I'm seeing a trend towards hardware, software and operating system commoditization in our new cloud-based world. I think that within 5 years applications, including your beloved desktop operating system will be completely hosted. This brings me to pondering whether or not at some point there will be multi-level marketing (MLM) schemes to sell hosted services.
Women will trade-in their old school Tupperware parties for hip new Cloudware* parties. Amway could be replaced by CloudWay*. And school kids will have fundraisers like America's Finest Hosting* or Cloud Scouts*. Wow, a whole new industry is born: CloudWork Marketing*.
I know--or hope, that this is just my fantasy. Surely no one would ever think of doing this for real. On the other hand, In the years to come, there will be a cloud vendor frenzy and you'll be able to choose services, features and support just like you do now with cell phone providers. These bundled services would be powerfully marketed through consumer marketing channels (MLM).
Linux powers most current cloud vendor offerings and that isn't likely to change. What will change, for the majority of us, is that we will never know, nor care, which operating system is powering our games, phones, applications or desktops--it will just be "service."
Think of it. Power on your "computer," select a service and away you go into the ethers of cloud vendor magic. You'll never know where your applications reside, where your data is or where your desktop is coming from. This is the future of computing--access information everywhere and on any device and who better to market it than you, the consumer.
OK, get out there and start some companies selling cloud vendor packages you MLMers.
* Totally fictional names that I made up--if real companies with these names exist, hey you got a free traffic boost from my blog. You're welcome.
Proudly brought to you by Ken Hess, Father of Cloudwork Marketing.