What's Hot in 2006

It could be said that the technology industry counts its life in dog years. One year in IT is like seven years of progress rolled into one compared to just about any other industry. Toaster manufacturers must be lividly envious.

2006 should prove to be a particularly monumental year in tech, with several broad technology streams finally galvanising and starting to deliver on the abstract promises they made a few years ago. Convergence, ubiquitous connectivity, virtualisation, Web 2.0; 2006 will become known as the year when technology came together.

In this feature we'll take a look at what we can expect from the world of tech this year, what technologies and products we expect to be big, and how they will impact our lives. By all accounts, 2006 is set to be an exciting year for technology and will truly herald a new generation of computing.

The story so far
This isn't to say 2005 wasn't also a big year for tech, although it will more likely be remembered for the foundations it laid for the future of technology, rather than for any particular breakthroughs that happened during the year.

Probably the biggest developments in technology in 2005 happened online. Google was the company leading the way, pioneering a range of online services that saw the concept of 'Web services' actually bare fruit. 'Podcast' was also named word of the year by the American Oxford dictionary, showing the prevalence of tech buzzwords in mainstream language. Blogs also came into mainstream awareness, with them replacing the old Geocities home page as people's individual portal, and contribution, to cyberspace.

On the PC front, 2005 was significant because of the introduction of two new technologies that fundamentally take PC performance into a new era. The first is 64-bit, which has actually been with us for a while with AMD's Athlon 64 range of processors, but was introduced into Intel's line through the EM64T extensions, making it more or less the standard across the spectrum of high-end desktop processors. The second major development was the introduction of dual core CPUs, which marks a shift away from the old paradigm of higher and higher frequency single core processors.

Other PC technologies also matured into mainstream use, such as Serial ATA, DDR-2 RAM, PCI Express and DVI connectors for flat screen displays. However, on the software front, 2005 was a relatively quiet year, notable for its lack of major desktop releases by Microsoft - not even a Service Pack for Window XP in 2005. That's not to say a number of significant products and updates didn't enter the market, possibly the most notable being Adobe's Creative Suite 2 bundles, which include elements from Macromedia, which Adobe acquired early in 2005.

2005 also saw two new players enter the 3G market: Vodafone and Optus. Both kicked off their new networks with a range of new services, including video calls, games and music downloads. Telstra also entered the wireless broadband market using its 3G network as the backbone, and extending wireless broadband coverage beyond the bounds of Sydney and Melbourne, which are serviced to varying degrees by Unwired and iBurst.

ADSL2 also generated quite a bit of interest, with ISPs such as Internode and iiNet blowing Telstra's 1.5Mbit ADSL limit out of the water by offering speeds of up to 12Mbit over conventional copper.

Portable music players, and the iPod in particular, also had a big year, with Apple's range continuing to dominate. That leadership was further helped by the much anticipated launch of the iTunes Music Store here in Australia, which dramatically increased the levels of competition amongst online music stores. The legal download sites arguably also received a boost from the continued and very public court cases against peer to peer file sharing companies. Kazaa came under fire here in Australia, and WinMX closed its network entirely (although a quick hack to your 'hosts' file can open it back up again).

Digital television also started to make an impact in 2005, after several years of very slow uptake. Digital set top boxes reached a new low in prices, getting down below the $100 mark. It was also a big year for high definition content, with many of the most popular US shows, such as Desperate Housewives and Lost, being broadcast in HD.

PVRs (Personal Video Recorders) also had a decent year, although the lack of an integrated and open EPG (electronic programme guide) continued to put the breaks on PVR uptake. Windows Media Center also had a mediocre year, but the concept of convergence was beginning to catch on, especially as demonstrated by devices such as the Sonos Digital Music System.

2005 was also the year when flat screen televisions truly became a viable, and affordable, alternative to regular CRTs. Capping off a big year for flat screen TVs was Acer's impressive 32 inch widescreen high definition LCD, which can be found for the unprecedented price of under $2000.

Sadly, it wasn't all good news for technology in 2005. The year was also the biggest ever in terms of security threats, with a 48 percent increase in new malware threats, and a staggering one in every 44 emails carrying a virus, according to the Sophos Security Threat Management Report 2005.

2005 laid the foundations for the future, with things such as Google's Web services, multicore processors, the 3G networks and digital television. However, it's 2006 that will bring these disparate elements together into whole Gestalt entities under the broad banner of convergence.

