Readers vote with their clicks: The 20 hottest Microsoft stories in 2010

As long-time readers of this blog know, we're very attuned to page views around here at ZDNet. That metric has helped us hone what kinds of stories we write, based on what our readers care about. (Clicks also determine how much we bloggers earn.)

So it's always interesting to look back at the end of the year and see what earned us our supper -- and your clicks. Were there any constant themes or trends?

Unsurprisingly, I noticed that you readers can't get enough about what's next: IE 9, Windows 8, Office 15, mobile futures. But you also are still very interested in Windows XP (not too surprising, given XP represents more than half of the Windows installed base out there).

My purchase of an iPad -- an event described by one fellow blogger as an event causing "blood to rain down on the holy land" -- was another popular item. (And one that led to an interesting bit of discussion for me this past weekend with the gentleman I met at a holiday gathering in New York. (For the record, we both agreed that we still are PCs, despite Microsoft's convoluted messaging around slates/tablets.)

Here's the full list of the 20 top page-getters on my All About Microsoft blog for the past year, ranked from high to low.

1. Is this Microsoft's new Internet Explorer 9 interface? 2. Microsoft: Our strategy with Silverlight has shifted 3. Microsoft's Office 2010 Pro Plus: What's inside? 4. I confess: I bought an iPad (and so far I love it) 5. Microsoft halts Windows Update distribution of security fix after blue-screen reports 6. Microsoft offers Windows XP, Office XP users 50 percent discount to encourage upgrades 7. Microsoft will allow Windows 7 users to downgrade to XP 8. Microsoft IE 9 developer preview with HTML5 support ready for download 9. Microsoft starts sharing Windows 8 plans with PC partners 10. Office 15: What's Microsoft's new mystery application? 11. Microsoft's Windows 7 chief: It's not us; It's your batteries 12. Microsoft Research shows off a prototype 'Menlo' mobile phone 13. Amazon becomes the latest company using Linux to pay Microsoft for patent deal 14. Five surprising things about Microsoft's Kin 15. Microsoft layoffs: Marketing, Office, partner groups all reportedly hit 16. Seven things to know about Windows Phone 7 17. A Windows Phone 7 'review' from a non-reviewer 18. Early version of Windows Home Server 'Vail' leaks to the Web 19. Microsoft removes hardware virtualization barrier to running XP Mode 20: Microsoft Office 2010: What's still missing?

I have to say, I was surprised not to see any cloud-focused posts in the top 20. And my post on J Allard's goodbye note only made it to No. 23.

All in all, it's been an interesting 2010. Keep those tips coming! Happy holidays!