Well another year goes quickly by us and what do we really have to show for it? Quite a lot actually when you think about it. 2005 has brought some very large changes to the IT industry I have taken a lot of time and brain power to come up with some of the more important changes this last year.
Apple
Apple really have had a great year in 2005. They released the Mac Mini which got many people who previously owned PC’s and were fed up with Windows to move to another OS. Linux always has been and still is designed by nerds for nerds, no matter how much they try to make it otherwise. Let’s face it the Linux UI is still awful, while the OS X interface which Macs ship with is pretty, functional, secure and powerful. Everything 99% of people want from a computer.
Apple also released the iPod Nano, which, screen problems aside looks bloody gorgeous and the iPod video which I own in black, also beautiful and very functional too. The iPod Mini was the biggest selling portable music player ever, every other small player released by other companies was touted as an “iPod Mini Killer”, but in the end the only thing which could finally kill the Mini was the Nano.
iTunes
Another success story from Apple. With the release of TV programs and other such goodies in the store they really are making a total success of it. I also laud Steve Jobs for standing up to the music industry over the introduction of a variable pricing structure. Raising prices will only drive people back to piracy and achieve nothing. iTunes deserves to do well, the labels just need to take a smaller cut and give more to the artists.
Google
Google have released so many new products this year, Google Mail Mobile, Video Search, and posibly a Google PC. New features have been added to the already stong Google Mail service and Google News is making waves in the media industry.
With possible of a Google branded online office suite and a Google PC and OS also rumoured I can only hope they continue as strong as they have this last year.
Firefox
With almost 130 million downloads as I write this firefox has had a great year. With the 1.5 release of the browser bringing a host of new features plus all the usual security updates and bug fixes. Firefox has upset Microsoft in a big way, tehy had no plans to develop another version of Internet Explorer until they saw how popular Firefox was. They are developing IE7 which will sucker in the people who think the Internet is a “blue ‘e’ icon” but with Dell now bundling Firefox with it’s UK PC’s things can only get better for the Fox. On top of all that the 2.0 release should arrive in 2006 which should really shake up the browser market.
XBox 360
I wasn’t sure whether to include this one or not. Yes they are very popular, but there are a number of outstanding issues with them and a lot of the popularity is down to Microsoft restricting the supply of them.
Other than that they are a very good console, the games look nice, the best one really is Project Gotham Racing. Some of the others lack that certain something, but all in all things look good for the XBox 360.
Blogs
You’re reading this on a blog. Blog’s have enabled anyone with an opinion to voice it in a public forum. Not all of them are great, the signal to noise ratio is not good, but there are some really good ones out there. Some from people in high up tech jobs and other who are just people, like myself who take an interest in the industry.
Eitherway the advent of sites such as Blogebrity and Technorati really taking off over the last 12 months it would seem like blogging is here to stay. Will it upset mainstream journalism? Maybe, but probably not, what it does offer is a fresh perspective from the people.
Online Shopping
More people than ever are shopping online this year. At work we saw the number of online orders soar this yea as people like both the convenience and the prices. Things can only get better for online retail in 2006, the big retailers like Amazon and Play have become household names and people trust them as much as they would trust a traditional high street retailer.
I try to do as much of my shopping online as possible, I hate fighting with people in shops, online is so much easier and there’s no stress other that what to get people.
Skype
Skype has had a phenomenal year in 2005, atracting millions of users and finally being sold to eBay for the princely sum of $2.6bn as a down payment and a further $1.5bn in 2008 if things go well.
Skype has completely scared the traditional telecomms companies. They are genuinely worried that Skype threatens their current business model. There has already been reports of telecomms companies blocking Skype and getting fined in the US by the FCC, reports also go that Vodafone Germany will from 2007 block Skype on it’s network. Other telecomms companies will probably follow suit which stands as a testament to just how big the waves are that Skype is making.
Redhat
This year Redhat has finally annouced a good set of earnings. For it’s third quarter it produced revenues which were up 43.6%, to $73.1 million, and profits were also up 114%, to 12 cents per share. This just goes to show that it is more than possible to make money from open source software. Even though you can download Redhat linux for free they charge for support, and it is this which many businesses want.
The UI of Redhat linux is still a little clunky, as is most open source software, but it gets better all the time. However it is still a great server OS and it is in this field which it has made most inroads into the more traditional software solutions.
WiFi
This really has been the year of wireless. With more people than ever having broadband conections there are more people than ever wanting wireless access to their broadband Internet connections. Wireless hotspots are poping up in more and more places and more people are using them. Sales of wireless network hardware have been excellent this year, which has been both good and bad. Working in retail I see people who barely understand PC’s buying wireless hardware, there types of people should learn the basics before they throw themselves in with networking.
Still it has been an excellent year for WiFi, and one which looks set to continue into 2006.
Well that’s my year review, hope you all enjoyed it, happy new year, lets all hope the industry has another good one.
Cheers
Loading ...
