Ugh...What is the future of the Internet?

[Obnoxious]

Today it seems the center of moral decay and everything liberal and unethical. On the bright side, it is pretty funny (i.e. http://forporn.ytmnd.com/). What future is there for global interconnectivity?

[iglak]

the future of the internet is in forums.

in forums, people can learn everything (or almost everything) they want on a specific subject. that's something that can't be done in a library without spending years and years searching through old magazines, newspapers, and books that can only be found in multiple libraries and company archives.

 

in fact, that's the present of the internet also, along with news, opinions, and much entertainment. it just happens to be that people mainly focus on what's bad, and lose sight of the potential the world wide web holds.

[1dumbdude]

hmm, just throwing in a lil something... i've heard somewhere that the www. is gonna be being replaced with a "new" internet that is alot faster and more reliable, i forget exactly what it was being called. anyone else know about this, or was i just being fed a bunch of bs??

[ElijahJones]

I like iglac's point. The forums are replacing many real community links. I like it because I live in a town that is a good place mostly but not very educated and there just is not much here for me. I come to a place like this and well as he said I find things I like to talk about and people who share common interests. There is a need for some regulation on the net regarding porn, spamming, cyber-crime like identity theft. ICANN is working on these issues. Prosecution of cybercriminals is an intersting problem because it requires multinational jurisdiction. So in that way the problems of the internet are really leading us towards a more interconnected world and not away from one. The full potential of the internet is still not appreciated by most casual surfers. imagine if you will a Library of Alexandria on line. An interactiv heuristically organized database of human knowledge, both historical and cutting edge with links to communities that are talking about whatever you want to know. It gives me tingles just thinking about it. The internet is a wonder of the modern world. My life would be less satisfying without it.

[Sayonara]

You are not talking about the internet. You are talking about the web.

 

Web = documented content. Internet = physical infrastructure. The protocols are separate.

 

 

So do you mean how is the network itself going to change technologically, or how will the information carried on the web change over time?

[1dumbdude]

before i go anyfurther, let me openly admit that i dont have a full understanding of the "web" or "internet", but i found a link to what i think what my friend was talking about... http://css.its.psu.edu/news/nlsp00/newinternet.html , from just the lil bit that im able to piece together it seems like it is a new "infrastructure" but the way i read what is on that link and what my friend was tellin me is that its gonna be a replacement for both the "web" and "internet". i need to make my buddy sign up for this forum so he can type better to yall, what he tells me... lol (if that made sence). but he was also sayin with this new "internet" that security, speed, amounts of data, and basicly every aspect of the "web" or "internet" as we know it now will be greatly increased.

p.s.

sorry if i make any of yall mad with my ignorance on this subject.

[5614]

I suppose the infrastructure may cover a wider area and will become faster, increased amount of fibre optics used and stuff.

 

As for the web itself, I reckon it will carry on like it has over the past 10 years, grows and grows and grows, covering every subject imagineable in an increased number of ways. So articles, ebooks, forums, encyclopedias, user edited encyclopedias like wikipedia and so on.

 

Basically hardware wise it gets faster and more powerful and covers more information.

[ffsjoe]

I think that Google will take over everthing, first it started out as a humble search engine with a quirky name, then you could use the search engine on your phone, in 2002 they quietly bring out Google Answers a program that allows users to post questions that will be personally answered by a professional researcher for a fee. Me thinks those people haven't heard of SFN!

 

Next gmail is developed. Google is then listed on the stock market.

 

This is all seemingly innocent until google earth! Its even better than NASA's "Whirlwind". Now there is googletalk. It's taking over the world!

[5614]

We all need a search engine and google is the best.

 

We all need email and at the time google was offering more than everyone else.

 

Other addons like the google desktop bar and the professionals answering questions are just add ons that people use because google has a very good reputation.... google probably will keep getting bigger and even a decent competator comes up, why would anyone want to swap from google? Unless the competator is significantly better, which is very unlikely.

[Klaynos]

the interweb is evil and bad, and should be banned, it's the root of all EVIL!!!!!!!!

