Lately I have noticed two very interesting developments that don't seem like much at first but could have bigger implications down the road.
First is Google's Cloud Printing Initiative
This yet to be released product is intended to let you connect printers to the web and print to them from anywhere. I for one would appreciate this very much because my side job as tech support guy for my kids would get much easier. Our network printers at home are a pain in the neck.
Second is Tungle.me's Web Based Scheduling System
This new service enables anyone to coordinate scheduling across multiple calendar platforms. Exchange has done this forever inside companies -- but such functionality has not been available between companies before.
If you put these two things together, small businesses can delay building their own networks much longer than before. Add to this cloud based file storage, databases, and collaboration tools and small businesses may not need their own networks. Just a router and a connection to the internet.
That would change things a bit.