Today is Thanksgiving Day in the United States, and although it doesn't have much to do with our lives, Art Technica has selected six things to be thankful for in technology in 2007 on this special day.
First: DRM digital rights protection is dead
Although DRM is not actually dead, the industry generally began to sell DRM-free audio and video works, in effect announcing the death penalty of DRM. DRM is not blocking piracy, but blocking the enthusiasm of legitimate users.
Second: Games go mainstream
The popularity of the Wii and the popularity of games such as Guitar Hero have brought previously non-gamers into the role of gamers. A lot of people didn't play games at all before, but with the Wii, now family and friends can get together at home and rediscover the fun of the console.
No. 3: The iPhone sells like hot cakes
The author has been using smartphone products for nearly 10 years, but the ease of use and innovative user interface of the iPhone, as well as the Mac OS X operating system, have made him feel different. Although Apple's approach to third-party software support has not been calm, but in a few years we will look back at the design revolution brought by the iPhone, it can definitely become a model like the blackberry.
Fourth: Thank Web 2.0
Many people also feel that Web 2.0 applications are far away from them and that Web 2.0 has no value when offline. But the fact that the Internet is already a part of life, can Web 2.0 be far behind? Social networking sites such as Facebook are now overrun with people finding their old friends and classmates through Internet applications.
Fifth: Volunteer service is at an all-time high
In principle, open source software is a transfer of public awareness to the software industry, and open source projects remind us that each participant has the ability to make something different, regardless of size or nature, and their contribution is to help achieve better software. Most people are unsung heroes, for example, spec writers, testers, bug reporters, and free tech support people who get the job done without their commitment.
So it's important to say thank you to all of the open source community and all of the hardworking volunteers.
Sixth: Electronic ink technology, the future is now
As early as 2002, it was predicted that e-ink technology could not be popularized in 3-5 years, and now 5 years have passed, e-ink has really moved toward commercialization. Although we have only seen some not cheap finished products, but the real market value of e-ink products can enter the market in 2007, then we can predict that the large-scale use of e-ink will not be long.