The Best (and worst) of Tech Broiler 2009

Incredibly, I get to write about all of these cool things that these people are experts on. So to all these folks, and to our Editor In Chief, Larry Dignan, I appreciate you letting me encroach on your turf from time to time, and giving me interesting things to "riff" on. Without your expertise to back me up, I would be just another New Media Jackass with a pulpit.

From a freshness perspective, I'm not usually the guy with the first word on something, as my day job really doesn't permit me to digest material in real time. I am not a professional journalist, nor will I even pretend to play one on TV.  I write this as a side gig, writing early in the morning before work, late at night, or on weekends.

This "digest the industry" and everyone else's opinions and then write approach often gives me a "last word" or highly analytical perspective in terms of the material that you see written in this space. Sometimes, when there isn't any news, I make up my own, which is a strategy that produces some very interesting results, and frankly some of my best material.

The flexibility in terms of what subject matter I can pursue as blog fodder also allows me to please (or piss off) just about everyone. And when it came to pleasing and pissing people off, entertaining, or just plain making people think -- which is always my primary goal, Tech Broiler absolutely excelled at that this year, and for that I am extremely grateful.

Here are the posts on the blog that got the most of amount of attention from readers this year, by traffic and by rating. If you missed any of these, I promise they are still just as fresh the second time around.

Next -->

Apple and Mac

I've often been accused of being highly biased against Apple. Well, you'd be right. I have a long history of issues with the company, going back 20 years. So when I was asked by a bunch of readers to explain this bias, and I why I feel the way I do, I did. The result was by far THE most popular article on Tech Broiler in terms of raw pageviews, Talkbacks and link traffic this year.

Apple Faithful: Arrogance Is Not a Virtue, and Why I Will Never Buy a Mac (June 2, 2009)

In second place in terms of Mac-related traffic was a piece that I wrote about Apple's Snow Leopard release, which outlined what I felt was a glaring omission in the product that all of its competitors have, which is its lack of onboard virtualization capabilities.

Apple's Snow Leopard Completely Blows It Virtually (August 30, 2009)

It should be noted though, that I do not always take such a harsh stance on Apple. I did actually buy two Apple products this year, an iPod for my wife and also the Apple Airport Express, which I happen to think is one of the best portable wireless access points money can buy.

Apple Airport Express: Okay, Okay, I love the damn thing. (May 22nd, 2009)

While I disagree with many of the things Apple does -- I would like to commend them on leading the industry by refusing to repair equipment that has shown evidence of being exposed to cigarette smoke. Bravo, Apple, Bravo.

For The First Time in Ages, I Agree With Apple (November 24, 2009)

Next -->

Windows, Microsoft, PCs

Apple may have taken my top article spot for the year, but Microsoft and the PC ecosystem was no chopped liver, either. In total, posts related to the Windows 7 ramp-up and concerns regarding systems migration and user adaptation were by far the most popular articles which I wrote this year.

Windows 7: Mojave My Ass (January 1, 2009)

Windows 7 Should be a Fixta Free For All (January 6, 2009)

My Must Have Windows 7 Utility: Stardock Fences (August 23, 2009)

I was somewhat surprised by the amount of attention that a simple poll asking about whether or not people used the "Windows Key" or not. What I wasn't surprised by was the results -- a large component of the respondents said they only "Sometimes" used it (19%) whereas a large quantity said "Infrequently" (13%) or "No" (19%). I'm curious if I ask this in another year or two after the Windows 7 migration is well under way, if the results will be similar or not.

Do you use the "Windows" Key? (January 2, 2009)

And while I'm not usually someone that gloats, I'm going to have to say it: Windows 7's XP Mode was MY Idea.

Windows 7's XP Virtualization: I TOLD YOU SO! (April 25, 2009)

Not specifically Windows-related, but one that clearly resonated with a lot of readers was about my thoughts related to the health of the PC homebrew/custom system builder industry. While I still feel that system building and homebrewing is an endangered species, many of you clearly still care, so it's not dead yet. For what it's worth, I also custom-built my own system this year, so perhaps there's still hope for the homebrew market.

Extreme PCs and "Homebrewing": Rest in Peace (March 9, 2009)

Puget Systems: Independent PC Building is Very Much Alive (March 11, 2009) PC OEMs: Please Cut the Crap! (July 1st, 2009)

Next -->

Open Source and Linux

After 9 years of serving as Sr. Technology Editor of Linux Magazine, it should be no surprise that Linux and Open Source subjects are very near and dear to me. Not surprisingly, they are very near and dear to Tech Broiler's readers as well.

Linux Distributions:

openSUSE 11.2 M8: What a Fine Lookin' Lizard (October 4, 2009)

Karmic Koala: That's One Seriously Fast Marsupial (October 1, 2009)

The desktop fight you've all been waiting for (April 13, 2009)

Presto! In ten seconds, you've got an Internet desktop (May 5, 2009)

The Zen of Ubuntu (Podcast, March 20th 2009)

The politics of Open Source and Open Standards:

Microsoft: Litigate on FAT, and You'll be the next Unisys (March 5, 2009)

Watch out for that Meteor, Stallman (September 22, 2009)

On the future of Open Source thought leadership (October 8, 2009)

How to kick iTunes's lock-in media formats squarely in the fruit (March 16, 2009)

Next -->

Mobile Computing

Mobile Computing was a subject in which I concentrated a lot of my time this year, as clearly it is an area in which the technology is maturing very quickly, but the future of the market and the technology standards being used are not yet well-defined. In particular, interest in Google's Android OS took off like a rocket towards the end of the year, with the release of the Motorola DROID and the Android 2.0 OS.

My First Week With DROID (November 15, 2009)

Stupid DROID Tricks, Volume 1 (November 22, 2009)

DROID aims to make Apple iAnnoyed (October 18, 2009)

In Smartphone Wars, Darwinism Triumphs Over Intelligent Design (November 8, 2009)

$99 iPhones Will Not Improve the Wireless Customer Experience (June 9, 2009)

Google: Go Tell Apple to Shove It  (February 11, 2009)

The XO-2 is going Embedded RISC? So will everyone else! (March 13, 2009)

Stuff I Wished You Paid More Attention To

Not everything I wrote this year resonated with everyone. Summer was absolute deadsville for traffic, as many people went on vacation and hit the beach, but that doesn't mean my posting standed still. There are a bunch of articles that I put a lot of work into that didn't get a lot of hits, be it due to the regular summer doldrums or for general lack of interest.

If there was one series of posts I wish you read or commented on more, it would be my four article  "To the Moon" series which I wrote during the period which led up to the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landings. The series was the culmination of many hours of research and also included podcast interviews with people who were actively involved in the program, one of who recently passed away, Floyd Long, who supervised the construction of the Saturn V first stage during the 1960s. If you missed the series over the summer and you are a space technology enthusiast, I highly recommend you read it.

To the Moon: How we built the technologies (July/August 2009)

What was your favorite (or most hated) Tech Broiler article this year? Talk Back and Let Me Know.