The Incomplete Year

It is almost time to relegate 2006 to the realms of the past. In the field of technology, you expect every passing year to be more exciting than the last; the current year, for sure, was some kind of an exception. I wouldn't say that the year was void of any notable advancements, but it was a year where there were more promises, more expectations, more initiations than results. Following are some instances of the same.

For starters, Intel regained the performance crown courtesy of their Core2Duo CPUs. In addition, we saw quality dual core CPUs from both the major manufacturers getting affordable for the masses. But having said that, we still don't have enough applications to test the true potential of these processors. Yes, they will only get better from here, but there is still a lot to be explored. And, why just talk of dual/multi-core CPUs? We still haven't seen the 64-bit CPUs in full glory. Let's hope that majority of the applications released next year are optimized for 64-bit, multi-core computing.

The story was pretty similar in the graphic card segment too. We witnessed the arrival of a monster called Geforce 8800 GTX from Nvidia; the first DirectX 10 card. The card is by far the fastest DirectX 9 card around and blows its predecessors as well as the competition to smithereens. But there is nothing yet to test its DirectX 10 capabilities. And after having experienced the Geforce FX DX 9 fiasco, no smart man can take things for granted. But we can hope that the pitfall was just a one off thing for Nvidia and they have learnt their lessons for good.

Talking of DirectX 10, for that, we need a little something called Windows Vista that people all over the world have been talking about all year. Though Steve Balmer, on his recent visit to India, did a trademark hop and declared that "Vista is complete and ready, finally", the commercial release of the same is still awaited. Though I am not overly thrilled about it, the enthusiast in me will give it a shot all the same.

2006 was a mixed bag for gamers too. The highpoint of the year was the launch of all 3 'Nex-Gen' consoles. While the Xbox 360 was a runaway hit, the PS3 had its own share of problems to counter; certainly not a year to remember for Sony. As predicted by many, the Nintento Wii ended up being the dark horse of the race with the net sales close to 2 million consoles and still counting. Though these consoles were worth the wait, the same cannot be said about their starting lineup of games; especially for the 360 and the PS3. Though the titles can't be exactly termed as mediocre, there was nothing truly 'Nex-Gen' about them. But let's face it; every console takes time to mature. So it's only fair to give them some time and expect some mind-blowing stuff next year.

On a personal/professional front, the Techtree redesign process finally got on the way. But unfortunately I have got nothing much to disclose at this moment. But expect a lot of good things from us early next year. So all and all, 2007 seems like an exciting year in prospect for all tech enthusiasts with all the good initiations this year blossoming into something significant.

Wish you all a very happy, prosperous, and technologically satisfying 2007.