Predictions 2011

[emmjay]

What does the Gizmonian Community think 2011 will bring?

Freeware has always been sought and appreciated. This is the premier site for those on that quest. I have benefited greatly and learned a lot from the members who contribute here. Their insight is so very much appreciated.

Here are my predictions (though lacking the expertise of others here I am putting it out there (now don't laugh, this is my little world and this is how I see it . ..)

Tech Corporations: Wikileaks have stoked the ego of under-achievers and fame seeking drones in our midst so we may see employees capturing and publishing internal correspondence for no other purpose than to get their 15 mins of fame. Heads will roll but not for the right reasons.

AV Vendors: The top 5 contenders will be looking closely at the Intel deal with Macafee. Apple will be smacking their lips. Other AV vendors may join forces and do an end run but I am not holding my breath on this one. There may be some unholy merging of our beloved AV vendors, but it will be only to build a front (it will not last and crippling consequences may result). Intel may take a nose dive or maybe one AV will nuke 'em all with a major strategy swing.... but who has this capability? I do not think it will be Norton.

Open Systems: Linux gains as XP dies at the hands of MS. Corps will not embrace it , but home users will see it more favorably. More work needs to be done to boost its application reach. Google may have private talks with these guys ... I see good things happening here if Google can narrow their focus on what is a good business decision rather than a gimmick attack. Office: OpenSystems will die as Oracle is not in the business of 'free' on any planet.

MS: A predator with a laser like view of their place in the tech world. IE9, Bing and MSE keeping it interesting, but their market share is waning. Look for major offerings on W7 at the end of 2011 ... a push to get the XP world over to W7. No W8 in 2011 (dumb move). Hotmail gone the way of MySpace at year end 2011.

China: QOS will continue to baffle their ability to deliver hardware, software and applications, though they have all the resources to do it all. I think India will surge ahead and be a force to be noticed in 2011. Loving it...all so exciting.

[garth]

MSE will become undisputed king of the AV's and Firefox will remain way way better than IE. MS seem to have changed tack slightly, and instead of trying to take over the world by stealth they have decided to start making excellent products and do it that way. No bad thing so long as there's always room for competition.

Wikileaks will probably get shut down for one reason or another, or get bought out and relaunched as a shadow of itself.

Lewis Hamilton will win the 2011 Formula 1 world championship
Fernando Alonso will not win the 2011 F1 championship

[maplichen]

My predictions:

I think that certain linux distributions will increase in prominence, particularly mint and chromium if google gets it's advertising right. Having tried a few, these are the strongest candidates in my opinion to improve upon what Microsoft brought us as opposed to just replacing windows as Ubuntu does.

MSE will probably keep going strong but I wouldn't be surprised to see comodo improving their AV by leaps and bounds over the next year. Further, because of how easy Microsoft is making it to find effective free AVs, paid AVs will no longer be as able to stay alive through the bundling and scare tactics they have been using in years past. Intel is going to be kicking itself over the enormous waste of purchasing McAfee. However, the smartest scammers and virus authors are going to move their money makers over to IOS, RIM, and Android so it may be time for some new AV player to make waves in the mobile world when that hits.

System virtualization is going to become bigger especially with the improvement of programs such as sandboxie and every web browser is soon going to have sandboxing technology built in. In fact I would predict that it will be more of a matter of how good your browser virtualiztion is than how good your AV is as far as level of protection. This is certainly already the case in many situations. User engaging HIPS will be done and gone except as a novelty/educational tool.

Free office software and games will rapidly be replaced by better and more convenient web applications. Built in system tools for windows will improve but Ccleaner will improve faster.

On a related note 2011 will bring a rapidly increasing popularity of pistachio ice cream and the advent of squirrel fishing as a recognized sport, so lots of good things overall.

[MidnightCowboy]

My prediction is that the US will suffer a major power outage lasting several days as a result of massive over consumption. During this period US residents will discover things in their homes they had long since forgotten about since the arrival of computers, TV's, game consoles and microwaves.

These re-discovered "things" (called family) will begin communicating with each other and learn an awful lot before the lights come back on

[garth]

Originally Posted by MidnightCowboy

My prediction is that the US will suffer a major power outage lasting several days as a result of massive over consumption. During this period US residents will discover things in their homes they had long since forgotten about since the arrival of computers, TV's, game consoles and microwaves.

These re-discovered "things" (called family) will begin communicating with each other and learn an awful lot before the lights come back on

I envy you your optimism MC, but during your power outage i predict lots of shops will get broken into and lots of (unusable)T.V's, consoles and microwaves will be stolen. Cars will be set on fire too i expect. It seems inappropriate to add a smiley

[wdhpr]

Originally Posted by garth

I envy you your optimism MC, but during your power outage i predict lots of shops will get broken into and lots of (unusable)T.V's, consoles and microwaves will be stolen. Cars will be set on fire too i expect. It seems inappropriate to add a smiley

Garth is probably right. The sad thing is it will be the comparatively few bad guys that will get the headlines. But I have hope for MC's prediction