Developers will view REST APIs with the same dismissive disdain reserved today for SOAP/COM/CORBA. In 5 years time there'll be something much cooler, probably based on GIT. (GIT will live forever.)
The hot in-demand skill will be writing tight C code for ASM.JS based single page holographic apps.
We will commute in flying cars and poverty will be history.
Or maybe not - who knows? The best way to predict the future is to invent it. Nobody has a crystal ball, so it's really up to you.
> The best way to predict the future is to invent it. Nobody has a crystal ball, so it's really up to you.
In a sense you're right, it usually takes a few people doing something different, and if it's better, others will follow suit. However, by following current trends and looking at how past trends played out, I'm sure we can have a reasonable idea of what will decline and what will gain favor.
As the OP already noted, we can already notice a move towards web apps. Based on that one might conclude that we'll all be using web browsers as our OS and Chrome OS is a perfect example of that. However, we should also notice that demand for desktop apps didn't suddenly die out as web apps gained popularity. Desktop apps are still in demand, so the previous conclusion is too hasty. One conjecture I want to make based on current trend is that developers will start developing more for mobile platforms (phones and tablets), rather than the desktop because this is where consumer demand and use is moving to.
In both cases we can use current trends to strengthen or weaken hypotheses. It's not like the future happens in a crystal ball either, yesterday was another day that contributed to the future.
The hot in-demand skill will be writing tight C code for ASM.JS based single page holographic apps.
We will commute in flying cars and poverty will be history.
Or maybe not - who knows? The best way to predict the future is to invent it. Nobody has a crystal ball, so it's really up to you.