The PC is not dead
While other technologies and devices may have grabbed the limelight over the past few years, the PC is still very much at the centre of the digital world. Desktop PCs continue to sell more and more each year, with research firms IDC and Gartner predicting growth figures of between five and 10 percent in 2006. However, it's mobile PCs that are leading the charge, with growth figures of notebooks in 2005 and 2006 expected to be in double digit region, possibly even getting towards the 20 percent mark. In fact, Mark Whittard, general manager of Toshiba in Australia, is going so far as to predict that one in every two PCs sold here in 2006 will be a notebook. That's a bold claim - even IDC doesn't think notebooks will take up 50 percent of sales until 2008 - but it's conceivable.

One of the driving factors behind the soaring notebook sales is the dramatic price drops we've seen throughout 2005, which should continue into 2006. The main reason for this is the global glut of LCD panels, which are the most expensive component in most notebooks. 2005 saw the first (decent) sub-$1000 notebooks hit the market, and we can expect to see more of the same in 2006, although don't expect the price to get much lower than about $750 this year.

Inside the box, the multicore revolution (if you'll excuse the hyperbole) will continue in 2006. This is not just a small shift in processor technology, it actually represents a substantial shift in the way we think about performance. Raw megahertz have long been losing favour as a primary metric of performance, and processor manufacturers have been struggling to keep their frequencies up in the face of massive architectural and engineering barriers. The move to multicore processors marks a shift from the old high-speed, single threaded, serial approach to a parallel, multithreaded approach.

Combined with 64-bit extensions, which at this stage mainly allow for more than 4GB of RAM to be used in a desktop PC, we can expect to see more software actively take advantage of multithreading. Besides highly demanding applications, such as multimedia authoring and 3D games, the main area multithreading will have an effect is with the operating system. Windows XP is already multithreaded, as will be Windows Vista.

Also on the processor front, the other major event we'll see this year is the first Apple computers to feature an Intel chip inside. Yes, Hell hath frozen over. The significance of this event is not yet fully known, as it's uncertain how Apple will port OS X to the Intel architecture, and whether there'll be other Mac/Intel crossovers. But it should be interesting to watch it all unfold.

Heat and power consumption are the other major factors influencing processor design in 2006, with both AMD and Intel bringing their power management features from their mobile processors into their desktop CPUs. Intel will also continue to shrink its chips down to the 65nm process, while AMD is struggling to move on from 90nm.

With multicore processors increasing in popularity, virtualisation also becomes a viable reality. Enterprise will be the big beneficiary of virtualisation in 2006, although we'll start hearing talk of desktop applications when Vista arrives.

Another significant PC event in 2006 will be the launch of Intel's digital home platform, the Viiv (rhymes with 'jive'), which is expected to arrive early this year. Viiv is best thought of as the Media Center equivalent of Centrino, and constitutes a coherent platform of Intel hardware and drivers that should make Media Center PCs a bit more focussed in their approach on the living room environment. It's unlikely that Viiv will make a big impact early on, but it could make a big difference to Media Center's popularity, which has so far been hampered by big ugly boxes, high prices and a lack of an EPG (which we'll talk about shortly).

View ahead
Undoubtedly the biggest event in the PC world in 2006 will be the launch of Microsoft's next generation operating system: Windows Vista. If all goes well, we should see Vista around the end of the year. It'll have been five years since the last major release of an OS platform from Microsoft, and by all accounts, Vista should be a great leap forward. Microsoft has really engineered Vista from the ground up, and rewritten a lot of the rules that set the standard for the likes of Windows 9x and Windows XP.

Vista will not only have an entirely different look or feel from any previous Microsoft OS, it will have an entirely new approach to the interface. XML, meta data, desktop search and RSS will all be integral parts of the OS - and if it sounds like a sophisticated Web-based interface, you're not far wrong. Microsoft has acknowledged many of the strengths of the Web, and the tools we're using to access the wealth of information on it, and is using these same tools to make finding content on our desktops easier. Expect to see improved security as well, including integrated antivirus and antispyware as well. Whether the funky filesystem, WinFS, makes it into Vista is still a matter of rumour and speculation, although it's unlikely.

