In one sense this is no surprise. The Internet began as a Department of Defence project many decades ago. It grew to encompass Universities and research institutions and some big businesses.

Back in 1990 I was online as a student at the University of Newcastle. I mucked around with text-based MUDs (Multi-User Dungeons, the forerunners of today's MMORPGs) and IRC. All those I came across were mostly fellow students from around the world.

But 1994 came and the World Wide Web was invented. Graphical web browsers appeared. By 1996 the concept of regular people and families subscribing to an Internet Service Provider was well entrenched.

Suddenly, to my surprise, I was stumbling across 13 year olds and 70 year olds alike. The Web was the "killer app" which made the Internet go mainstream.

Likewise, the Web is once again bringing about a revolution where "the cloud" is what matters. We are turning from client-based apps like Microsoft Outlook for e-mail to everywhere-accessible Web-based apps like Google Gmail.

In a similar fashion, social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace are becoming the place to hang out and interact - once again, in opposition to traditional client-based apps like mIrc.

Google state that a motivating factor for their Chrome web browser was to enhance the experience of people using web apps like these because they recognised their growing importance and popularity.

Here's how Linux vendors can capitalise.