The worldwide web officially turns 15 this Sunday, with the anniversary of the first hypertext document created by Tim Berners-Lee. To mark the occasion, Times Online asked members of the web community - from business leaders to bloggers - what they thought the most exciting thing had been in the past 15 years, and what the net might look like in 15 years’ time

Cory Doctorow, blogger at boingboing.net and European Outreach Coordinator at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, eff.org.

Most exciting: the ability for the internet to turn a billion individual deeds into a single useful service. Whether it's Google analysing every link made by every web-writer to tease out the internet's structure or Wikipedia's coalescing of a world-class encyclopedia out of volunteer writers and editors, the web has proved its ability to galvanise individuals into giant and active collectives. We are more than the sum of our parts on the web.

In 15 years: if copyright interests have their way, the web will lie in ruins around us. Restrictive technology mandates intended to make technology subservient to the incumbent music and movie industries will make it impossible to create, share and improve on the works that make up the web. It will become an off-limits zone unless you have a pricy copyright lawyer by your side as you work, the kind of place governed by negotiations and licenses, not the free exchange of ideas that begat the enlightenment and civilisation. We will sell our future for a handful of pretty, empty junk-food blockbusters.

Alistair Baker, Managing Director, Microsoft, vice president for Europe, Middle East and Africa

The advent of the worldwide web was like turning the light on and it brought an explosion of creative ideas which we are still developing. It was the beginning of a journey which, even after 15-years, is still just taking the first steps. Now, the web carries much of the information ever created by man and that's increasing all the time with libraries around the world digitising their content and putting it online so that you'll be able to read the Magna Carta in your living room - even print off an exact replica. That's pretty exciting, but the challenge is how do I manage all that information?

In the next 15 years I think the web will become ever more personalised. It's all going to be about how you want to see it, what you need from it and what you can contribute to it. Just over the horizon, the development of an intelligent speech interface will mean that you'll be able to tell your search engine to go and find information on a given topic, analyse it, collate it and present bullets from the top ten most relevant sources. That kind of power is really going to change how we live, work and play.

Ian Smith, Managing Director, Oracle Corporation, UK, Ireland and South Africa

The internet has been the most disruptive technology of the last 15 years, triggering a quantum leap in productivity and new possibilities for businesses throughout the world. Today, companies and individuals have unparalleled access to information. Fifteen years ago you stood out from the crowd if you were on the web. Now you're out in the cold if you're not.

The future will see the internet transforming IT into a utility with software being turned into services as vital as water and electricity. However to realise its potential CEOs and CIOs need to take brave decisions to standardise their technology infrastructure to deliver on the opportunities for greater productivity and cost effectiveness offered by the internet. For too long companies have allowed departments to create jumbled fiefdoms of different technologies that don't talk to each other - unless companies are willing to stamp out these silos they will fail to reap the future benefits of the internet.

Jon Miller, chairman and CEO, America Online

Unquestionably the most exciting event for me was the online broadcast of the Live 8 concert from London, and elsewhere around the world. Live 8 marked the arrival of the web as a true media platform. Millions of people from 178 countries around the world, including those as far flung as Nepal, Somalia and Greenland, tuned in to watch the concerts, make their voices heard through an online petition, and learn about the tragedy of poverty in Africa. It really was the World Wide Web that day.

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