IT predictions for 2007
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(InfoWorld) - As we gaze toward the vista of 2007, we find our e-mail inbox inundated with IT predictions for the new year from analysts, vendors and consultants. From those predictions and our own prognostications we present our forecast for the top IT stories in the year ahead: Pun aside, Vista With fanfare, Microsoft Corp. will garner headlines early in the year as it releases itsVista OS to home users, possibly even at the end of January as currently scheduled, avoiding another delay or three. The release splash will give way to headlines that enterprises are following through on analyst predictions and comments from wary IT administrators and are waiting to upgrade. Then will come the security-risk headlines, followed no doubt by the patch headlines. Content kings We'll go with the forecast of analyst Leonard Fuld of Fuld & Associates in Boston that an ongoing story and trend we'll follow in 2007 will be "the world of information and how it's monetized." And we'll put our money on Google Inc. to continue to lead the pack.Â The YouTube Inc. acquisition will be but the tip of that iceberg. Google will scoop up other content providers with an eye on their advertising revenue or potential advertising revenue. "There will be other mega deals," Fuld said in a recent interview. News Corp. undoubtedly will be another company to watch in 2007 when it comes to content, with mergers among more traditional media companies that find themselves increasingly forced to compete with Internet content providers, not to mention the blogosphere and specialty content providers. Along those lines, Internet-delivered TV is going to find its feet in 2007. We've heard that before, but it's got to happen some year and we think the new year will be it. It might even go as far as the prediction of IP (Internet Protocol) communications guru Jeff Pulver: "Every TV network, film studio and content creator will start to adopt a direct to the Internet and direct to the PDA strategy." Hacker's paradise Malware, spyware, viruses, worms (oh, my!) will continue to cause major headaches for enterprises, government agencies and ordinary tech users. McAfee Inc. is among the security vendors predicting that hackers are going to target MP3 files, and we can't think of any reason they won't. They're also likely to plant bombs in Internet video links because surfers don't think twice about clicking on a multimedia link, as McAfee predicts. There will be at least a couple of cybersecurity threats related toÂ alleged terrorist plots, perhaps even by al-Qaeda itself, but the threats will be unsubstantiated and uncorroborated and we'll soon enough find other things to worry about. Spam spam spam spam It's going to get worse before it gets better. (Yes, we know we said this last year and we expect we'll say it again at the end of next year.) We'll be so bold as to say the way it will get better is that ISPs (Internet service providers) will make it terms of service that users adequately protect their computers (see also "Hacker's paradise above") and ISPs will (gasp!) cancel accounts of users whose computers are overtaken by spam-sending zombies. Meanwhile, prosecutions will continue under various national and state laws aimed at putting a lid on spammers. Who's Zuning who? Apple Computer Inc. will continue to dominate the market for personal entertainment devices. OK, we know that's a big "duh!" But it will be an ongoing story in 2007.Â Microsoft's Zune won't have much traction. Some analysts, Fuld included, think that "Microsoft will gain share." We can roll with that, but we think it will be a limited gain because Apple's iPod is so solidly entrenched and because it's just not as cool to have any other kind of personal entertainment device, even if iPod users are locked into getting their music from iTunes. Scandals aplenty At least some of the defendants in theÂ Hewlett-Packard Co. spying scandal will cut plea agreements, trying to avoid prison time or reduce sentences. The scandal will, however, be in the headlines off and on throughout the new year, as will other corporate scandals. On a related note, U.S. legislators are expected to soon make it illegal to use "pretexting" -- pretending to be someone else to obtain their telephone records -- but we also envision lawmakers will make it illegal to obtain other personal records in such a manner. Other scandals will ensue in the new year. We won't go so far out on this limb as to say which companies and executives those will involve -- the crystal ball gets a little cloudy in that regard. Wi-Fi heaven Urbanites, even in some smaller cities, and travelers to those cities, will enjoy the global boon of municipal Wi-Fi networks, which will continue to get up and running throughout 2007. Just the other day, we stayed in close touch with a friend stuck in an airport as he made gate change after gate change, losing contact only when he boarded the plane. Soon enough, the stretches of disconnection will be even briefer for many of us. Whether that will make us happier or more harried has yet to be seen, butÂ the Wi-Fi Universe is going to unfold in the new year. That level of connectivity will lead hardware vendors to release smaller devices with keyboards that are actually usable and both mobile professionals and gadget lovers will embrace the new gizmos, which