Rui CarmoLike I wrote the other day, I'm giving up on doing predictions - but there's a lot to be said for wishful thinking, and there are a few things I'd really like to see happen in 2006.
- First and foremost, I'd like to see Google Earth for the Mac come out once and for all. Watching the unlawful alpha on a friend's PowerBook was heart wrenching - I almost caved in right there and then, until I noticed how unfinished and buggy mouse handling was.
- Running neck and neck with that, I wish we had a full-blown Apple Store in Lisbon (wholly owned and managed by Apple themselves). Just one would do. Heck, some of the people I know would kill for it.
- An ultra-thin 13" black PowerBook - which I would like even more if it came without a built-in optical drive (a mini-Firewire plug and a snazzy desktop burner would be the only thing I needed).
- Since someone has to keep a cool head amidst all the speculation about Intel Macs and Leopard, I'd love to see all the Tiger bugs fixed first - Mail.app, Address Book, iCal, etc. - all of them need a major overhaul (and don't get me started about the Finder).
- But since this is all about wishful thinking, I would nevertheless very much like to see VMware Player for Mac OS X on Intel. That would be something to look forward to.
Moving away from the Mac, there are five other things I'm definitely looking forward to next year:
- Watching another season of Battlestar Galactica.
- Watching WiMax getting soundly trounced by HSDPA in Europe - the telco news sphere is crawling with the sort of understated news that denotes actual progress instead of pure hype, so I don't even have to reach for my Disclaimer.
- Watching VoIP being embraced and extended by big companies (and by that I mean actual telcos instead of the usual suspects). I also expect Google Talk to play a role in that, but my sole sub-wish regarding that is for Adium to gain voice support.
- Watching the ROKR follow-ups tank in mostly the same way. Motorola and other music phone proponents simply don't get the fact that most people prefer buy phones from a carrier at the cheapest possible price - because they just want the service - and splurge on a music player - because it's a prized possession.
- Waiting to see if someone, somewhere, will finally churn out something that gives true meaning to the term "Web 2.0". Come to think of it, most of what I've seen so far with that moniker ought to be dubbed "Web 1.1" - i.e., unstable, buggy, and with extremely uncertain business models. And remember, venture capital isn't called "venture" for nothing - so don't think you're in the clear just because someone threw some money behind your business case...