So the turn of the year has finally been and gone, we have waved goodbye to 2008 and welcomed in 2009 in true celebratory fashion. But aside from the usual things that a new year brings (such as my complete inability to actually write the right year down when I put the date on anything) there will be a lot happening in the tech world.

Take this coming week, January 5th sees the opening of Macworld - one of the biggest Mac shows. Up until a few weeks ago everyone (myself included) was eagerly anticipating the annual "Stevenote" with major announcements and all the things that bring that certain buzz around the week.

Follow up:

Alas this was changed at the last minute, and Steve Jobs will not be giving the Keynote (and this will be the last Macworld that Apple will attend). I don't doubt that Phil Schiller will make some great announcements, and that all will be good, but it is perhaps fitting that this change is to be in the first full week of 2009, and this is what this year will largely be about from a tech point of view.

There are many rumours circulating about Apple products such as iWork and iMovie going online - aka web versions of the applications which probably will be tied into MobileMe. If this proves to be true, then iMovie will almost certainly be pushing the boundaries of what can be done in a web application. This move to cloud based solutions is not new, as I have previously written in my article on Thin Client Computing but i feel that more use of cloud solutions will be made this year. And lets not forget Snow Leopard, the new version of OS X. I say version, but Apple have been touting the fact that it's a refinement of Leopard, and the release is focussing on tidying up and improving what is already there than adding new features. That said, Microsoft Exchange support is due to be built in to the OS which means that you could access your work emails, calendar etc from home using iCal, Mail etc and without having to fire up Entourage.

Also coming up is Windows 7, still pencilled in for later this year. The public beta has yet to land, but Beta 1 build 7000 has been found on the internet and so far opinions are sounding very positive about "7". It is fair to say that Microsoft's delivery of Vista was marred by lack of driver support, certain key features that were announced not being present in the final release, and of course the clunky nature of the beast itself. Windows 7 looks set to put the record straight (if the early indications are anything to go off). Microsoft will be well aware that they have to deliver with Windows 7, a lot of people have skipped Vista entirely and are still clinging on to Windows XP (which has even been given a further extension to it's life!). If Microsoft were to deliver another flop of an OS, then one can only wonder what this will do for the Redmond based company. One thing's for sure, it's an eventuality that the company would want to avoid at all costs.

But what about Linux? Well all is looking right in that corner too, the Linux platform is becoming more prominent one way or another, especially with the various flavours of Linux on the Netbooks. That said, since Windows XP was made available on Netbooks, it has outsold Linux. But Linux is slowly climbing its way up the mountain to become a household name. Ubuntu is really driving this forwards, with its user friendly nature, and the announcement that Canonical made that they were looking for engineers to make the user experience in Ubuntu as good as OS X. With more OEM's providing desktops and Laptops with Linux pre-installed, it certainly has never been a better time to give Linux a go, and 2009 will doubtless see a steady progression for the platform.

And that's just the platforms, what about some of the technologies that 2009 will see? Well there are many, too many in fact for me to list here, but fear not as my take on those is already being written and will be posted up soon.

Happy New Year everyone, I hope 2009 is a great year for you