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How do you think the net will develop over the next ten years?

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Blue Velvet

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Jul 4, 2004
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Was just reading this light article on the BBC's site about the Webby awards which includes a few quotes from various pundits.

I'm no good at predictions in this area -- am still a relative newcomer to the internet... but I'd be interested in what others here have to say.

Related to the internet: the role of corporations and nations, media, blogging, video, communities, search, gaming, politics... all these and more. How will these evolve ten years down the line?

What's your best guess?
 
Speaking from experience, or not, I think we are looking down the barrel of the glory years for the internet. I would venture to say that the next 10-20 years will be similar to the herald of the 20th century, the automotive industry. There will be significant growth as lots of smaller companies continue to be taken over by majors, eventually leading to a set field, with niche companies filling gaps. Then, the internet (access options and sources of information) will be a commodity of sorts and get very boring. Only the content will remain exciting.
 
I'm pretty amazed already with how much the internet has changed since I first used it...

From watching class lectures, to my sister watching her church's service when she's visiting at home, to being able to find what was once nearly impossible-- out of print books, underground artists, etc.

I don't know enough to take even a wild guess at how the internet will progress, I simply hope that there will be more positive uses/outcomes than negative (and by negative that would include spam, all sorts of scams, etc.).
 
good article

the internet will become more and more like that mid-20th century invention that changed the world, television

with the us army's arpanet for decades and then the internet for a good stretch, it's obvious that the original impact of radio and televison has far surpassed the internet in importance

and i was one of those tens of thousands of mba school dropouts who were in the states, esp. northern california, dot.com craze which gave many of us really high hopes for the future...and some cheerleaders of the "cult" of the internet were comparing it in importance to the dawn of agriculture or us humans' utilization of fire ;)

but somewhere in the back of my mind, i saw that many of these companies did not have viable products, and almost nobody was near providing a profit...this whole thing that unfolded in the 90s and crashed at the end of that decade could possibly go down as one of man's really stupid ventures into the absurd
 
Well, in ~10 years of having internet access I've gone from a 14.4kpbs modem to a 6Mbps cable connection...

I can't imagine where we'll be in another 10. I'd have to assume that almost all visual media ever created will be available to download or stream. Thats my only guess. :confused:
 
iGary said:
Porn will be streaming at full screen resolutions.



YES!!!
Click to expand...

banana_sml.gif

Blue Velvet said:
What's your best guess?
Click to expand...

Google offers free 200GB 'Virtual Drives'... Internet is so fast, we don't notice the drive isn't local...
 
Probably in the next ten years, highspeed wifi access would be avalible almost everywhere using the 802.11Z protocol and for home use we will all have fiber running to our houses with speeds in the 100's of megabits or even gigabits.:rolleyes:
I dont know about the web itself because there isint really anywhere to go besides having it more multimedia-rich, I guess its kinda like the radio, we will see new ways of getting access to the internet but pretty much it will stay the same.
 
I think in 10 years time the internet will be so pervasive that no-one will ask questions like this ;)

Seriously, it will become another channel into and out of our homes and will be used more to integrate with other appliances etc to create that 50s sci-fi dream of the connected home. People won't just use a computer to get online or pass information around.

Video on demand (at proper resolutions) are already starting to come down the line; we'll be there in a year or so. Within 5 years, most people will look at a 2Mbps connection as we do a 33Kbps one today. 24Mbps+ will be the standard and most towns/cities will have complete wireless coverage.

More multi-media is one thing but I wonder what else might happen. Online shopping will be on a level with high street stores. Who knows, we might have devices which allow us to feel products before we purchase?

The line between traditional and new media will blur before the traditional media companies take control again (similar to how the high street giants are dominating the online area rather than most of the 90s start ups which were going to send them the way of the dinosaurs).
 
Nermal said:
In 10 years, Telecom NZ will still think that 128 kb/s is fast enough.
Click to expand...

In 10 years Telstra will allow me to get 256kbps "broadband" at my address in the middle of Australia's 9th largest city.
 
