In fact, it's not a prediction post at all - it's just a list of things I would like to see happen or at least start happening this year. I'm not making any guesses as to whether they will or not, you can decide for yourselves what the likelihood of each is.
Standards body ratification of an IaaS API
I don't really care which one, just that there is one. But if I had to pick, I'd go with something along the lines of the (former) Sun Cloud API. It's not perfect, but it's a pretty damn good shot.
Broad adoption of aforementioned API by IaaS providers
The current state of the industry is hurting cloud adoption, as new software vendors spring up with a primary value proposition of providing a "cloud abstration layer" and scaremonger customers into buying them (the old "Hotel California" line). The only reason such a value prop exists is because of the lack of a standard, and adoption of that standard. Are you reading this cloud providers? Having your own unique API is of no competitive advantage, it actually hurts you because it costs us (the customer) more and slows adoption.
Emergence of an industry standard IaaS unit of compute
Similarly to the above, the lack of a standard compute unit makes choice more difficult than it needs to be. I've posted about this already, so won't say anything more here.
First class citizenship for Open Java
Because fuck you, Larry.
Mass migration off Oracle platforms
See above.
That's about it on the industry front. On the personal front, the main thing I'll be focusing on in 2011 is living smaller. Not Leo Babauta or Everett Bogue small in terms of an actual number of things, but adopting the same philosophy. Yielding to simplicity. Seeing things through the lense of minimalism. Or at the very least, taking more of a Tyler Durden "working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need" kind of approach ;).
So on that note, I wish you all the best in 2011!