58 replies to this topic

[GNR Rvolution]

In light of the ongoing series from the Guardian (http://www.guardian....or-the-internet) I wondered what people's views were on the evolution of the internet?

• Will we continue to see a free and open internet in the coming years, or will it be walled off by nations to 'protect' their citizens?
  
• Will open source become more dominant or will corporations have their way (http://www.bbc.co.uk...nology-17705873)?
  
• What would happen in the event of a cyber-war (http://www.theregist...na_us_wargames/)?
  
• What are we likely to see change in the landscape of the internet in the next few years - will HTML5 take hold, will Flash die, what will be the next big 'thing' on the internet after social networking?
  
• Will / Should anonymity continue to exist, or should some form of unique ID for people be developed to prevent cyber-bullying, harassment and criminal activity?

Your opinions are appreciated

[EVanimations]

The internet will be walled off by national governments for protection. Just look at all the bills trying to be passed like SOPA and ACTA. It's sickening. These bills weren't very successful, but the world governments' intentions were made perfectly clear, in that they will not stop and they will continue to exploit every loophole until they can make the internet pirate-free and censorship out the ass.

The internet will also be taken over by corporations. This is already happening. It's just like in the real world, only instead of Wal-Mart and McDonald's taking over, it's Facebook and Google. The "one man with a dream" frontier for success that the internet once was will cease to be, very soon.

Anyway, those are my two cents about the future of the internet. I'm afraid the future for the internet looks bleak, and these are just the Good ol' Days.

Edited by EVanimations, 18 April 2012 - 01:50 PM.

[Raklian]

The future isn't bleak because I know for sure the common people will unite and fight back. It is bound to happen - look at history.

[Outsider]

I think that anonymity is becoming an issue on certain MSM sites such as Yahoo, MSN, CNN, etc. If you go read their comment boards, intellectual discussion left the building years ago, and it has been replaced with insults aimed at people with opposing beliefs. I do believe that anonymity does promote free speech, but it feels like that pendulum is beginning to swing too far in one direction. As a result, we are starting to see proposed legislation that will begin to inhibit such discussions. If such legislation is passed, where will they draw the line on what can and can't be said?

I'm not sure what the solution to trolling/cyber bullying should be, but I'm afraid of the consequences.

[EVanimations]

True, we'll fight back against the government, but not so much against the corporations.

We can bitch all we want about how the big corporations are running out the smaller websites, but in the end we'll just go onto Facebook to talk about what we're eating instead of going on a smaller social networking site. We'll go onto Amazon to buy that book instead of going on a smaller shopping site. We'll go to Google to search for forums instead of using another, smaller search engine. This has already happened, and it's too late to go back now. However, it is very convenient for everyone else to use the internet because it's been consolidated to such a degree. This might be a good thing in itself, but this still makes it much harder for smaller, fledgling sites and ideas to succeed.

No doubt that as soon as our freedoms are encroached upon, the people will rise. No doubt.

[CyberMisterBeauty]

Surely Internet will evolve into virtual reality and virtual worlds/environments(the next stage of Internet will be web3.0(search 2015-2020 of the timeline).Fully lifelike CGI will enable the creation of fully realistic environments that will be pretty enjoyable.

I think conversations,relationship sites like facebook and the foruns of the future will be like rooms,you will use your 3d avatar and will talk to another person or various people simultaniosly,like in real life.I think you will be able to invite anyone to "walk around" the virtual world and interact like them just as in real life...

[Craven]

I think that thanks to botched attempts at SOPA and ACTA, public will be vigilant and will not let anything like this happen. But there will be attempts from goverments. And if that's not enough, by that time we'll have companies like Space X and we'll buy our own communication sattelites and get our own access to Internet.

[Guyverman1990]

If the Internet evolves into VR, then SOPA will be deemed by the public as fascists even more than now.

[SG-1]

The internet won't become VR, and VR will not exist in a realistic way by 2020. The internet will become easier to navigate for sure, search by thoughts and search by emotions (stumbleupon using emotions).
Virtual Reality will be online and you could possibly walk through a store, but I wouldn't want to do that every time I get on a website.

SOPA and the like will try and be passed but for anti piracy and trolling laws that work, a middle ground has to be found. After a certain time period people will not buy old games and movies. So those should be ok to download freely. Trolling can be done with by AI reading over messages and banning people when they post, the message should be reviewed and a decision should be made to remove it or not, remove if it is just a personal insult and banning and removal should not happen if they are just speaking out politically and what not.

