Link - Semantic Web Research Isn't Working
Interesting article on the slow takeoff of the Semantic Web.
Semantic web technology is marred in a chicken/egg paradox. The technologies are generally not useful unless they are adopted and implemented on a large scale and people are not willing to invest in implementing them unless they are useful. This is exacerbated by the fact that there are very high technology, business, and social barriers to implementing the semantic web.
Technology Barriers: Even today, implementing RDF parsers is complex and difficult and the best tools are hopelessly slow. These are the most basic and fundamental tools the semantic web needs to operate and we still can't get them to work.
Business Barriers: If the semantic web is implemented the current web industry will be intensely disrupted. Ebay, Google, Amazon - virtually all mainstays of web-business will have to significantly adjust their business and technology models. Because of this web-businesses are trepidacious when it comes to investing, adopting, and promoting the semantic web.
Social Barriers: The way in which we use the web will be greatly changed when the semantic web is implemented. Just look at the current state of usability in feed aggregation for a hint of what will be required for users to adopt the newly realized functionality.