Also we will see a new version of Visual Studio .Net sometime this year. Gaming is taking off in a lot of good directions this year with titles like Doom 3, Half-Life 2, Soldner, etc so I expect to see some hardware improvements for desktops once these new titles hit the streets.
From what I have heard from MS rep's they don't plan on ever creating a Linux CLR, they basically said they did a cut-down BSD one as an example and published specs so if people want it they will have to do it themselves (which is in the works).
I'm thinking 2004 will be a lead up to 2005 technologically speaking. Phones will get more advanced but I think the real advances will show up in '05. Tablets will continue to be available and grow but I think they need another year before they get explosive. I haven't seen a great deal of new and interesting stuff fior handhelds, I'm expecting them to merge with phones more ove the next year and half. I'd like to see a handheld/phone combo with a bluetooth headset standard. That way you have your handheld on your belt with the bluetooth earpiece/mic to talk to. No big clunky handheld held up to your ear, but all the extra functionality.
Wireless telephony will continue to overtake land lines, and I'm expecting companies (like sony) to start making more noise about end-all-be-all entertainment boxes that connect your TV to the internet. Most of the new game stations are headed in that direction (play games, play movies, watch online media, replace your landline phone with video phone, etc).
I'd like to see some of the new blue-laser based DVD's hit the market, but not sure it is feasible yet from a manufacturing stand point.
I think near the end of 2004 something new will be in the rumor-mill, we're about due for another major breakthrough in the technology market. I think if we look at major market-changing devices the last one was probably handhelds (I don't count tablets because they are a mix of laptop and handheld). It should be about time for smoeone to think up something new and interesting for our bosses to spend our raises on.
-T
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