I have always loved the end of a year and the fresh start for the next. Yea, I know it is an artificial construct and the rocks and trees could care less, but it means something to me, and evidently a few others as well. I love writing these posts because it makes me think about what technology is really doing to mankind and the topic is rich with potential and danger. On this last day I thought I would just regale you with a list of things I would like to see happen in 2008 – the first one is concerning the One Laptop Per Child program and I should mention that I got mine from FedEx just today so I will soon write a post to tell you about it. So my wish for 2008 is that Nicolas Negroponte gets to see at least 3 million of his OLPC’s go out to third world nations. I give him huge credit for the work he has done to get a laptop designed that can sell for $176 and I love the program that makes you buy one and donate one…

My second wish is the Microsoft and Apple both figure out a way to build useful third party software as a Service applications into the browser – or even the operating system. Think about how cool it would be if there was a drop down menu that put you one click from backing up your machine, sending a large file, running a CRM program, or the like.

Since software is quickly being delivered more and more over the Web, it would be nice if we did not have to go log into 10 separate websites to get the services. I want them on the drop down box in my desktop. Next, I would like some worldwide standards for syncing calendars, contacts and Web favorites. I am tired of fighting across all the applications and devices I use to get this done. It is simply not that hard to build a set of standards that would let us easily sync the basic databases we all need at this point.

While I am on the standards rant, I want to see standards for widgets/gadgets. Let’s pick one name, and a standard method for coding them so they will work across any platform and device. It is absurd that Google, Microsoft and Apple all use different frameworks for delivering these useful little Web applications. This one is really my pet peeve. I want to see free wireless provided at all public places, hotels, airports, restaurants, etc. There are a few intelligent locations that get this – the Phoenix airport for instance, Holiday Inn hotels, and Panera Bread. Look, if you are too cheap to just spend the few hundred dollars to help your customers have bandwidth, then figure out an advertiser sponsored model and pay for it that way. Geez, how naive can people be in thinking that this is a utility that should be paid for. Starbucks’ silly T-Mobile network comes to mind. Why do you think I will pay for a T-Mobile account to hit the net while you make my latte? Within a short time we are going to have Wi-Max anyway and it won’t matter.

The final wish for 2008 is a general statement. I wish people would invest more energy in learning how to run technology on their own. Technology is such a wonderful tool – there are obscene amounts of valuable things that can be done with it to improve peoples lives, careers and productivity. The problem is it takes time and energy to learn how to put the tools to work. I look around at my family and see some that will make the investment and get the rewards. I see others that like to use the tool, but want others to do all the thinking for them. I don’t wish for the whole world to become geek – I just want everyone to take two steps forward in 2008…

So, from Technology Story,

Have a Happy New Year