Every few years there comes some new tech that changes the game. The last few years it was RSS, then Ajax (so played). Time marches on and so here’s my take for the tech that will change the game on the internet in the next  few years.

a) semantic web – making the web machine-readable. This’ll supply the meta data to power the largest expert system in the world. Imagine a "google" type engine with a brain. A web that can rationalize and reason. The whole exceeding the sum of the parts horizon: 5-10 years.

b) Second life – Self-governed virtual environments. Imagine MySpace in 3D on steroids legitimized by corporate involvement and a functioning economy. ** Side note: I never "got" MySpace, seems just like geocities all over again. Horizon: NOW!!!

c) Digital Identity – High(er) assurance as to who’s who on the web. Federated identity. No more registering per site. You are who you are and reputation grows over time. Online code of conduct becomes important. Horizon: 1-2 years.

d) Windows Presentation Foundation: aka XBAP and Microsoft SilverLight [LINK], richer experience on the web. Flash on steroids. Blurs the line between a web application and desktop application. Lowers the cost of developing rich browser experiences. Resulting experiences are better and more interesting.  Horizon: NOW.

e) Amazon web services: On demand storage, queuing and computational power. Pay for what you use model.

f) New computing form factors. E.g. Microsoft Surface[LINK] and multi-touch. Announced this week, Microsoft have made a computer out of a coffee table. It’s sensitive to what you put on it. This is nice, but I think HP had something similar not too long ago. Microsoft is renowned for taking disparate technologies and converging them into new business models so they can likely make this work. Horizon: 2-5 years.

Take one from c) and mix with any of the others and you’ve got new business model.