Vista will ship in a number of different versions, all of which (except for the possible 'Starter Edition' for 'emerging markets') should be natively 64-bit. The higher-end versions should also feature Media Center functionality built in, although it's likely a specialised dedicated Media Center version will be developed for pure living room systems.

Vista won't only make a big impact on the OS and software world, but it should have a reverberating impact on the hardware world as well. Vista's hardware requirements are nothing short of spectacular, with it needing a fairly powerful DirectX 9 graphics card with 128MB of memory onboard, as well as a hefty 2-3GHz CPU, preferably 64-bit, and at least a half gig of RAM. Given that Vista should be arriving at a lull in the PC buying cycle, it could actually spark off another hardware peak as we all upgrade our systems over the 12 months from Vista's launch.

Fun and games
Talking about cycles, 2006 will see the major console vendors refresh their range. Microsoft's Xbox 360 is already helping people blow stuff up across the US, Europe and Japan. We should see it out here in March.

One benefit of the Xbox 360 getting to us a few months after the rest of the world is that we should have a greater range of games than our foreign gaming brethren had at launch. The early games on the Xbox 360 also don't appear to be using anywhere near the massive computing and rendering potential of the console, so there's plenty of performance headspace for games to expand into over time.

One interesting facet of the Xbox 360 is its interaction with Windows Media Center, with the console acting as a media extender. Media extenders have been around for a while overseas, and essentially let your Media Center PC act as a media server, with the extender becoming something of a thin client. Incorporating this functionality into the Xbox 360 will make it a more attractive proposition for the second television if you already own a Media Center PC. The Xbox 360's high definition output will also make it a natural partner for flat panel televisions.

The Xbox 360 will be going head to head with Sony's next generation console, the PlayStation 3 (PS3), which should arrive some time mid year. The PS3 in an interesting beast, powered by a fairly revolutionary processor, Cell. The Cell processor is actually nine cores in one (although there's been speculation that the PS3 may ship with up to one core non-functioning).

Cell is actually part of a bigger picture digital home future, with Cell processors populating, and communicating with, devices all around the home. Until more devices arrive that are powered by the Cell, this will remain science fiction - and it could remain so for quite some time. Cell does have a lot of potential as a processor, although developers will have to learn an entirely new way of coding in order to take full advantage of it. As such, expect a relatively limited number of full power PS3 launch titles, but that's OK, as the PS3 should be backwards compatible with games from the PS2 and PS1.

How the PS3 will compete with the Xbox 360 remains to be seen, although we can expect the battle for our hearts, minds and wallets to be intense.

The third console in the mix is Nintendo's Revolution, although it may well have a different name at launch. Nintendo has been remarkably close-lipped about the Revolution, and speculation is rife. The general feeling, though, is that if Nintendo had something interesting to say, it would have said it by now, rather than hide behind the premise of 'protecting its ideas from its competitors - not that Microsoft or Sony could change their consoles much if Nintendo did release all the details of the Revolution today. When the Revolution hits the streets is anyone's guess, although it's looking increasingly unlikely to be in 2006.

Wires and wireless
Broadband was relatively slow to take off in Australia, but 2004-2005 saw the number of connections double to well over 2 million today. 2006 should see similar pace of broadband uptake, with it primarily eating away at the existing dial-up install base in homes and business. ADSL still takes the lion's share of connections, although wireless broadband is also on the up. Now that telcos are starting to open up their 3G networks to operate as wireless data services, they will also enable more people in non-metropolitan areas to get connected to broadband.

2005 saw ADSL2/2+ begin its rollout around Australia, surprising many with its high speeds of up to 24Mbit over the same old copper wires that Telstra staunchly insists are capped to 1.5Mbit. Having said that, 24Mbit is the maximum theoretical speed that would only be achievable if your ISP supported it, and you had your ADSL modem about three feet from the DSLAM at your local exchange. Speeds of up to 6-8Mbit are more like the practical maximum for most people.

2006 should see a continued rollout of ADSL2/2+ hardware into exchanges around Australia, and more pressure on Telstra to finally unshackle its own network, much of which is ADSL2-ready anyway. That's good news for us, as the broadband market becomes more competitive, and prices drop even further.

On the mobile front, 3G will be the new battleground, with the four 3G-enabled carriers all competing for our attention by offering more and varied content on their networks, as well as expanding coverage over 2006. Telcos and content companies alike see mobiles as the new wonder platform for selling music, videos and games, but how much appeal this will have to mobile phone users over the age of 25 remains to be seen. Video calls are also terribly overrated, and their appeal will also be limited to enthusiasts. Even so, data on your mobile will be a big theme of 2006.

