We all know how big and how quickly Facebook, FriendFeed, Twitter and the like had to scale. To do so, they had to think outside the box, and make not only wide use, but also many upgrades and contributions to countless open source software projects.

It’s something we sadly something we hear very little about – corporate secrecy keeps much of the juicy details at bay – but these next generation services are not only using these projects, but also making significant contributions to open-source projects and even open sourcing entire chunks of their codebase.

I’d like to sit back for a minute, take a look at what these web powerhouses have been building, and appreciate their contributions to everyone’s development.

There is always talk of where the web could go next.

Constantly seeking the next “big thing”, entrepreneurs and large companies alike are pouring time, money, and intelligence into figuring out the next cool thing that can be done with the network that has the ability to connect us all.

But where can the web go from here?

The best answer to that question can be taken from extrapolating where we’ve come from into the future. Here’s what I think will be big in the coming months and years.

You may have read my recent (rather monolithic) post on Getting Started with OAuth.

Web Resource Authorisation Protocol (WRAP) is a set of so-called “profiles” for OAuth, which contribute a substantial number of additional features as well as vast simplification of the bloated (yet finally secure) authentication mechanism.

WRAP is currently in the very early stages of development as a protocol specification. But that doesn’t mean that it’s not gaining traction already, and beginning to make an impact.

There was an interesting post on TechCrunch recently on how the default privacy settings on the web seem to have migrated from “private” (like Facebook’s old privacy rules, which were very strict) to “public” (a la Twitter, where your content is open by default).

Working in a position like mine, where I get to see a lot of the ins and outs of how people use and expect social networks to behave, it is astounding to see some of the complete misunderstandings that happen regarding where user’s data can go.

I’d like to take a quick look at how these privacy rules have changed, and why I’m certain most people don’t understand what their data can actually be used for.

Microsoft have gradually been increasing the number of student-oriented sites, services, tools and technologies that they are producing.

Whether this is DreamSpark, the Imagine Cup, great deals on web hosting, new education tools, web sites or Facebook pages, there is so many ways for students to get loads more out of  Microsoft – and for very little money!

Now Microsoft have made a whole load of this available for you on your mobile phones. Read on about s2dent.mobi, the mobile student portal for all things Microsoft.