[is/will be] next

[ansonman]

I have made up the sentences below.

(1a) (Suppose that people are taking turns to do oral presentations on stage. You are asking the participants.) Who is next?
(1b) Who will be next?

(2a) When is your next dental appointment?
(2b) When will your next dental appointment be?

Some of my non-native English speaking friends think "will be" works better for "next".
Some of of my other friends say they usually hear people say "is".

A few of my friends think both are possible. They think "Who is next?" works when everyone is doing his/her presentations on the same day. "Who will be next" sounds better when only one person does a presentation each day. In this case, "will be" makes a reference to the next person for the next day. Regarding (2), both tenses are acceptable.

What is your opinion? Thanks.

[Alan]

1a: standard form for asking about an order of events already decided
1b: could be used to ask for volunteers, but not equivalent to 1a

2a: standard
2b: unnatural in any context