The Great Off-Loading: Apps Move Compute Off the Server

The Two-Way Internet
Here's a contrarian view about networked applications: Web servers are too far away and do too much; PCs are close by and have nothing to do. Conclusion: Move apps back to PCs or at least regional servers. In this "2X (two-way) Internet" world, desktop servlets would tap into the "XML dial tone" for data and do all the heavy lifting locally, freeing up server resources and bandwidth while harnessing all that unused PC for improved usability and better performance.
More: Two-Way Internet Desktop Web Sites On The Horizon
John Robb goes on to predict that the "2X Internet" will be the demise of content-management systems (like Vignette) and single-purpose instant messaging systems.