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OSNews: What We’d Like To See in 2009

The internet, and much of the real world as well, is currently in list mode. Just about any possible list that can be made up regarding 2008 will be made up somewhere, so we decided not to reinvent the wheel and look forward instead of backward. Since we like to leave the guessing predicting to the analysts, we just limited ourselves to what tech-related matters we would like to see in 2009. Read on for our lists, and of course, post your own in the comments. And lest we forget: a very happy 2009 from the OSNews crew!

Kroc

3G prices to fall
In 2009, I’d like to see more netbooks come with 3G built in (but without carrier tie-ins), 3G mobile broadband prices fall, as well as the removal of the obscene transfer limits (1GB/mo. is quite common, with up to £15 per GB overdraft)
iPhone to shape-up
MMS. Bluetooth/WiFi Sync. Sane data-contract prices in the UK. In short, everything every other phone in the UK has had for the last five years.
Windows 7 to finally be a viable upgrade to XP
All I’m asking for is min. 1GHz/1GB-RAM, one version, no activation crap, £90.
Snow Leopard
Just how awesome can maintenance be? I’m more excited about Snow Leopard than anything else any other OS is planning atm.
The Year of Webstandards
In 2009 I hope all those crappy web developers finally get standards rammed through their permanently softened minds when IE8 comes out and drags their sorry butts through learning how to do it properly for once. I want to see more than just two notable HTML5-only websites in 2009.
Haiku Beta
That is all.

Thom Holwerda

Windows 7
In 2009, I hope to see a Windows 7 that doesn’t get frakked up by bad design decisions based on nothing but economic profit. Playing with Windows 7 in its current state is a blessing compared to Windows Vista’s early days – although rough edges are still visible, this being beta stage an all. Anyway, what I mean is that I hope Microsoft keeps the number of versions down to two (Normal and Business), prices them acceptably, and offers a decent family package like Apple does with Mac OS X.
Netbooks
I’m hoping to see more diversity in the netbook market. Right now, you can choose between dozens of brands that all produce effectively the same machine because they’re all just Intel machines with a differently-coloured casing. I hope that VIA’s and AMD’s offerings prove competitive to Intel’s Atom platform.
AmigaOS 4.1
A review machine for AmigaOS 4.1 has been coming my way for a while now, and I’m hoping that in 2009, I’ll finally be able to properly (as in, from a non-incrowd perspective) review this elusive operating system.

Adam

Apple, Linux, Windows
From Apple, I’m looking for serious performance gains from Snow Leopard. I’m expecting further UI improvements in Linux, from Fedora and Ubuntu especially. I’m really looking forward to Windows 7 and hoping to see a smooth and stable transition for business users.
Mobile
On the mobile front, I’m hoping to see improvements to the iPhone, delivering many, if not most, of the most often requested features. On a related note, I want to see Android make a larger impact on the mobile market, and I’m really hoping to see someone add ActiveSync capabilities to it to provide a potential competitor the iPhone.
Web Development
From a web development standpoint, I’m very excited about WordPress 2.7 and the subsequent polish and improvements we’ll see with 2.8 in March. I’m aiming to migrate the OSNews javascript framework to jQuery in the first half of 2009 as well.

Amjith

ZFS/DTrace, Touch
I’d personally like to see ZFS and DTrace ported to Linux. In addition, I want touch sensitive support in monitors, and operating systems/kernels that have built-in support for those monitors.

David

Snow Leopard
I’d like to see the “Enterprise” functionality in Snow Leopard work as advertised. Someone whose using an iPhone and a Mac in a company that uses Exchange should be able to sync up their contacts, Email, and Calendar, with no workarounds and no compromises.
iPhone
And while we’re on the subject of the iPhone, I’ll second Kroc’s request for wireless sync, and let’s go wild and see if they can get their heads out of their asses and give us cut and paste and an email search capability while we’re at it. And non-crippled Bluetooth.
WiFi
Now that WiFi is so prevalent in homes and businesses, I’d like to see more everyday items made WiFi-capable. Alarm clocks should be able to re-set themselves. Inexpensive “photo frames” could be set to display all sorts of content from local fileservers or the web. WiFi light switches could be used for lighting automation. Wireless phones that use WiFi instead of competing radio bandwidth. Don’t make me think up all the ideas, people! Get on it!

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