The Internet is progressing at such a blistering pace that by 2020, we are probably going to see a lot of changes, hopefully for the better. For example, right now here in 2012, we’re seeing a vast amount of data being uploaded to the cloud, as more and more people abandon concepts such as hard drives and CD/DVD disks, in favour of cloud services such as Google Music and Evernote. We’re also seeing file storage solutions offer us even more space in the gigabytes and terabytes, while wireless Internet connections continue to proliferate everywhere in homes, bars, coffee shops and other public places.
Our infographic this week, courtesy of Visual.ly, shows us some of the possible changes that we might see in 8 years time. I’m sure we will see more people online as infrastructure, services and businesses start hooking up more to the net. This will mean more people, from a wider area of the world, from a wider variety of backgrounds, will be able to enjoy the benefits of the net and it won’t become a toy of the privileged richer nations. I’m talking about places such as the African continent, South America and Asia.
But as usual, every good thing has its price. With more people, services and infrastructure going online, the Internet becomes an even bigger and rewarding target for criminals and hackers who want to take advantage. So the infographic claims that we are likely to see a big rise in the number of hacking incidents by 2020, which I think is probably true.
Let us know in the comments below what you think of the infographic and what you think the Internet will look like less than a decade from now. Will it be a place of innovation and wonder, or a lawless online Wild West?
Click on the infographic for a larger version
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Nowadays, people use the internet for almost anything in their lives, so it’s no surprise that it will continue to expand, and will become bigger in the future. For me, I think the internet will be a mixture of both a place of innovation and criminal activity, as it always has been.
Internet will have more Advanced Features in 2020 . Thanks Mark for the Infographic.
Where will the power(electricity) come from?
More advanced solar panels!!!
and oxygen?
I have a feeling that actual PEOPLE will be part of that “network of things” by 2020. Meaning that I bet we’ll have people just beginning to be implanted with computers & sensors that will be even more powerful than our current cell phones & laptops, but only be as large as a ring (or may even BE a ring instead of an implant…). I can’t begin to guestimate how many WtfOmgBytes or WOBs it will take once we can download an entire human consciousness to digital form…
2020 the more the hacking will rise.
” . . . we’re seeing a vast amount of data being uploaded to the cloud, as more and more people abandon concepts such as hard drives and CD/DVD disks, in favour of cloud services . . .”
In that “fabulous” future, you’d better read the fine print before you upload, people. I’d bet dollars to donuts that, once you’ve uploaded your files (music, photos, docs, whatevers) to the “cloud”, you’ll no longer own it (heck, that may even be true now). You’ll find out that, at a government’s or corporation’s request, you can be locked out of all your stuff with absolutely no recourse, based on mere suspicion of . . . oh, heck, anything.
I’m just guessing, but I won’t be surprised by it. No one should be . . . but I KNOW that everyone will continue uploading to the “cloud” and then be shocked — SHOCKED! — that what I’ve just predicted actually became true!
We’ve become dumbed down, ignorant, manipulated sheep. But who cares? We’ve got our Internet! . . . watching us every second of our miserable, micromanaged, manipulated and controlled lives. Know what the difference is between us and livestock? Livestock doesn’t have to pay for its own ear tags.
You have a very George Orwell 1984 view of the future. I prefer to remain optimistic and positive about the advantages and conveniences that the Internet will bring.
By 2020 the internet will be used to monitor all citizens and governments will use it to track down and control political dissidents. Anonymity will be almost gone. Most hackers will, unknown to them, be known to authorities and kept track of. True hackers, a very rare breed, will be those who can truly cover their tracks when all wireless signals, surviellance technology etc is interconnected and all companies such as internet providers and search engines share their information with authorities. Just as the wild west was tamed so will the internet. Just as gunfighters and cowboys believed the west would never be tamed so people today believe the internet will never be tamed.
I’m js figuring out the data transfer speed of a network…. It would be xGB/s
The expansion of internet, might get restricted by ISP imposing hardcap on data usage and such. Something must be done or the future of internet wont be as good as it should be.