How did we do in 2009?

So did we have our crystal ball turned on 12 months ago, or were our predictions more like science fiction? We look back on our prophecies for 2009 to see how many of them came true

1. Pico projectors

As we stated left, the concept of carrying around a dedicated mini-projector was a bit far-fetched, as were the prices of the first devices. But they’ve laid the ground for camera and phone projectors. At least, we hope they have.

2. Apple invades corporate

2009 was the year that the iPhone made the breakthrough into the business world, with the 3GS earning a slot on our A List as a result. OS X Server even started to appear in Mac minis.

3. Fibre broadband

Fibre broadband became a huge talking point in 2009, although Virgin’s network aside, we’ve seen little in the way of concrete deployments. BT has ramped up its rollout plans, however, suggesting that 2010 could be fibre’s year.

4. GPGPU/Hybrid SLI

At the risk of picking the splinters out of our collective backsides, this is another tech that sparked rather than ignited. Photoshop CS4’s CUDA support was a landmark for GPGPU, albeit a niche one.

5. SSDs

“The SSD snowball is rolling, and 2009 could be the year it crashes into the mainstream.” Or not. High prices continue to hold back SSDs, except as low-capacity system drives (see above).

6. The rise of Ubuntu

Although well established as the leading Linux distro, Ubuntu made steady rather than spectacular progress in 2009. The Ubuntu Moblin Remix did, however, secure a potentially key ally in Intel.

7. 64-bit Windows

Windows 7 has rather forced the issue, with the majority of new installations now running the 64-bit version of the OS. 64-bit drivers, meanwhile, are now practically mandatory.

8. Windows Live Mesh

Although Microsoft won’t release official figures, we sense its brilliant synchronisation service is still cult rather than mainstream. Don’t be surprised if this ends up in Windows 7 SP1.

9. Multitouch everywhere

Adopted by all the major smartphone manufacturers and now seeping into the PC world thanks to Windows 7 support, multitouch is spreading its wings. Heck, Apple’s even introduced a multitouch mouse.

10. The Google OS

Our “outside bet” of 2009 romped home when Google announced it would indeed launch its own desktop OS, although we won’t see it installed on netbooks until 2010. We’ll take the credit now, if it’s all the same.