The future of cloud computing

Nearly 900 Internet experts and highly engaged users said they expect people who use the Internet will "live mostly in the cloud" by 2020, working primarily through the use of cyberspace-based applications on remote servers that we access through our networked devices.

This does not mean, however, that most think the desktop will disappear soon. The majority sees a hybrid model continuing where both cloud computing and desktop computing take on different functions. The Web-based survey, conducted by the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project and the Imagining the Internet Center at Elon University, gathered opinions on 10 important issues from a select group of experts and the highly engaged Internet public. Results from this survey are being released in five major 2010 reports; this is the fourth.