The X Internet will not be a new invention, but rather the evolution of today's Internet of static Web pages and cumbersome e-commerce mechanisms into a Net that relies on executable software code to deliver more interactive experiences.

Executable Internet applications use downloaded code like Java and XML to enhance the user experience with pop-up menus, pick lists, graphics and simple calculations, according to a recent Forrester report entitled "The X Internet."

An easy way to understand how the X Internet will work is to imagine that a band wants to distribute a song over the Net. Rather than worrying about which audio player people want to use, an executable file will deliver the song and the audio player at the same time.

"With an executable, you can distribute movies the same way you distribute songs," Forrester research director and report author Carl Howe told NewsFactor Network. "It just makes the models work better."

Building the X-Net

The report also employs an example of a person building a house. With today's Internet, a builder would have to find, then try to follow, an article detailing how to frame a window. When it was time to install the bathroom, the would-be plumber would then have to find an article dealing with that topic.

Executable Internet applications would demonstrate to a builder, step-by-step, how to frame a window. When it came time to install the bathroom, the carpenter would simply be replaced by a plumber.

"Instead of reading a book, you have a conversation about the work you're trying to do," Howe wrote.

Speeding E-Commerce

The executable Internet will also speed e-commerce transactions, and create experiences that are comparable to video games and television.

Glimmers of the executable Internet are already available, Forrester says, in applications like Napster, online gaming and SmartMoney.com's Map of the Market. But complete executable Internet apps are still several years away.

One of the biggest barriers to executable applications is security .

"We've already seen one virus that was passed through Gnutella," Howe told NewsFactor. "That's a quite legitimate concern. I don't think it's a show-stopper, but anybody who addresses the X Internet market will have to be able to say, 'We've got that covered.'"

X-tended Net

Forrester is also predicting the widespread adoption of another X Internet -- but this X stands for "extended." The extended Internet will include the widespread adoption of real-world appliances, like air conditioners or car tires, that communicate with owners or manufacturers via the Internet.

The extended Internet will come with the inclusion of cheap sensors in thousands of everyday products, an era that will begin around 2005, Forrester predicts.

And despite his belief that the future Internet will be much more useful in everyday life than today's, Howe acknowledges there is a bit of hype in the report's theme that the Web is dead.

"The reality is there will be a lot more executable stuff. It may become the dominant way we interact, but the Web's still going to be there," Howe said. "The good news is the executables coexist very nicely with the Web."