The World Wide Web is the centerpiece of the Internet information network. The web technology has been undergoing rapid changes since its introduction in the public domain more than a decade ago. Today it is again the focus of attention for providing web services, a technology that allows each service to be made available as a universally available and discoverable component. Global registries are being set up that allow service providers to advertise their services in a language that is universally understood by machines and systems of different languages and platforms. When the services become commonplace, you will realize that the Web is really what it was originally intended to be - a place for locating and fulfilling services.

Another change that is imminent is building intelligence on the web so that information search becomes easier and qualitatively different from what we are accustomed to now. This is under development at W3C as Semantic Web, and uses special logical reasoning inference engines. The Semantic Web proposes to extend XML (THE language of the Web) in a way that we are going to witness the Web move from metadata to metaphysics. None other than its inventor Tim Berners Lee is charting a new direction to the Web. When this becomes a reality, you will find the web teeming with intelligent agents that do your bidding in a manner not unlike Aladdin's magic lamp.

This is a period of intense activity on the Web front. New tools and technologies are emerging that promise to make a unified communication network a distinct possibility in the near future.

I intend to bring out articles on the emerging trends on the Web. So keep looking!