“Could 2006 be the year that personal computers once again dominate the technology news? PC innovation has been in short supply, and the last really big events came in 2001 when Apple released its OS X operating system and Microsoft followed with Windows XP. Next year promises to bring major changes in both software and hardware,” Stephen H. Wildstrom writes for BusinessWeek. “Apple and Microsoft will again provide the bookends for the year. In January, Apple is expected to unveil the first Macs based on Intel processors. These are likely to include a new generation of mobile chips designed to bring more desktop-like performance to Windows and Mac laptops. And in the fall, Microsoft will release a version of Windows, called Vista, that will bring the first major change in the look and feel of the operating system in a decade. Even without seeing the final product, Microsoft critics already are deriding Vista as just another pretty face. But its real importance lies in security enhancements designed to attack the plague of viruses, worms, and spyware that is crippling computers and damaging consumer confidence in online commerce.”
“PCs won’t upstage the iPod in 2006. Indeed, the advances we’ll see in computing all reflect the importance of digital entertainment, which the iPod helped establish,” Wildstrom writes. “Apple also helped set the stage for a leap in Internet-based programming. The buzz became a reality in 2005, especially with Disney’s deal to sell TV shows at the iTunes Music Store… But I think video on the Net won’t score in the mass market until it becomes easy to watch on your big-screen TV, not just on a PC or an iPod… The big surprise of 2006 could be an Apple-Intel alliance that brings Viiv capabilities to the new Intel-based Macs… A partnership could allow Intel to do the technological heavy lifting, while letting Apple apply its incomparable talents for design and ease of use. I can’t promise that Apple and Intel will actually get together and build the perfect digital entertainment hub — thus disrupting the info-tech industry, consumer electronics, and the entertainment biz all in one shot. But it could happen.”
Full article here.
Nobody is excited about Microsoft’s Windows Vista (aka “Trainwreck” or “Windows XP SP3”). If Windows XP was “innovative,” they must have changed the definition of “innovative” since the last time we checked it. Microsoft is a company in decline, Apple is ascendent; 2006 will only serve to clarify this for more people. In fact, don’t even mention both companies and “innovation” in the same sentence, it unfairly demeans Apple and is way too generous towards Microsoft. And please don’t call Vista “pretty,” if you want to be considered credible. “Cartoonish,” “upside down and backwards,” “clearly derivative,” “unintuitive,” and “massively insecure” all work well for Windows XP, “pretty” doesn’t.
Just a note that iPods and iMac G5s connect to TV sets and larger monitors with a simple wire; we understand Wildstrom wants that connection to be even easier (More info via advertisement: Connect iPod to your television set with the iPod AV Cable. Just $19.00.
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