Your views: Future of the web

To mark the 10th anniversary of the web we interviewed Sir Tim Berners-Lee, who created the first website.

Sir Tim thinks the web has had its adolescence and will now settle down but what do you think the web will be like in the next 10 or 20 years?

Send your views on the future of the web...

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The e-mails published reflect the balance of opinion received.

I do not think that the World Wide Web has gone through its adolescence any more than human behaviour has gone through its own adolescence. If the WWW is reflective of the thoughts, words and deeds of its contributors then with the invention behind us, the next ten years may bring maturity.
Stefan, London

If the web and associated technologies have been successfully implemented, we won't think at all about the web 10 or 20 years from now. If we are still conscious of going online, using a PC, or "firing up a Web browser" we will have failed. Successful technologies fit into our lives, are easy to use (assuming we are even aware of using them at all), and are taken for granted. Think electricity and electric motors, the internal combustion engine, television and radio - or even the mobile phone.
Nico Macdonald, UK

As an internet technologist, I believe that the internet is going to migrate from pc's and go mobile as the technology gets better e.g. more efficient power usage. We are already seeing a convergence in technologies with music players and cameras becoming features we look for when shopping for a new phone. South Korea is experiencing this explosion in the mobile internet "minternet" with visa cards embedded in the sim card, the semantic web will help this transition as it is only the data that is being transferred so each individual user will be able to view that data in their own style and layout
David Gale, Cambridge UK

I watched Mark Lawson's interview of Sir Tim Berners-Lee last night and thought it was very poor. All he could ask about was the negative aspects of the web. Surely the good that the web provides, in being one of the biggest forms of multi media communication, outweighs the bad. The web not only provides news, entertainment and the purchasing of goods, but can also assist with a person's education and these areas will continue growing, offering people greater freedom of choice. Thus creating a truly global community.
Ian Macey, Kent

I believe the internet to be the most technologically significant invention since the transistor and potentially the most sociologically significant of the 20th century. I thought the interview of Sir Tim Berners-Lee by Newsnight utterly missed the point and completely failed to take the opportunity to ask Sir Tim any worthwhile questions. Modern media conglomerates who, until the internet, have held a monopoly on distributing news and information to the masses have a lot to lose by its increased usage and obviously have a vested interest in preaching the "dangers" of the internet. I am disappointed that the BBC, as an independent publicly funded body, should be entertaining this line of argument instead of appreciating the platform the internet gives to ALL sectors of the public, privileged or not.
Andrew Bett, London

I still think the web is stuck in its teens...it's still obsessed with porn, video games and has a 3-click attention span. There are quite a few good sites (this being one!) but the vast majority are little more than adverts inviting you to buy/sell/use products or services... It's in its "protesting" age, thinking of university but also obsessed with money, split like most students between fighting for human rights and how to afford the latest mobile phone. The web's future is bright, but not if it's censored and not if it's just left to run riot, it must be encouraged, nurtured and protected. It has the potential to be the ultimate tool of both freedom and oppression, just like cinema/radio in the 20s & 30s. We MUST be careful who is pulling the strings.
William Moreton, Fareham, UK

The web will not truly evolve until the underlying networking technology changes. Built in the 60's for the US military to initially withstand a nuclear strike, the inherent limitations in both network capacity and security are apparent. Internet Protocol version 6 promises to deliver secure & robust networking. The limitations of point and click surfing (not always intuitive), the domain name system (which converts bbc.co.uk into a series of numbers understood by your computer) and browser software are all tied into this aging underlying network. Once the foundations of the new network technology are in place then perhaps one day you'll be able to surf to your fridge, pick up groceries from supermarkets and lift them all in glorious 3d whilst at work at your desk.
Paddy Tarpey, London

For the future of the web/internet we should look at what is coming out of Google Labs. There are inventions coming from there that would excite even non-geeks.
Gavin Ayling, Shoreham-by-Sea

I must say the interview I just watched on Newsnight was a little negative. I think only once the interviewer spoke a positive word about the internet. Yeah it has its problems, but you'll only see them if you don't take sensible steps. Do people bad mouth newspapers because they only carry bad news or do people praise them because they get the news out there? All in all, not a very good interview!
Recrudesce, Southampton

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