I'm guessing there are a lot more geeks on Twitter than, say, amongst the average population, and you can construe that however you like, but the tools for developer collaboration that are making a big difference are things like git / svk and not Flickr or Twitter per se."

Usually software developers are sceptical about buzzwords in technology, the Web2.0 hype makes no difference. To read the marketing blurb or to listen to pseudo-religious statements on web conferences is nothing that draws an IT veteran from the woodwork. My personal experience is that the more professional software development is handled - such as in big companies - the developers working on a peculiar system are grouped together in neighbouring locations and - if there are persons at other locations - group meetings and video conferences are an important means of knowledge interchange. On a technical basis some code and version management solution is used, maybe a Wiki for documentation purposes and that's all.

Open source projects, where lots of individuals are dispersed all over the world, basically do it the same way: a CVS and a website for docs, faqs, and a download area usually suffice. Web2.0 visions where everybody, developers as well as application users, will boundlessly communicate with each other, are fantasies that don't consider real world scenarios every developer knows: ususally users shouldn't be given the opportunity to express their ideas about this or that, because these ideas change frequently, as the code does not. To write code actually means to think, to think it over, then to think again.This takes time and consumes concentration, while every blinking icon ("User Sharky has a message for you!") and RSS feed about the project's advance ("I changed lines 10-12 in wtf.cc - HaX0r") will distract a developer from proceeding. No, Web2.0 is pure buzz, nick-nack for Thirtysomethings discovering the awesome possibilities of the Web, but not for serious developers. Have a question? Use a newsserver or a forum. Read the source code. Subscribe to the mailing list. Write an email. (Source)