What do you see the web becoming in 10 or 20 years?

[Andrew]

Hi all,
I’ve a few ideas where I think the web is heading in the next ten or twenty years. But am wondering what you guys are thinking on this one as am sure everyone here is wondering about the next big thing!

Like everyone here I’ve been watching things as they unfold this past number of years and see where television stations are trying to compete with the web. Take sky news for example with their evening web slot and TV3’s morning show, it features various topics but all the guests have a web sites.

Currently radio stations don’t have much in the way of competition from the web, okay I know there are radio stations on the web but these are not taking away from your traditional stations.

Somehow I think technology will eventually enable our radios (car, home and personal radios) to receive stations from the web. Then you’ll see your local stations fighting for air space.

Anyone else with a mad idea for the future of the web?

 

[GimmeDat]

As broadband speed improves.. On-Demand TV will probably be one of the biggest changes.

 

[Pixelcraft]

isn't all that more the 'internet' than the web?

 

[link8r]

I think digital tv is already here - its not common but its there. I think 20mb could be quite common in Ireland in a year - and 120mb being quite readily available. WiMax roll outs should quickly "up" the average bb speed.

Looking back at the years 2000-2006, not a lot happened (unless my memory is forgetting something) - maybe the dot-com bubble bursting put a slow on things. Things have definitely gotten more exciting in the past 24 months in terms of new ideas/technologies coming on stream.

20 years - I couldn't hope to predict.

For one thing - we definitely need a better online payments system. 4.5% - 5.5% for online transactions is not going to be sustainable. According to Google's market research, in Ireland we spent €1700 on average last year online. It might sound a lot as an on average but my car tax is €800 p.a. and I buy all my hotels, flights etc online. If the size of economy is €200billion, say, then that is a huge cost to trade if even just half of that moved online. We don't pay that for POS Credit card transactions, we certainly don't pay it for cheque, transfer or cash transactions.

If we want to build the web/cash-less society (God forbid) - we can't afford to endow the banks with 4% of it.

 

[neweb]

I can see the web just fading into the background in the coming years. I don't mean it will go away, I mean it will be like electricity just always there and more integrated.

We will probably see practical things like all clocks connected to the web so we never have to adjust them any more, this will move on to your regular watch and so on.

As more and more cars are fitted with LCD screens you might also be able to get an up to date view of a street you are on so you know where the free parking spots are.

Twenty years from now you won't even know its there, only when it goes down

The big ideas for the web never last, the things that make our life easer will.

 

[link8r]

Um,,,,,

The clock in my room and the clock on my car already sync time with radio station (RDS) and other clock signal broadcasts from the UK. That technology is more than a decade old.

I think what you're saying is the web will become more ubiquitous.

There is a whole host of things are queuing up for the web - SaaS and web applications are in their infancy. One day the whole OS could be web based, which would mean a shift back (in network/PC architecture - thin client etc) to dumb terminals on minicomputers/mainframes from the 70's

I think the web will continue to shift into mainstream. We've gone from having it at work to most people having laptops at home. Right now the web comes into our houses through a narrow little line and its quite expensive really (I think). Its also shared with a small number of devices.

 

[sparky]

Augmented reality is going to be huge. This means overlaying of data to the "real world". Head up displays are going to become more popular too.

Rgds

 

[blueark]

In honour of the big strike today, I reckon the public service in general, along with all the quangos, have to become more integrated with each other, and the web/internet is the perfect vehicle for that. Interesting article in Time magazine a few months back about how Seoul does it (see Seoul: Wired Megacity Extends Reach with U-City Project - TIME)

Can you imagine that level of integration in Ireland? Probably not, even in 10 years, but here's hoping. Personally, I've filled out duplicate information on five different forms this year: why not fill all of it in on one central website, and let relevant departments access what they need? Imagine being automatically told that you qualify for a medical card, for example, instead of wasting time trying to find out all the information they already have just to fill out yet another form, and wait several months for some overstaffed department to get back to you to tell you that you've missed something.

Apply the same principles to the health service, transport, tendering process, etc, etc, and we'd have a mighty transparent and efficient largely web based society. Oh, and with a fraction of the current staff levels. Hmm, I guess too many voters won't let that happen. Oh well, 50 years maybe...

 

[paddy12]

I am very excited to see what the changes would be.But then again, SEO might be less needed by that time, but then again who knows.