I think I may have somewhat of a different view on this. Some of you may remember maybe 6 or 7 years ago when modding first started becoming popular. Back then, the really "awesome" mods basically consisted of a window, some fans, interior lighting, and some buttons and switches - mods of the quality that CrimsonSky does were few and far between - they were just unreal to the crowd. So what happened? Manufacturers started picking up on this and started making us some cool stuff to work with - but, something else happened. Case manufacturers saw what we were doing and thought to themselves "hey, this is what they like, lets do it for them," and now I don't think I have seen 1 case at Fry's Electronics that is just a plain no-frills case. Everything has windows, lights, fans (ok, fans are always good), and weird designs to make them "cool" cases. Frankly I think most of whats out there now is just plain ugly - though most people say its cool because they haven't been exposed to this kind of thing for nearly as long so they think a window and green lights is freakin' awesome. I've actually resorted to saving old cases from the trash at work because plain cases are becoming scarce.
Anyway I think I'm off on a tangent a bit...But what is all this doing to the modding community? Well, forcing us to be more creative, which is a good thing. We are getting more full case makeovers now - no longer are we happy with a window and some fans. Will the case manufacturers ever go as far as we are now going? No way - too much time and money for not enough return. But I do think that mainstream case manufacturers are going to continue to make gaudy "futuristic" junk until the public gets sick of it. Then I think we may see a trend toward the "retro" simplistic cases (something I look forward to). I don't think the retro trend will affect modders though, we will always be more and more creative - I don't think the community will move back to the old days with just a window and some fans. OK I really don't know exactly where all that was going....
I don't think that PCs will be tailored to individuals at all in the future. I think the current trend of having a few models per brand to pick from, because you guys have to remember - the majority of PC users are not enthusiasts at all. They just want to check their email, play solitare, scan some photos, listen to music, etc. The fact of the matter is the majority of the computer using public just doesn't know or care. I think the extent of "personalizing" we will see is exactly what we have now...if you order a mac, dell, etc, online you can upgrade the processor, HD, ram, etc. It will never be profitable for a major company like Dell to offer personalized cases or anything like that.
I don't see the modding industry ever 'booming' or being extremely profitable. Sure a few companies are making decent money at it, but I don't think it will ever match the automotive market - not by a long shot.
I hope that makes sense, I'm never good at these long explanation things...
just my $0.02...