Regardless of the connection, our phones will also be getting smarter in 2006. Expect to see more hybrids, such as O2's Xda Atom, and more phones with organisers that actually work.

Talking data
2005 could well be remembered as the year that VoIP was talked about more than it was talked over. 2006 should see the tide start to turn for VoIP as more small vendors and ISPs offer home VoIP services at prices that will be too low to ignore. More of us will become accustomed to the idea of having an entry-level conventional phone plan, along with a high-speed ADSL connection and a VoIP handset.

VoIP will also increase in popularity in another manner -- via instant messaging (IM). Skype has already enjoyed tremendous popularity, but now that Windows Messenger, Yahoo! and Google's Talk all feature VoIP, IM could well shave a few bucks off our phone bills. Business will also have to get used to this phenomenon, just as its still getting used to the concept of IM in the office. The important message for business is: if implemented and managed right, with the correct standards put in place, IM and simple VoIP services can improve internal communications and lower costs. Still, it'll probably be 2007 before they get the message (no pun intended).

Give us a hub

Digital television, PVRs and flat screen TVs were all popular in 2005, and will continue to grow through 2006. In fact, 2006 could see flat screen TVs outsell CRTs for the first time. Both LCD and plasma will see huge popularity, although as LCD technology matures and becomes suitable for bigger screens, it'll slowly eat into plasma's territory, especially around the 30-40 inch range. OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) technology should also begin to make its way into more products in 2006 as well, although it'll remain expensive for a while yet.

On the digital television front, the government is frantically running committees left, right and centre, getting input from the industry, consumers and television networks as to why digital is so slow taking off, and what it can do to boost its acceptance. Sadly, the government will likely ignore all advice except that given by the big networks, and as such, we'll still be deprived of an EPG (Electronic Programme Guide). Thankfully, third party offerings, such as IceTV (www.icetv.com.au) do exist, but you have to pay for the privilege of using them. Whether the government wakes up and realises it has to mandate an independently administered data-based EPG, preferably using an interactive standard such as MHP (Multimedia Home Platform), remains to be seen.

Even so, STB (Set Top Box) pricing shouldn't be a barrier to getting into digital television, with many SD (Standard Definition) STBs now available for under $100, although they're unlikely to get any cheaper. HD (High Definition) STBs are still relatively expensive, although prices should drop considerably this year.

Even without an EPG, PVRs are still the way of the future for watching television. Let's face it, VCRs are just so 20th century. PVRs should enjoy considerable popularity in 2006, especially when coupled to a DVD burner. Dual SD digital tuner models should become the standard by the end of 2006, with single and dual tuner HD PVRs starting to appear in greater numbers as well.

Online
Google was the champion of online services in 2005, and it should continue to lead the way in 2006, despite Microsoft's desperate and innovative attempts to compete.

Three other buzzwords that are being thrown around willy nilly at the moment, but will have tremendous significance in 2006 are podcasts, blogs and wikis. These three terms, along with Google's work, as well as a host of technologies such as RSS and Ajax, will herald in the era of Web 2.0 (see Tech Horizons, pXX). The Web as a platform is what it's all about, and we can expect to see a great deal of hype, and the possibility of another hyperbole-fuelled dot.com gold rush, although speculators will be far more cautious about the lofty claims this time around.

Desktop search will be another big theme of 2006, and Google and Microsoft will fight tooth and nail to integrate into your desktop and provide you with an all-in-one portal. Until Vista is released, Google should comfortably hold the lead, and even once Vista is here, chances are Google will still offer more services that Vista and Microsoft can offer.

2006 will also see legal downloads of music, television and movies become a mainstream concept, lead, of course, by iTunes. Despite its proprietary DRM, iTunes and Apple will continue to push the iPod to new heights, and until someone else delivers an end-to-end system of a similar nature, Apple should still maintain the lead. While it's unlikely that television will be offered at anything greater than iPod video resolution, it should at least switch big studio thinking hats to the theme of downloadable content, and the potential to go direct to the end user and make a lot more profit. Telcos will commandeer this concept for mobile phones, but that's only the beginning of the possibilities for digital content delivered online. We won't see the end, or the beginning, of this phenomenon in 2006, but it should get the ball rolling for digital downloads in years to come.

