Here's a really neat essay by Eric Kidd, a 27-year-old programmer (link via Scripting News), who writes on how the future will look to him when he's 55 in 2031.  He discusses the Microsoft Future, the Open Source Future and the most interesting of all is his appeal to small software developers in the The Missing Future :

The small companies offer me no visions. They can't build platforms; they can't challenge Microsoft, and if they keep squabbling with each other, they can't even create simple standards. The press and the business world won't even look at their technology until after it has been co-opted by the big players.

If you want my support, and the support of others like me, propose a vision. Show me you can co-operate, show me you can build platforms, and show me you can drive back Microsoft without becoming the next Microsoft. Tell me a tale of 2031, and what I'll be doing when I'm 55.

You may have allies in the open source world (Richard Stallman will never like you, but Linus Torvalds may buy your software). You may have allies in the press. You may even have allies in big business. But if you want to be anything other than niche players, you're going to have to speak up. The world is listening.

A clear call for social software and collaborative platforms in their development.  The world sure is listening.