Business Week’s Robert Hof has penned a fantastic piece on how the consumers are revolutionizing the way technology works. (Read, Power of Us) He looks at the amazing rise of Skype, Bit Torrent, Blogs and what not, and sums it up as a new tech-order. Ironically, we at Business 2.0 have taken a decidedly different approach than Hof for our forthcoming story, Technology’s Fifth Wave. Michael Copeland, who I have co-written the piece, are going under the hood and explaining perhaps why what Hof’s writing about is happening. We go beyond the world of blogs, wikis, and bit torrents.

The Fifth Wave, is the fifth wave of computing, with first four being represented by mainframes, minicomputers, personal computers, and client-server/Internet 1.0. The fifth wave is powered by cheap commodity computing, open platforms and of course, persistent connectivity, be it broadband at home or narrowband while on the go. The remix of these three ingredients has created a platform which is the spring board of innovation. I am pretty sure you will find the story worth reading, much like Hof’s brilliant piece. (PS, the Fifth Wave hits the shores on Monday, and hopefully you will comeback and let me know what you think!)