In a recent survey of around 900 Internet and tech experts and social analysts, Elon University researchers found that most of their respondents said Internet users will "live mostly in the cloud" by 2020.

These experts, or a full 71 percent of them, at least, predict we'll be working primarily through web-based and mobile apps, such as Facebook and Google Docs, and less on software installed on our own desktops.

This group isn't forecasting the death of the desktop altogether, though -- at least, not just yet. According to this study, the majority of respondents think that in the future, we'll use a hybrid of cloud and desktop computing, with web-based programs continuing to grow in their scope and role.

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