Stephen PrenticeWell, 2008 is all but over and I am curled up with a nice glass of wine and thinking back over the highlights of 2008 and my expectations for 2009 (wait until tomorrow for that one!). Apart from the obvious turmoil in the markets, the trauma of the economic crisis (of which more than enough has been written by far too many people!) I was musing on the top three things that have impressed me during 2008. So here we go (in no particular order!)
Firstly I was absolutely blown away by this video demonstrating the g-speak interface from oblong.com. Having written about the arrival of “gestural computing” and the coming demise of the mouse earlier this year this still had me spellbound. As my son would say “I want one of those!”. This takes interfacing to the computer to totally new levels and is the way we are headed, although it is going to take time. The most amazing thing is that this is a real product, with real customers (OK, they have deep pockets, but still!) rather than a lab-based demo. Nevertheless, this remains the most jaw-dropping piece of technology/software that I have seen this year (or in the last few years for that matter!).
Secondly, I am (almost) equally struck by the success of Apple’s App Store. With the benefit of hindsight this is actually more impressive than the iPhone itself, and that is setting a pretty high standard to beat. App Store simply rewrites the rules over software distribution, it re-defines ease of use and the way in which complete non-techies can find, select and install applications. The numbers are impressive, and there are garage-based software developers making some serious money. One day, all software distribution (at least in the consumer space) will be done this way, and work this well. OK, there have been rumblings about the apparently arbitrary way in which Apple selects or rejects applications, but it is hard to fault from a user’s perspective.
My final selection for 2008 is a totally personal one, and I apologise in advance for appearing to be totally besotted by Steve’s kingdom. Back in March I bought myself a MacBook Air and I rapidly became totally hooked. For the past eight months or so it has, to all intents and purposes, been my primary computer (not quite, I have a big system i use for video editing and the like) for both personal and professional use. I travel a lot (and I mean a LOT!) and weight is critical to me. I must admit that I doubted the Air could do the job, and most of my colleagues were quick to point out the inadequacies – just one USB port, no replaceable battery, limited power, to name just a few. However, at the end of the year I can look back and honestly say I have never had a major issue (apart from one virtual world client application that was only available on Windows and wouldn’t run on a virtual machine – although I have since installed a bootcamp partition which fixes that problem!). My Air has done more travelling in the last eight months than many people do in years, and has barely a scratch – it is astonishingly robust compared to other lightweight systems I have used in the past. The screen remains stunning, the power is enough and even the miserly 80Gb disk still has space. Quite simply, it is the best notebook (actually make that computer) that I have ever owned and I am still in love. Of course, Macs remain problematic in the enterprise environment and they do cost more than PCs so don’t take this as a recommendation for your corporate purchasing department! This was a personal purchase to meet a very non-standard pattern of usage, but one that I don’t regret.
So as the hours tick away towards the end of 2008, those were the things that stick out in my mind. Probably not the “biggest” events of the year, but memorable enough for me. Now to start narrowing down the field on my top three picks for 2009 ……..
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