Security in 2006
If 2004 was the Year of the Worm, and 2005 was the Year of Phishing, then 2006 is shaping up to be the Year of the Trojan. An alarming new trend in 2005 was for mass Trojan infections that turn the victims' computers into zombies, which can then be used to distribute spam or perform denial of service attacks. Trojans are also increasingly financially motivated, with them opening back doors or stealing passwords for online banking. The number of Trojans being released is also troubling, with more Trojans being distributed than worms in 2005, according to Sophos' Security Threat Management Report.

According to Laura Yecies, general manager at Zone Labs and vice president at Check Point, another disturbing trend is for financially motivated attacks to be more surreptitious in order to avoid attention from the authorities. "Hackers are no longer focused on garnering headlines with large scale attacks, rather they seek to profit from their victims."

Spyware is also a constant bane, although new laws and improved antispyware software integrated with antivirus is starting to have an effect. However, according to Sophos' report, as automated security is improved, and vulnerabilities patched, hackers will have to resort to social engineering to penetrate our defences.

DVD wars
We won't see the conclusion of the high definition DVD wars in 2006, but we will see the conflict between rival formats reach fever pitch. The first HD-DVD players and discs are set to ship in early 2006, which is later than Toshiba had hoped. Blu-ray will also see its first widespread distribution in 2006, and will be helped along by the PlayStation 3, which uses Blu-ray discs for its games.

It's likely both formats will coexist for some time, with some manufacturers, such as Samsung, planning to produce dual format players. Which format comes out on top will depend on where the studios place their allegiance, and that will depend on which format consumers favour. Ultimately it could come down to price taking precedence over capacity, which could give dual-layer HD-DVD the edge by the end of 2006.

Wireless world
Less cables, more bandwidth will become a big theme of 2006 and beyond. At the smallest level, UWB (Ultra Wideband) will cover ranges of only a metre or two, but will provide very high bandwidth. It will also provide the basis of the upcoming Wireless USB standard, and will replace cables between your PC and other peripherals. The first UWB devices should arrive in late 2006, although it'll be 2007 before it becomes widespread.

2006 should also finally see the highly anticipated release of official 802.11n WiFi standard, which uses MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) to boost throughput to around 10 times that of 802.11g.

3G and wireless broadband will also continue to grow in popularity in 2006 and beyond. WiMax technology is already being rolled out overseas, and we could see it competing with upgraded 3G mobile data networks in 2007.

Come together
As you can see, there's no shortage of big movements in technology in 2006, but the overriding theme for the year will be convergence. This won't necessarily just mean convergence in the digital home, or mobile telephony with data, or the Web as a platform - all these areas will experience convergence this year. The cheeky fact is all these models of convergence also rely on that humblest of protocols, IP, so the even bigger picture convergence of all these arenas into one is only a matter of time.

It's also a fact that the tech world will be very different at the end of 2006 than it was at the beginning. By January 2007, we could well have 64-bit multi core CPUs, running Windows Vista, communicating with our Xbox 360, which is outputting to our high definition flat screen TV, on which we'll be shopping through Google and interacting with our mobile phones.

If 2005 was an eventful year for technology, 2006 will be monumental.

2007 and beyond
2007 should see a continuation of many of the trends from 2006. Windows Vista should kick off a new hardware upgrade cycle for PCs. We'll also get our first multicore processors, with four or more cores on each chip, and 64-bit will be ubiquitous from entry-level to high-end.

In the home, digital television, especially high definition, should slowly gain some more acceptance in the mainstream. Flat screen television prices should also drop, with 30-40in widescreen high definition screens popping up in living rooms around Australia. Home automation will also begin to make its mark, with new houses being build with digital technologies in mind.

VoIP will also continue its surge in popularity, with more big telcos and ISPs offering services. Telstra should also be making its revolutionary transition to its data/VoIP-based network as well. WiMax wireless broadband should also finally become a reality, with rollouts taking place around the world. Local wireless broadband company, Unwired, could also upgrade its network to be WiMax compatible around 2007.

