PERSPECTIVES

Cheers to 2008
by Scott Lechner

The holidays are my favorite time of the year. From Thanksgiving to New Years, it's a time to reflect, rejoice, and relish in the fact that holiday parties kick the pants off ones held any other time of the year. Everyone celebrates, looking back on the year’s successes and looking forward to a new year (and a whole new quarter!)

In retrospect, 2007 has been quite eventful on the technology forefront. From FaceBook, to MacBook, we've all been watching the rise and fall of our own favorites. Where did MySpace go? I thought it was the social network of choice! DVD’s and CD’s purchased from the store? Gone the way of the dinosaur with iTunes and the ability to download music and videos in minutes. Here are a few of my favorites:

The iPhone. We haven’t seen frantic shopping like this since Cabbage Patch kids! It took the launch of the iPhone for companies to finally reach alignment between IT and the business, as both CEOs and developers stood shoulder to shoulder in line overnight with the same goal in mind: A touch screen! I finally used an iPhone the other day and they are a sight to behold. This product definitely lived up to all the hype.

Virtualization. Though not many people know exactly how it works, virtualization is the hot solution of the year. From Hypervisors to Thinstall, virtualization has moved from the datacenter to the desktop in all of its complex, yet resource-saving glory. VMware has been the king of the castle and rode its virtualization dominance to an IPO this year. Several weeks later, VMware and 10,000 others has their coming out party at VMWorld in San Francisco. It was quite a show!

Companies Going Green. It seems everyone is jumping on the "Go Green" bandwagon. My question is whether or not companies are truly embracing the idea of rehabilitating the environment, or using it as a new marketing slogan. I think it’s the latter. Going Green has led to the creation my favorite term of the year, "greenwashing." This is when a company says they are green, yet really just added a green logo to their Web site.

I think I will go green in the face if I see another network TV station says they are “going green” because they changed the color of their logo on TV for a weekJ

All kidding aside, I'm going to start the New Year with enthusiasm and the hope that my favorite widgets, trends, or companies will continue to create and innovate. Cheers to 2008!