The government is not a vending machine for services. In this Gov 2.0 presentation Tim O'Reilly discusses how the government can be a development platform for greatness by taking advantage of web 2.0 features ranging from cloud computing and social media to mobile platforms. There are numerous challenges to overcome. Not all may be won but with each successive failure the individual or group can learn how to become better. Reflecting on successes from the iPhone to the earliest documents in America's history, O'Reilly illustrates ways governments and businesses have, through a revolutionary spirit, enabled greatness.

In order to leverage web 2.0 properties government needs to start thinking of their services, whether it's education, health care or data.gov, as platforms for developers. Citing numerous examples like the National Weather Service, data.gov and GPS as recent successes stories, O'Reilly asks the audience to consider not only how to deal with the government challenges in energy, education, health and finance but also how to keep hope in spite of the difficulties they may face.