledge the medium is yesterday’s news and in their view, it is dead.

The mindset is similar to pundits who cover the stock market.  Once a stock reaches a peak and is on a downhill arch, the stock loses its luster and the pundits refocus on the stock that is on the steady climb.  This is how many technology pundits see a medium like web.  Its upside is no longer as appealing as mobile.  And while this is true, there are still people who will profit greatly from the web.  Its not dead at all.  Its simply no longer the hottest thing going.  And thats ok, it had a great run.

The question now is: What steals the luster from mobile?  Will it be the complete integration between television units and online services?  Wasn’t mobile supposed to kill the television market too?  That’s a question that will be answered in the years ahead.

In the meantime, don’t worry about any broad medium wired or any other tech pundit labels as dead.  There are plenty of web companies that would fold up tomorrow if the web truly were irrelevant now.