Michael Malone Managing Director iiNet "I think the best technology in 2006 will be Voice over IP. While it's been around for a long time, it's now getting easy enough for everyone to use, and it will fundamentally change the cost of communications in the next year. High speed broadband also opens up the opportunity for video over your Internet connection. I don't think 2006 is going to see IPTV take off in a big way.  We'll see some experiments from iiNet, FoxTel, Adam, BigPond Movies, and possibly others.

Tim O'Keefe Principal Consultant Digital Broadcasting Australia "2006 is about sport on television: Australian Open Tennis (January); Torino Olympic Winter Games (February); Commonwealth Games (March); FIFA World Cup (June); and the AFL and NRL football finals (September). So in 2006 digital television will be about viewing sport - with crystal clear images and sound - how you want it (on your large flat panel high definition screen), when you want it (recorded on to your PVR, your laptop, your desktop or your media player) or where you want it (on your mobile phone or super light portable television)."

Warren Hardy Acting Managing Director Optus Consumer "This is an incredibly exciting time to be in the IT and telecommunications industry - wireless technologies are really taking off and with increasing broadband penetration we are on the brink of true convergence. The mobile phone, television and PC are slowly rolling into one. In this fiercely competitive industry it is a great time to be a consumer."

Paul Randle Consumer Marketing Manager Microsoft Australia "2006 is going to be an amazing year for technology. There will be many new and amazing digital experiences to expect with Windows Vista, and Office 12 fast approaching and, of course, there is the launch of Xbox 360. Xbox 360 redefines realism in gaming. It can also revolutionise your lounge room with all new music, movie and photo features. Plug your MP3 player into the USB port and use your Xbox 360 like a jukebox. Wirelessly stream your digital photos and music from your PC into the lounge."

Rob Kester World Wide Sales Director Legend "2006 will be a big year for digital television as it continues to find its way into the Australian home. I think the adoption of digital television will continue to grow as more households realise the benefits of digital television and the extra channels such as ABC2. Many consumers are still unaware of the benefits of digital television and we expect that this will change in 2006 as the technology becomes a household standard. We will also be focusing on LCD screens in 2006. Sizes of LCD will continue to increase so that they rival the size of the larger plasma screens but will they be lighter, thinner and easier to install."

Laura Yecies General Manager, Zone Labs Vice President, Check Point "The Internet is becoming increasingly dangerous every day. We believe the firewall is the single most critical component of PC security. As hackers become savvier and compromised PCs become a commodity with monetary value on the black market, consumers must use a solution that can proactively block threats, not just clean them up after the damage is done. Armed with the right information and proper security, people can defend the integrity of the Internet and defeat those who would exploit it for criminal purposes."

Ian Lowe Group Marketing Manager, Home Network Products Sony Australia "With the recent evolution of LCD into a mass market consumer product across a wide range of screen sizes, we may just about see the end of the venerable old TV tube. There is also lots of sport to come in 2006 so how do I get to see it all? PVR hard disk based recorders with digital tuners for saving every single shot, play, gambit, brawl, penalty, fumble and refereeing mistake - in glorious HD quality. PlayStation 3 - come on, it has to be the thing everyone is hanging for - HD output, Cell processor, wireless everything, online game play, looks great and its got a Blu-ray player built in."

Philip Cronin Managing Director Intel Australia and New Zealand "In 2006, Australian's will experience enhanced performance in their desktop PCs and laptops thanks to the rapid uptake of new Intel's multi-core platforms. We expect to ship these dual- and multi-core platforms at a rate of more than 70 percent for our desktop and mobile Pentium families. The new year will also see the long-anticipated move to digital living accelerate with the launch of entertainment PCs based on Intel Viiv technology. With Viiv, we will be able to use one remote control to operate devices and software throughout our homes and to access online content including movies, music, games and photos."

Paul Ducklin Head of Technology, Asia Pacific Sophos In 2006, it seems likely (if you will pardon the cliche) that 'less will be more'. By this, I mean that we can expect increasingly focused attacks, in which people are targeted for specific criminal purposes, rather than blatted en masse in the fashion of viruses like Melissa, Lovebug, Nimda, Sasser and Slammer. Of course, in the short term I suspect that we will continue to see malware both from the old school virus writers, showing off to their imaginary friends, and from the new school of organised criminals, who are in it for the money. In the longer term, though, it would be nice to think that the increased attention of law enforcement will at least serve to discourage youngsters from getting into virus writing.

What products and technologies do you think will make it this year?

Let us know at feedback@pcauthority.com.au