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4184436.stm

 

IMO the internet will go through another large growth stage when devices such as fridges that keep contents lists connect to the net for you to be able to access anywhere.

 

The web will change, it is in its nature to change, all the .com's the grew and crashed, and then others grew and survived is a good example of a changing web.

[Guest themaster]

I run a business directly related to computer repair and yes, web hosting (not so profitable) so I'll give you a bit of my experience before I give you my prediction..

 

In the short term I see the web developing more devices like VOIP (voice over IP) the huge benefits in cost savings can give you a phone that will work on a any wifi network on top of which could be as low as $10 a month vs. your normal phone lines at $25-35 w/ taxes (right now it's $15-25 monthly sure to go down)

 

One thing I realized today where likely to see playing around with my Verizon EV-DO/Vcast phone (and sure enough has been predicted for years) will be on Demand TV and by that I mean on demand streaming of content directly to your tv/what not exactly unlike how VOIP works.. (it may not necessarily be affordable though as in right now if you know where too look almost for free 1,000's of video/tv clips and DVD's are consistently available)

 

I read a Scientific American article way back in 99' or 2000 that talked exactly what your talking about, it wasn't about changing the internet infrastructure as much as making all the links relational.. example if you wanted Ford motor company it would be as simple as saying that.. not having to guess ford.com or type ford into google.. how they plan to do this I have no idea but that's what they where trying to work out.. (and if your asking about Internet 2 that's just a speed boost) (also expect to see IPv6 finally start to get going as we run out of IP address's (it will happen 4.3 billion or what not ain't that many))

 

If your looking at infrastructure wise.. the internet will continue to need more wire's and lower MS and unfortunately if you know any thing about MS (milliseconds) it takes a while to get from say New York to Los Angeles I don't know the exact number but some where between 35 ms and 70 ms.. this number cannot be beaten out because we'd have to break the speed of light (I think we will but if you follow Einstein explicitly ain't going to happen) basically with infrastructure evolving where just going to see more bandwidth going every which way.. and home USERS will demand more and more.. for running there own servers, sending pictures, every thing (right now they don't have that much upload to download in the broadband sector) and of course I think lower latency will likely be essential for gamers if not for VOIP or some thing else in the immediate future..

 

My long term projection of the internet is one day we will carry around with us all the time.. (well truth be told cell phones etc. like mine have it) but what I mean is we'll be carrying personal computers hooked up and net live for instant information/communication and every thing else you can send via 1's and 0's data...

 

As for patterns of what's going to evolve I have no idea.. I was surprised personally at how fast mp3 got going and now I'd say the video revolution and sub revolutions like VOIP are going on.. the internet can do way to many things and solve a lot of problems but it will all take time.. another great internet history checker is archive.org (for http/pages only)

 

Ohh.. and on the subject of personalized information or forums.. I love them.. kind of sucks though that you have to go out and find different ones though... (the usenet user base isn't always good enough for me) also remember to take all information with a grain of salt, while you can find experts, you can find idiots too.. and then there are fake posts some times done for product placement

[Ophiolite]

Today it seems the center of moral decay and everything liberal and unethical.

I strenuously object to the concatenation of 'moral decay' and 'unethical' with 'liberal'. It is, what's the word? Why it's obnoxious.

[Bio-Hazard]

Future of the internet? Well, I see that the future has become the past.

People don't go to chatrooms anymore.

People don't use netmeetings whiteboard system to draw out things.

Yet with forums you can search through them for information that may already be lying there and use google as a better way to sort through stuff.

 

So I'm guessing the internet is forums along with people building special communities.

Hopefully people can make it more real time and interactive. Not everyone wants to chat and be interactive and productive constantly, but that's a different story.

[Klaynos]

I strenuously object to the concatenation of 'moral decay' and 'unethical' with 'liberal'. It is, what's the word? Why it's obnoxious.

 

Face it the interweb is EVIL and should be BANNED!!!!

 

As I understand it (I queried Lance a while ago), libral is used as a bad word in american, not for true libral belifes but as an insult to the members of the liberal political party...

[ctc7752]

If they do not do something about theft on the internet, we are all in trouble.

[Sisyphus]

I have to assume the first post is a joke...