[EVanimations]

The Semantic Web, aka Web 3.0 will dominate user interfaces in the nearer future.

[Craven]

This notion of "Internet becoming Virtual Reality" makes no sense. Virtual Reality may be entertainment or way to represent data, but Internet is a network, it's agregate of data, it's much more than VR can be. VR might be browser of the future internet not future internet itself.

[GNR Rvolution]

@EV - I think the internet is driven, as most other things, by a competitive free market. Sure, most of the big things to fall out of web 1 (search engines) and web 2 (online shopping, social networking) are slowly coagulating into more singular entities (Google, Facebook), but I'm not sure that the big corporations will ever completely take over as the effect would be to slow the market and might cause some of the big web bubbles to burst? And you are right about the semantic web, that does have a big part to play in the future of the web.

@Outsider / SG-1 - I can't say I've been on many general chat sites, but yeah there are a lot of halfwits around. A big part of the reason that so much abuse occurs online is that people feel a surge of power that comes with the anonymity of the web. Take away that anonymity and I would expect that many of those people suddenly aren't so brash. Although it is true that anonymity can also be a good thing, there needs to be at least a way for the repercussions or consequences of what goes on to be shown to that person.

@CyberMisterBeauty - As pointed out by others, VR is purely a mechanism by which one accesses the web and it's content, and I'm not sure I would agree about the way in which VR would expose the web to the user. Yes, we are comfortable with the notion of rooms and such-like, but it's too constraining to try and model VR on such real world concepts when we can build the VR architecture any way we like.

@Craven - Although I agree that SOPA and ACTA we badly thought out and the way they tried to implement them was even worse, I'm not sure most of the public has much of a clue about these, and won't about future attempts at copyright enforcement. TBH I do think that there needs to be some form of copyright enforcement and it will come into effect at some point, there is so much piracy on the web, it must be hitting the music, film and television industry pretty hard. Quite how much I don't know, and it may be that they would sooner people view their material for free than not view it at all.

[Alric]

Well if all websites could be accessed by VR, then that would make the internet effectively VR based. I have no idea if they will continue older forms of web browsing. On one hand it would probably be extremely cheap and easy to allow old fashion styles to remain for people who want to use them, but on the other hand not many people would want to. So it might just be semantics on what you decide to call it.

[SG-1]

The internet will continue to be what it is now for a long time. Pages with links. Graphics and multimedia will be everywhere in the future thought with increased bandwidth and new programming languages. I think that the windows 8 tablet is a great device and will be the future of all tablets - a mobileOS that can switch to full. Conversely you could be on a desktop and switch to a mobileOS.

Why not? Phones will be released in a few months with a 1.5GHz quad-core processor and RAM of over a gig.
So that will be the internet. VR will probably take over forums eventually and maybe some websites will have the option of visiting in VR, though would only really be useful for stores and video sites (movie theaters).

[GNR Rvolution]

I suspect that between now and 2020 websites will retain their current form, albeit with whizzier graphics and other minor leaps. I think the way in which we navigate them may well change though, with voice driven taking over from point-and-click. A lot depends on the device which we are connecting from. Traditional PCs might retain this but I think mobile devices, TVs and other technology (e.g. Kinect motion technology) allow completely different and new ways of interacting with a web site and through design (and a fair bit of trial and error) these will become the more common practices.

As for the internet itself, I can certainly see the ongoing battles for control continuing and escalating. Nation states and corporations will continue to dominate the market, but there is a new generation of much more computer savvy teenagers coming through, as well as groups like Anonymous (and other derivatives) who I think will continue to beat any security put in place, at least whilst anonymity continues to exist. The use of things like TOR nodes and other proxy methods will allow those who don't want to be tracked to do so, in fact the more the grip of the powers tighten, the more people will turn to these places.

[Roh234]

I think we will continue to see a see an open internet even though governments will try to censor the internet. This statement will only stand if citizens don't fall for the bullshit excuse of 'protection from child porn, human smuggling, and terrorism.'

Corporations will try to have their way but Open source will be dominant across the years and adapt. Eg, Google chrome.

In the case of a cyber war there will be cyber militias run and owned by private citizens to protect the infrastructure. I also think that cyber war is unlikely because any real damage done by a cyber war will lead to a physical war.

The internet will continue to form and prosper as long as the government STAYS OUT OF IT. New protocols, scripts and languages will emerge and die. Personally I think the internet in its current form gets maximum interaction from users from a computer. The next step will be virtual reality like in Futurama internet chat room episode. In the mean while content is just going to get bigger, fast and more life like.

