10 Failed Technology Trends of 2005

mikemuch writes "ExtremeTech's Loyd Case muses on ten trends of 2005 that never panned out. He points the finger at analysts like himself for waxing glowy-eyed at technologies like the BTX form factor and the 64-bit version of Windows XP. On DRM and the Sony rootkit fiasco: 'Hint to the music publishers: It's not going to work. There have been easy workarounds to every system that's been tried, and the more stringent the copy protection, the greater the risk of having angry customers who won't buy CDs. I suggest you start investigating new business models, as the old ones ride off into the sunset.'"

Comments

Re:Gmail

[jonnythan]

That's the point.

In 2004, we thought it was going to revolutionize email.

2005 came and went, and it's still in beta with lots of annoying issues.

GMail is cool, but it hasn't lived up to the hype at all.

Tech Trends?

[ddx Christ]

Tech Trends or some guy's rant? I'd say the latter. The article came off as a person's complaints, a rant more than any actual trends in technology. He just stated things he disliked, and gave some [very little] reasons why. The entire time I was reading it, I just kept thinking: "This guy is just upset because things don't happen instantly. What an impatient..." And that's the jist of it. 64-bit Windows? It'd take a lot to convert everyone and everything to 64-bit overnight. The majority is 32-bit, and will most likely remain 32-bit for a while. It takes time to adapt; especially when it comes to developing for a minority. In the future, what he hopes for will probably come true, but it certainly won't happen tomorrow.

Gmail is fine. You get an invite (there are plenty), set up your account, and bam: sufficient, appealing interface that's quick and easy to use. Nothing complicated, nothing fancy: it just works. Some aspects can be improved, and that's the entire point of beta. Granted, I too think it's odd that more and more products just say "beta" as some sort of defense against bugs. Nothing's perfect, but things will improve. I use it frequently, but I also use Thunderbird along with my server's e-mail. In the end, I like gmail for the quick and easy things, a hurried message or two.

All in all, this article is baseless. I can throw my opinions out with little research too. I wouldn't expect anyone to take me seriously, either. Maybe an agreement or two, but c'mon. This article is fairly pointless.