Berners-Lee Outlines Future Web Vision

BOSTON---In a brief appearance at the Fourth International World Wide Web Conference, Web pioneer Tim Berners-Lee outlined his vision for the future of the Web.

Among Berners-Lee's visions: support for more data types; a "guardian-angel" type utility for managing desktop files; the disappearance of standard browsers and the emergence of interoperable objects; and support for intelligent agents. Berners-Lee said those agents will "download software for you overnight as well as purchase your next car."

According to Berners-Lee, the Web of the future will provide users with desktop objects that will ease navigation and data-fetching tasks.