Anonymity should exist. There should not be any virtual ID, it just ruins one of the points of the internet. Privacy > control.

[Zeitgeist123]

Well if all websites could be accessed by VR, then that would make the internet effectively VR based. I have no idea if they will continue older forms of web browsing. On one hand it would probably be extremely cheap and easy to allow old fashion styles to remain for people who want to use them, but on the other hand not many people would want to. So it might just be semantics on what you decide to call it.

not unless if VR would be so good it will revolutionize its way into our daily lives via telepresence. just imagine working at home, no more commuting. you go on your daily rounds of work in a VR cloud with your colleagues and then at the end of the day, you just take off the VR gadget and your back home. same way with shopping, or recreation (like maybe try to go in an otherworldy environment.) and what a great way to educate kids about subjects in an all virtual environment: explaining to them about the solar system, the mitosis of the cell, or teaching a foreign language, or the history of the ancient egypt for example. it would be just like the start of the internet era all over again.

[GNR Rvolution]

Corporations will try to have their way but Open source will be dominant across the years and adapt. Eg, Google chrome.

Is Google not a corporation? So the use of a browser produced by them is tantamount to going against the principals of open source? I know that Google are better advocates of open source than others (see their current court case with Oracle), but using a particular brand of browser aligns oneself with that corporation?

In the case of a cyber war there will be cyber militias run and owned by private citizens to protect the infrastructure. I also think that cyber war is unlikely because any real damage done by a cyber war will lead to a physical war.

Yes cyber war would lead to actual warfare, but I see no reason that this couldn't happen? In fact does not our relative innocence regarding the impact of virtual warfare on the physical world not make us more susceptible to this scenario?

Anonymity should exist. There should not be any virtual ID, it just ruins one of the points of the internet. Privacy > control.

I'm really not sure what to think on this one. On the one hand, people should not have big brother watching their every move. But on the other hand what some people get away with is appalling and yet they are protected by the banner of privacy and yet they can make another person's life hell and very public without any repercussions for themselves, all for the lulz...

[Roh234]

Is Google not a corporation? So the use of a browser produced by them is tantamount to going against the principals of open source? I know that Google are better advocates of open source than others (see their current court case with Oracle), but using a particular brand of browser aligns oneself with that corporation?

Google is indeed a corporation. It doesn't necessarily go against the the principle of open source. Currently Chrome is free and I don't see any plans to make it a closed source program. Corporations will follow Google's example because it is making Google a ton of money.

http://www.internetn... Make Money.htm

The rise of the internet has lead to a change in business models and corporations that don't follow will be left out.

I'm really not sure what to think on this one. On the one hand, people should not have big brother watching their every move. But on the other hand what some people get away with is appalling and yet they are protected by the banner of privacy and yet they can make another person's life hell and very public without any repercussions for themselves, all for the lulz...

People don't get away with criminal activities on the internet. It is really easy to find the offender even if the person is using proxy servers, VPNs, or public computers. Usually trolls and bullies don't go through such measures and do it on their own computer so I wouldn't worry too much.

[CyberMisterBeauty]

The internet will continue to be what it is now for a long time. Pages with links. Graphics and multimedia will be everywhere in the future thought with increased bandwidth and new programming languages. I think that the windows 8 tablet is a great device and will be the future of all tablets - a mobileOS that can switch to full. Conversely you could be on a desktop and switch to a mobileOS.

Why not? Phones will be released in a few months with a 1.5GHz quad-core processor and RAM of over a gig.
So that will be the internet. VR will probably take over forums eventually and maybe some websites will have the option of visiting in VR, though would only really be useful for stores and video sites (movie theaters).

Ahahahahahahahah...You made me laugh now...so you mean that Internet in 2050-2060 will be the same as today??Don't make me laugh a lot!At least I think that surely Internet will became Virtual reality(It's even in the timeline).When computers have enough processment power to make highly realistic virtual environments that will happen...

I agree with you when you said that the forums and video and stores websites will become VR,but do you really think VR will only be useful for that?Imagine relationship sites like facebook in virtual reality mode,it would be fantastic,people would talk and interact with each other like in real life,using different avatares,people's page would be a room or an environment designed by their own...Imagine the online games in VR,would be so nice...

That's why I think most websites(if not all) will be in 3d...And by 2020 computers will have processment power to create fully likelike CGI...

Edited by CyberMisterBeauty, 28 April 2012 - 05:21 PM.