Chundles said:
In 10 years Telstra will allow me to get 256kbps "broadband" at my address in the middle of Australia's 9th largest city.
Click to expand...

The funniest thing is that over here, Telstra are the good guys! I'm so glad I switched away from Telecom :)

Mmm, 2 Mb/s for $44.95 :D
 
More!
More pages.
More ****.
More creativity.
More interaction.
More useful services.
More shopping.
More scams.
More paid services.
More free alternatives.
More aggressive ads/commercials.
More tools to get rid of them.
More fancy technology making browsing even
more bandwidth demanding.
More people reverting to the basics.
More people from
more countries/cultures online, making the net
more diversified, but at the same time will
more trends and
more cross culture influence make everything
more uniform.
More standards.
More proprietary systems.
More communication.
More problems.
More solutions?
 
Mitthrawnuruodo said:
More!
More pages.
More ****.
More creativity.
More interaction.
More useful services.
More shopping.
More scams.
More paid services.
More free alternatives.
More aggressive ads/commercials.
More tools to get rid of them.
More fancy technology making browsing even
more bandwidth demanding.
More people reverting to the basics.
More people from
more countries/cultures online, making the net
more diversified, but at the same time will
more trends and
more cross culture influence make everything
more uniform.
More standards.
More proprietary systems.
More communication.
More problems.
More solutions?
Click to expand...

best response so far. I agree
 
Some developments are clearly already in progress, such as Internet phone service and faster and bigger media delivery. Those will continue.

But I expect there will be another shift as more and more of our possessions, other than computers, connect to the Internet. Game systems are already on their way, but so far the refrigerators and other household items that can go online are just novelties. Look for them to gain important and useful features that will give them more of a consumer demand.

The students who graduate after having Internet access in their classrooms for their entire K-12 years will settle for nothing less than full-time access from home/school/work and on-the-go in between, so every PDA/phone device will be Internet capable. Maybe our briefcases, clothes, and accessories too, including eyeglasses that download live directions and display an image.

Perhaps we'll all be driving home and plugging our cars into our networks each night, to track our gas mileage, to upload the videos our carcams took, to diagnose any problems and plan our maintenance schedules, and to fill the onboard systems with new data.
 
I'd guess that the internet/computer/tv/phone will probably all be the same thing. With this, I think touch screens will be standard as well to compliment the greater use of the computer.
 
Applespider said:
Video on demand (at proper resolutions) are already starting to come down the line; we'll be there in a year or so. Within 5 years, most people will look at a 2Mbps connection as we do a 33Kbps one today. 24Mbps+ will be the standard and most towns/cities will have complete wireless coverage.
Click to expand...

Flat-panel TV and media center PC's will combine into one unit connected to the Internet with VOD.
 
Imagine how many trees would be saved if all magazines, newspapers etc were "printed" online.

Bye bye ****** news stand clerk. Bye bye rising Carbon Dioxide levels.

:p

I'd like to have the ability to watch everything available on satellite TV through my computer. Merge TV and computers and Radio. You'd have every multi-media, entertainment package at hand.

Mitthrawnuruodo pretty much hit the nail on the head with this one i think.
 
we'll all look back on these days as "the good old days" of the internet as more and more political and governmental regulation will come into existence.

Spyware will become even more effective.
 
Applespider said:
I think in 10 years time the internet will be so pervasive that no-one will ask questions like this ;)
Click to expand...
So true.

A fun read is Herbert Casson's The History of the Telephone, published in 1910. The telco network was roughly at the same point in age and maturity that the internet is now, and the breathless writing is uncannily like that of the Web 2.0 cult. Not too many years later, the whole thing was pretty much taken for granted.
 
Doctor Q said:
Perhaps we'll all be driving home and plugging our cars into our networks each night, to track our gas mileage, to upload the videos our carcams took, to diagnose any problems and plan our maintenance schedules, and to fill the onboard systems with new data.
Click to expand...
Actually, there are car enthusiasts that already own the software and hardware to do all that and they do do it on a regular basis. It's not that difficult nor expensive to get a hold of. :D
 
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