will give Research in Motion Ltd.'s BlackBerry real competition. Open-source lovefest continues Increasing numbers of computer users, includingÂ governments globally, will switch to Linux and open-source applications, particularly as an option to Windows Vista. Microsoft will continue to cozy up to open-source vendors. Red Hat Inc. will survive the coziness of its competitors with the software monolith. The open-source community will continue to be vocal about that sort of coziness, expressing concern and even outright disdain as open source becomes more mainstream. But the community will manage to keep its edge because it doesn't have to deal with bureaucracy and hierarchy. Web 3.0 and beyond We're hearing murmurs regardingÂ Web 3.0. Apparently, pundits are skipping right over Web. 2.5, even before Web 2.0 is fully realized. One thing is for certain: the Web is where it's at. Collaboration, wikis, blogs, mashups, user-generated applications are all going to be big in 2007. And the debate over definitions and what exactly is Web. 2.0 or 3.0 or ... will continue throughout the new year and beyond. Consolidation galore Besides mergers and acquisitions among the content providers, we see more consolidation throughout IT markets.Â Oracle Corp. will continue to be a big spender.Â CA Inc. will dabble in acquisitions. Microsoft, as always, will buy companies with interesting technologies. This could be the year that Gateway Inc. gets bought. Ditto for Palm Inc. The communications provider market is bound to have fewer players by the end of 2007 as companies try to keep up with the competition, offering VOIP (voice over Internet Protocol), wireless, Internet and other services all in one package. Analyst Jeff Kagan predicts "this next wave of competition will be the hottest we have seen since the mid 1990's. And even hotter." He sees separate devices such as cell phones and landline phones and TVs working together. "When the phone rings, we'll be able to see who's calling on the television screen and answer it on the TV or on the computer or on the phone because it will all share the same network." The new year, he says, will be the turning point for all of that to happen.
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(InfoWorld) - Many of the software trends that percolated in the industry in 2006 will gather more steam in 2007, but several stand out as contenders to change the game for the market in the new year. Below are some of the key software trends to watch for in 2007. Windows Vista ... again Just when you thought it was over, the chatter surrounding Microsoft Corp.'s long-delayed Windows client update has only just begun. 2007 will be a crucial year for the OS, which will finally make its mainstream debut to consumers at the end of January. Microsoft, its hardware and component partners and Wall Street will be keeping a keen eye on customer adoption of Vista to see if it really was worth the wait. 2007 also may be the year Apple Computer Inc.'s Mac OS could gain more mass appeal among users that in the past might have bought a Windows PC, giving Vista its first real competition in ages. The competition can be attributed to two things. One, Apple now offers Intel chip-based PCs that are less expensive than previous Apple computers and thus a more viable option for the average PC user. Secondly, more consumers seem to be catching on to the fact that the Mac OS is -- and has always been -- more cutting-edge, attractive and just so much more fun to use than Windows. Software as a service (SAAS) As Google Inc. and SAAS pioneer Salesforce.com Inc. continue to be financial successes, other companies begin sending out software that has traditionally been sold in packages to customers over the Web. Microsoft may soon be joining the fray, and in fact is steadily building out its Web-based service business under the direction of Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie. Indeed, many believe Vista will be the last packaged-software version of Windows as Microsoft eventually will begin offering new versions of the OS over the Web. Keep an eye on less packaged software and more SAAS offerings from other traditional players in 2007 as well, including Oracle Corp. and SAP AG. Virtualization Enterprises will continue to adopt this software, which enables more than one OS to run side-by-side on a single server. Nearly every major hardware and software vendor -- from IBM Corp. to Intel Corp. to Microsoft to virtualization giant VMWare Inc. -- has a vested interest in virtualization, and expect its use to become more pervasive in 2007. However, as that happens, virtualization -- along with related sever technology that contains multiple processors -- will change the game for how software and hardware is priced, setting the stage for new pricing models across the industry. Business intelligence (BI) Giving enterprises more insight into the factors that affect their business is becoming an increasing focus for enterprise software companies, which is why business intelligence itself is a growing market. With Microsoft gradually building out its business intelligence portfolio, pure plays like Business Objects SA and Cognos Inc. are getting nervous that their partnerships with the vendor are about to be cannibalized. Unfortunately for them, they are probably right, and by the end of 2007, the competitive landscape in BI will look different