One socket to rule them all - I see this happening very shortly after world-peace. Just because it makes sense (does it really?) doesn't mean it gives the chip-makers any advantage at all and without advantage they won't do it.

Modular motherboards - most people buy blades because they're cheap, one of the cheapest parts of a blade is its motherboard. Introducing the required connectors/interfaces between the various parts of a modular motherboard would inevitably make them more expensive, more prone to failure and make it even harder to configure and buy.

Blade and sub-blade standards - you want standards AND innovation? I'm not saying it can't be done but again what is in it for the manufacturers who are making a fortune on their custom NIC/HBA/etc cards?

No more AC power inside the data center - changing out 32A AC commando PSU lines in an existing data centre for DC ones makes little sense as the majority of other devices will still need AC so you end up leaving those running in each rack too - doubling cabling you rely on, plus the power switching circuitry itself. If it was a greenfield data centre and everything you wanted to put inside was DC then fine, good idea - but that rarely happens. Plus, in my experience, M&E work is the slowest part of any change, so you end up with a very long time to change in your deliver plan.

Integrated refrigerant cooling for key components - so you suggest that datacentres have normal AC for most things and direct coolants for hotter things - I worry enough about single cooling systems, never mind two of the things. Isn't it cheaper, more resilient, quieter, and just more '2008', to draw in ambient air and expel at force the exhaust air, just like Switch in Vegas do (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/05/24/switch_switchnap_rob_roy/)?