Steve Rubel argues that the future is not in web sites, but rather web services. He’s got it partially right.
The future is in online content that’s not just human friendly, but computer friendly.
Content found on most web sites is more geared towards the human than the computer. Hence, they’ll be the first to fade as online technologies improve. Web services, go the right direction, because they are more computer consumable. However, this is only the beginning.
We’ll see more and more “services” that find the sweet spot between providing content for humans and computers. Exactly where it is depends on what is being made available and how it can be used.
There’s no doubt in my mind, though, that computers are becoming more important as consumers of online content–if not more so.