My 2007 wishlist


Well I guess it's that time again. In just two more days the ball will drop and we will find another year gone. 2006 has been a good year. iPods continue to rule, multi-core processors are in nearly every system, RAM has never been cheaper, and hard drives have never been larger. My wishlist for 2007:

  • Quad-core processors become the norm, and people finally forget that they once had to stop surfing the web while burning a CD
  • Apple lowers its prices and delivers a crushing blow to the likes of Dell and Microsoft by realizing they will never gain significant market share while Dell is selling the same exact hardware for half the price. OS X is nice, but the average consumer just doesn't realize how bad Windows is to compel them to switch
  • NAND-based devices finally displace spinning platter hard drives. You will be able to drop your laptop without buying a new one.
  • One of the home HD movie formats concedes victory so the masses can finally buy a player without having to worry about it being obsolete in 2008. I personally hope Blu-Ray wins because of the higher capacity and the 1080p, but I really couldn't care less at this point--I want one or the other!

Happy 2007 everyone. I hope you all get your wishes, too!

Looking back on 2005 - Looking forward to 2006


Wow, what a year it has been for the technology sector! In hindsight, many of my 2005 wishes were granted in some way or another. Apple announced last week its first line of Intel-based products that most people believe will allow Apple to remain competitive in the performance and price areas to wintel. Great news that they are also using very low-power dual-core chips. Firefox has indeed taken off, and is quickly gaining more market share. Version 1.5 appears to be better than ever. Intel has both journeyed into low-power chips and provided a viable alternative to Transmeta, which is still ailing as a business. All in all, a great year!

Wishlist for 2006:

  • Apple releases the new Mac Mini with a dual-core x86 chip, while keeping the price point at $500. Dell struggles to remain competitive since OS X is so clearly superior to Windows, and the hardware is now comparable. Consumers flock to Apple, Microsoft files for bankruptcy protection. Symantec follows shortly after because the need for antivirus protection dwindles to nothing
  • Perl 6 is released at long last and takes the world by storm. Programmers vaguely recall all the inferior languages that once proliferated and long ago died
  • Apple releases the new Nano with 40G flash memory


My 2005 wishlist


I thought I would take a few minutes and put together a wishlist for the 2005 year in technology…

  • Transmeta ramps up production and OEMs worldwide realize that consumers are tired of lugging around 10-pound laptops with 2-hour battery life. The proliferation of small, light, and powerful tablets and sub-notebooks ensues. 10-hour battery life is now considered a minimum by consumers.
  • Apple realizes that, while consumers like their products, they cannot possibly justify paying double the price of Dell systems. Apple aligns pricing with PC makers and deals Microsoft a deadly blow by starting a mass exodus of consumers to a truly stable OS based on UNIX.
  • Firefox proliferates to the point where most consumers only vaguely recall that there was ever a browser war. Web designers reap huge rewards, and can now create pages without fear that a large, monopolistic company will “embrace and extend” standards.
  • Intel realizes that nobody thinks it’s okay to buy a miniature nuclear reactor just to power the latest CPU offering and decides to immediately dump the Prescott core and begin an intense marketing campaign aimed at illustrating the value of the new Efficeon core. Shortly afterwards, Intel buys Transmeta and uses its ties with OEMs to leverage total adoption of multi-core, low power systems.

We can dream, can’t we? Happy New Year!