For our first post in 2008, what about looking back at 2007 ? Any decent tech-related blog should go through the ritual overview of last year’s tech headlines. However, feeling quite lazy today, I finally chose to come up with a (personal) list of the big winners and losers of the year elapsed, which is a less exhaustive yet quicker way of recollecting the main events of the twelve last months.

Let’s begin with the flops:

1) Netscape. Last October, the last version of Netscape, Netscape Navigator 9, was released. In fact the browser was no more than a revamped version of Firefox 2 – fair enough, the Mozilla project was launched by Netscape after all. But apart from a tiny number of geeks or nostalgics, the Internet users did not see the point in using it rather than Firefox and its thousands of available plugins. Even the buggy Safari made larger inroads in the PC market. AOL finally discontinued the browser at the end of 2007 and announced it would no longer develop newer releases. RIP Netscape, Long Live Firefox !

2) YouTube users. In 2006 many people and corporations discovered YouTube. In 2007, many people and corporations tried to use YouTube to their own benefit, mainly for promotional purposes. The result can be just disastrous, like this EU-sponsored video.

3) DRMs. Since the DRMs were first introduced many pundits were skeptical about its virtues. After all these systems were mutually incompatible, introduced unwanted restrictions (such as preventing you from ripping music on CDs, which is absolutely legal as long as CDs are kept for a personal use, etc…).

Step by step, the vast anti-DRM movement strenghtened in 2007. EMI was the boldest major, the first to disavow DRMs, soon backed by music industry giant Apple (which also happens to sell PCs). Universal followed, and now Warner may have hammered the last nail in the DRMs coffin. SonyBMG, anyone ?

4) Apple TV. Steve Jobs is always bragging and this is becoming quite unbearable. Yet there is a subject on which he should really shut up right now: AppleTV. This expensive and limited multimedia set-top box was a massive failure, such a failure that in fact Steve Jobs refused to unveiled the sales figures of the little marvel. In fact the whole concept of multimedia set-top boxes seems quite lousy or at least immature for now. It might become more interesting when people finally get HD TVs though.

5) Optimus Keyboard. The vaporware of the year? In fact this next-generation keyboard, with keys that are actually tiny screens displaying dynamic pictures, was highly expected – and not only by the fools who pre-ordered it in May 2007. The product is still “in development”as of today…

Runner-ups: Mac OS X Leopard, Windows Vista

Not everything is gloomy in the high-tech world. Here are the Tops:

1) Facebook. With almost 60 million active users and a valuation well above the $10bln, everything is rosy for 2007’s most successful social network. Despite some recent mistakes, Facebook might very well be the next Google.

2) iPhone. OK, it has no 3G nor GPS, the touch keyboard isn’t convenient, and Apple’s third party application limitation policy is just loathesome. Yet the iPhone generated a huge buzz for Apple, sold quite well, and instantly unlocked the industry – competitors just have to innovate or lower prices. Why complain ?

3) Wii. The epitome of Blue Ocean strategy, the Wii turned out to be a considerable success this year, with almost 5.8 million units sold. The production facilities just cannot follow.

4) Zune. Zune’s latest avatars, which seem to have been more than inspired by the highly successful iPod, are quite decent MP3 players. So decent that they made it to the top-list of Amazon’s best sales last November. But since one of our flagship contributors no longer works for Microsoft, there is no need to insist to much on that point now.

5) Tech IT Easy. With a steadily growing reader base, we are happy to say that Tech IT Easy finally succeeded in finding its place amongst the blogosphere, and satisfying our readers. We hope 2008 will see even more improvements, blogposts, recruits, comments, and an even larger traffic.

Runner-ups: Twitter, Netvibes, Blackberry.

What is your list then ?

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