Some humerous, some serious. Here we go!
YouTube goes down in history as one of worst business decisions ever
After the **AA machines chew it up and spit it out, YouTube goes the way of the napster and other content providers before it. It will also then hold the record as one of the most expensive acquisitions ever.
Vista is released, Slashdot kiddies claim "Year of the Penguin" regardless
Up until, and shortly after the release of Vista, at minimum there will be 10 "articles" a week claiming that Vista is flawed, Linux is better, and that Microsoft is the Sux0r. In the first year or so they will also continuously site articles of a low Vista install rate conveniently ignoring that operating systems really don't hit their stride for 3 years or so. The real world will ignore this, buy Vista anyways, realize that just about everything published on both sides is hyped up bullcrap, and enjoy their new OS with Solitaire in 3D.
The Expressions Product Line will bridge the gap between developer and designer
I actually accomplished something I never thought would be possible this last year. I weaned our designer off of dreamweaver and got him to do all his work in visual studio using app_themes and other nice ASP .NET 2.0 features. If the Expressions product line accomplishes half of what it promises, it will be a serious problem for Macromedia.
The console war will be about even
I'm predicting the Wii, PS3, and X360 to just about tie in North America. In Japan, the Wii will probably dominate if it can keep releasing innovative titles and get those 3rd party vendors cracking away.
Democrats will be just as corrupt, useless, and stupid as outgoing republicans
Every time I pull a voting lever, I feel like I'm just voting for the lesser of two evils. I'm starting to take the position that I don't care who is in power, just so long as I get to keep more of my own money since neither party has done jack for me in decades. Nuff said.
Windows Presentation Foundation will likely flop
Sorry guys, I've seen it, I think it's cool as hell, but I just don't see anyone having the time/effort/motivation to switch away from ASP.NET to WPF. Besides, with the booming Web 2.0 propaganda, I think that many executive type folks won't buy into WPF in the near to mid term. It's a shame though... I like the technology.
Web 2.0 will be mostly hype, and then the next tech bubble will burst
I don't see the fallout being nearly as bad as 2000-2001, but we still have a bunch of web/software companies getting a lot of funding with weak profit models and no real assets. Say it with me kids, if all you have is some glitzy software, you're only safe until some geeks in their garage create a better knockoff of it. A winning company needs real assets, advantages in core processes and the ability to provide a unique service that is hard to duplicate. GMail, YouTube, Flicker, etc etc etc will never be primary drivers of profit.
The USA will continue to lag in the broadband race
Certainly we have a disadvantage in that our population isn't as condensed as top performers like South Korea, but our government and regulators like the FCC have no freaking clue how to manage and infrastructure and encourage upgrades. The fact that one congressperson on the comittee can't even describe the internet and we actually see the need for a net neutrality act bodes very ill for the internet in general. It's a damn shame too because for as much hype as government likes to put on job growth, education, and new opportunities in tech they sure don't want to put a dime into an open infrastructure to support it...
Ruralsourcing will begin to eat away at offshoring
You know, there's plenty of talented american tech workers to be had at bargain prices in the south and midwest. Companies disenchanted with the difficulties of managing global projects will start to turn their eyes back to the USA and realize that even paying a US wage premium once you factor out all the other communication barriers, management barriers, and difficulties of managing foreign law and regulations it's about a wash, and your US customers are so happy to get a native english speaker on the phone when they call you.