WHO drives technology? Let me just put this question in context and divide the usage of technology in two broad buckets of enterprise and personal technology. When we think of enterprise technology, it's data centres, server farms et al that come to one's mind; personal technology on the other hand includes handheld devices, televisions, etc.

Now, let me answer the above question. Enterprise has always been a driver of technology in this world. Be it personal computers or handhelds – enterprises have dictated what will become mainstream. This has mainly been because of the numbers that it provides in terms of technology usage and sales for vendors.

Companies like Apple had a tough time convincing people that they would need a computer at home with the Macintosh. Devices like the Commodore 64 were great consumer devices. They sold more than 30 million units making it the most sold single model personal computer of all times.

That party, though, didn't last forever; the IBM PC clones took over and killed the Commodore. Also, the parent company made some mistakes along the line to make it easier. The IBM PC, on the other hand originated for the enterprise and got to its critical mass using office productivity as the killer application.

When people were comfortable using computers in the office, they wanted to have them at home too and use it for things that they even thought possible until sometime ago. The internet (again an invention for the enterprise) just sealed the place of the PC at home and made it a necessity instead of a luxury.

Thus, the enterprise has always ruled the way we use our computers. But that is something that is changing rapidly. And, ironically, one company that is one of the biggest drivers of this change is the one that lost out to the PC – Apple. We all know about the iPod, iPhone and the iPad, so I would not waste your time and my ink in describing them here. Another aspect that has changed the user experience and brought more and more people to use the internet is Facebook, Twitter and other social apps.

What these applications are doing to the industry is something that is worth noting. They are making consumers the driving force in how enterprise software and processes are designed.

While I was speaking to James Whitehurst, the CEO of Red Hat, he made a very interesting comment. He said that the users in office are now looking for Facebook- and Google-like functionality in business applications and they want it free of cost.

The users are now more aware of the computer than ever and are more comfortable in using them than they were ever before. But, the flip side is that they want absolutely slick software to work with that is bug free.

The other part of the whole changing world order is the devices that have taken over the world by millions. Be it the Blackberry, iPhone, Android or other smart phones, they have changed the way people interact with each other and the device itself.

The time is not too far when we would have enterprise software running on iPads and the so-called app-phones. One of the first enterprise apps to be available on the iPad was WebEx online meeting platform by Cisco. The others are not far behind.