COMPUTER AND NETWORKING technology seem to be rocketing toward an unimaginable future. While predicting the development of new technology is always difficult, there are several trends that are likely to continue.

Growth in capacity and number of users

Media researcher Nicholas Negroponte points out that

we are close to being able to deliver 1,000 billion bits per second. This means that a fiber the size of a human hair can deliver every issue ever made of the Wall Street Journal in less than one second. Transmitting data at that speed, a fiber can deliver a million channels of television concurrently [at the same time].

The Internet has sometimes suffered growing pains. New services that rely heavily on large graphics and sound files require faster modems, high-capacity phone lines (such as ISDN), and perhaps alternatives to using phone lines, such as including Internet with...