Alvin Toffler's Prosumer is the new Maker?

In his latest book "Revolutionary Wealth", Alvin Toffler and his wife, revisit the concept of the "prosumer", the producer and consumer, introduced in one of his previous books "The Third Wave". This prosumer is not to be mixed-up with the "professional consumer", the category invented by marketers sitting between the consumer and the professional.
The prosumer in Toffler's world is:

One who create goods, services or experiences for his own satisfaction, rather than for sale or exchange.

And:

...the ability to do more for oneself and one's family, while in fact withdrawing, at least partially, from the marketplace. In that sense they are the opposite of consumerism.

The prosumer acquires technology as an investment not as a consumption. He makes his own movies, foto albums, books. This trend matches with the current rise of "makers" and "crafters" fairs and magazines, with the rise of the "benders", the "tweakers", the "tuners" and the "hackers". There is clearly a shift from passive mass consumption towards a push for customisation, individualisation and reappropriation. Today's prosumer demands unlimited access to content as raw material for his own creations and opposes fiercely against Digital Rights Management and copy protection.

How much of all this is facilitated by technology? Did access to the Internet, the social web, accelerate this trend by disseminating knowledge and experience?

How will the prosumer influence the products of tomorrow? Does this equates to modules, components and DIY kits? Is crowdsourcing the way to open up product development to the prosumer? Is rapid prototyping the final step in setting free the maker in all of us. Welcome to the future.