What the PTO will look like in a few years?

The NYT on Sunday carried this article on the USA National Innovation Marketplace, founded by inventor Doug Hall.

First, this is more evidence of how the shortage of patent lawyers is forcing inventors in many technical fields to find new ways to attract private funding.  I discussed other consequences of the shortage in an earlier post on Stranded R&D.

Second, I wonder: How much more effective would the National Innovation Marketplace be if we had patent lawyers draft a set of claims, and put that up with the other materials offered on the website?

Isn't that what the PTO should look like in an era in which the costs of offering multimedia and social networking services through a website have dropped so low that even teenagers can launch new companies?

UPDATE: On a conference call today (5/13/8) I hear from Patent Commissioner John Doll (a fellow former p-chem grad student!) that the PTO is working on a social network for Examiners.  Why not offer a social network for both inventors and Examiners?  Why not work with Planet Eureka, which has already built one?  The idea of software engineers hired by the PTO reinventing this particular wheel is particularly troubling to me.