Hits and misses of 2009

2009 was another great year for infocomm technology; there were plenty of new gadgets, operating systems and cloud-based services for business users. Here's how I'll remember 2009:

• Windows 7 arrived just in time to undo the problems caused by Windows Vista. Finally, an operating system that works great for small netbooks and powerful desktops.

• 64-bit server computing is finally ready for businesses. I run 64-bit Windows and Linux servers with Java and .NET applications; they are very effective at serious data crunching.
• 64-bit desktop computing is not quite ready for consumers yet. My 64-bit Windows 7 installation comes with two versions of Internet Explorer, 32-bit and 64-bit, but the 64-bit version doesn't support Adobe Flash. I didn't have any problems with Adobe Flash on 64-bit Mac OS X Snow Leopard.
• Netbooks really took off in 2009, with the increased popularity of cloud-based services like Google Apps. Some netbook users complained about poor video rendering performance with YouTube and other video sharing sites. If your netbook has an Nvidia GPU, try out the Adobe Flash 10.1 beta for better video rendering performance.
• What's the best Windows notebook of 2009? The 17-inch unibody MacBook Pro. The HP Envy comes close; I'm eager to see the upcoming 17-inch model.
• The popularity of Twitter probably peaked in 2009. There aren't many useful business applications for Twitter, and its occasional downtime makes it unsuitable for business.
• LED TVs with bright, vivid images became affordable in 2009 and offered a compelling alternative to projectors.

In 2010 I'm looking forward to more exciting gadgets like the new Google phone and Apple's rumoured tablet. This coming year we'll be seeing faster mobile broadband, thanks to 4G technologies like LTE and WiMax. Wireless HDMI and 3D TVs may take off in 2010, if they are made available at a reasonable price.

Have a Happy New Year!