than it does today. Office productivity Windows Vista won't be the only major software package to hit the streets from Microsoft in 2007 -- a new and improved version of Office is expected to be on retail shelves at the end of January. But as Microsoft repositions its revamped worker productivity suite as a business intelligence and collaboration tool, keep an eye on online competitors from Google and others to see if they begin loosening Office's stranglehold on the market. The new partnership between Microsoft and Novell Inc. also will be a factor in this space, as Novell plans to support Microsoft's Office document format in its version of the open-source OpenOffice suite by the end of January. This will allow users of OpenOffice to better send and receive files from Microsoft Office users, making the key open-source alternative to Microsoft Office a more viable option for the mainstream user. Service-oriented architectures (SOAs) SOAs have been making "technology to watch" lists for several years running, yet the IT architecture, which is based on the idea of linking independent applications as services in a network to create custom composite applications, is still in its earliest stages of adoption. Expect enterprise companies to continue getting their feet wet by adopting SOA projects to solve specific needs in their businesses, and expect companies such as IBM, SAP, BEA Systems Inc. and Microsoft to continue to trumpet their software products as the best ones to use as the underlying infrastructure for those projects.
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The new year brings new products and technologies. Here are some devices that will likely be worth waiting for.
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A look ahead at issues and events likely to make headlines in the coming year.
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US spending on information technology goods, services, and staff will grow seven percent in 2005 and continue at a similar pace through 2008, according to a study released Monday by Forrester Research.
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ST. LOUIS, June 6  /PRNewswire/ -- A net 10 percent of chief information officers (CIOs) in the St. Louis area expect to hire information technology (IT) professionals in the third quarter of 2007, according to the most recent Robert Half Technology IT Hiring Index and Skills Report.
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In a tight job market, the right mix of skills and industry expertise can translate into a long and fruitful IT career. Columnist Jim Lanzalotto discusses how the market is shaping up for 2007.
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Last year at about this time, I made some predictions about the Ruby world in 2007 , and now it&#8217;s time to hold myself accountable, and to point out some things I missed.  Here are my predictions along with some corrections where needed:  read more
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DETROIT, June 6  /PRNewswire/ -- A net 11 percent of chief information officers (CIOs) in the Detroit area expect to hire information technology (IT) professionals in the third quarter of 2007, according to the most recent Robert Half Technology IT Hiring Index and Skills Report.
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LOS ANGELES, March 6  /PRNewswire/ -- A net 8 percent of chief information officers (CIOs) in the Los Angeles area expect to hire information technology (IT) professionals in the second quarter of 2007, according to the most recent Robert Half Technology IT Hiring Index and Skills Report.
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Radio Frequency Identification technology is going to ring in the new year in more ways than one.
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Chosen from the hundreds of products PC World reviewed in 2007, here are 25 that will change the way you work, communicate and play this year -- and beyond.
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ST. LOUIS, Dec. 11  /PRNewswire/ -- A net 14 percent of chief information officers (CIOs) in the St. Louis area expect to hire information technology (IT) professionals in the first quarter of 2007, according to the most recent Robert Half Technology IT Hiring Index and Skills Report.
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CIO Magazine says poll shows IT budgets are expected to grow over the next year.
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Here's a bit of advice for those of you planning IT budgets. For the next five to 10 years, set aside 10 percent to comply with new government regulations, both from the United States and from other governments in your major markets.
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Global market share of new andused PCs running Linux operating system is expected to grow from 3percent in 2003 to 7 percent in 2008, IDC, a US high tech market research firm, predicted on Wednesday.
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InfoWorld - In the first column of this year, I discussed computer security outlook and hopes for 2008. I forecast more of the same that we saw in 2007: more spam, more malware, more bad guys basically owning the Internet and our connected computers. I don't see any trends or new leaders with significant power to change the status quo.