Jeremy: Well, I definitely think the biggest thing happening on the Internet right now is that we're finally seeing the promise of convergence come alive, and this is a consumer revolution - a revolution in all forms of communications and media. Many of the original promises of the Internet and convergence are finally coming together, and this will all be manifest over the next few years.

As for the connections to real-world activity, I guess I feel like that has been happening all along on the Internet, and is just getting deeper. So, explicit things like consuming media, or shopping, or communicating, are very "real-world activities," and then most other institutions - learning institutions, government institutions, religious institutions, are augmenting the ways in which they organize, communicate, and behave based on the shifts and possibilities of the Internet.

I guess one could go even deeper, and talk about monitors, sensors, and devices that are connected and embedded everywhere, and network connected, meshing with the physical world. I think that's all interesting, but probably not that practical for consumers, yet. There's a lot of this happening in industrial settings, so for example, real-time monitors of physical manufacturing infrastructure, that has dynamic feedback from software, that is modifying a manufacturing process, and so forth.

Simon: If, at some time in the future, the Internet is "built-in" to a larger portion of daily life, will traditional personal computer Web browsers become obsolete, because our phones, televisions, cars, and other applications will be Web browsers themselves? Do you still see application servers like ColdFusion playing an important role or do you think that Web programming will be more focused on programming for devices or plug-ins?

Jeremy: This is an accurate world-view, and it's been an idea that was important to ColdFusion very early, when we created things like CFHTTP, and then WDDX. We believed that connected applications would be device independent, and it would be helpful to have high-level abstractions for interacting with these devices, handling events from them, presenting data and so forth. Back in 1997, we were actually the first application server to support something called HDML (Handheld Device Markup Language), from Unwired Planet, in the first Web Phone. In fact, back then, I created a simple application in CF that presented a UI via the very first Web phone (the AT&T PocketNet Phone), and allowed me to turn on and off the lights and coffee maker in my house. I worked with a CF developer in Florida to build a CFX_Tag for X10 home automation control, and attached a controler to the serial port of my CF server at home, and had this all running. So these ideas were important, even back then, 8 years ago!

Simon: Now that you view ColdFusion from more of a distance and are keeping your eye on trends in general, what are your opinions about ColdFusion versus .NET? Any thoughts about XAML and Microsoft's upcoming Longhorn platform? Microsoft obviously paid a lot of attention to Macromedia's "Rich Internet Application" vision and message that Experience Matters - they even have an answer to "Halo" called "Aero." How do you think that Avalon, Aero, and the release of all of the components of the Longhorn platform are going to impact ColdFusion developers?

Jeremy: Well, I don't really compare ColdFusion to .NET, they're really different layers of the stack, so to speak. It's really Java vs. .NET, at least on the server-side, and clearly ColdFusion is aligned around the Java server stack, given its heritage as an open and cross-platform server environment. I wouldn't expect that to change.

I'm quite familiar with XAML and what Microsoft is attempting to do with Longhorn. It's quite clear that they've also got the Rich Internet Application religion, which I'm proud to have been a part of pioneering at Macromedia. Clearly, Microsoft will be successful with Avalon/XAML, but it will take a very long time to play out. Macromedia has a huge head-start in building both the runtimes and tools needed for this unique fusion of design, programming, media and interactivity that characterizes RIAs. Once Longhorn is in the market in late 2006, for it to reach 50% penetration of consumer desktops might take 4 years, whereas Macromedia can upgrade the entire Internet end-user community to a new client runtime in about 12 months.

In any case, I also expect Macromedia to be responsive to and interested in integrating its products with .NET and Longhorn, so I don't think developers need to be concerned about being left behind. Macromedia has historically been a very open and agnostic software provider, and has always tried to innovate and integrate with leading platforms from Microsoft, as had Allaire.

Simon: You were one of the early bloggers on the Web. I see that your company, Brightcove, like many other companies is taking advantage of blogging as a company tool (http://blog.brightcove.com). Microsoft has recently announced that they are adding support for RSS in the next version of Internet Explorer. What do you think of the "blog explosion" and the increasing popularity of RSS as a means for companies to syndicate information and deliver support, thoughts, and their message in general to their clients and to the public at large? Is this a trend that you think will continue or do you see RSS being replaced by something else (like video blogging for example)?

Jeremy: Like you said, I've been an advocate for and a practitioner of blogging, both personal and corporate. It's wonderful to see it hit the mainstream, though it seems that most corporations are just beginning to think about how to apply the approach. There's clearly an opportunity to use blogging and feeds deeply within companies, and that's barely happening now, and the external facing blogging for companies is also just getting started. So, I expect the next few years to be very interesting in these areas.