The “upgrade” from Web 1.0 to the new Web 2.0 world has been an evolutionary process, continually driving the Web to be more interactive, useful and interesting for consumers and the business community.

The evolution from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0 has been about improvements in the Web “experience”—from that of simply browsing static content and graphic images that display upon request, to an all-new highly interactive, programmable and much more useful Web.

Oh, and incidentally, a much more dangerous place as well. Back in the early 1990s, our Web usage resembled that of a visit to a library in search of information or data. And, as far we know since libraries came into being, rarely has anyone ever been attacked by a book.

In the new Web 2.0 world, however, the library is so real that the pages you’re reading about lions seem to come alive—so much so that the next step may be that they actually jump out and take a bite out of you.

Worse, the thing that you reach for to take off the virtual shelf may look like a book, but may not be a book at all; instead, it may be something else altogether—something disguised to look like a book, possibly a firecracker that explodes upon contact.

The lesson? Beware. Be ready. To quote an old phrase, you cannot judge a Web page by its cover in the new World Wide Web.