A couple of days ago, SQL Server MVP, Brent Ozar took a look back at what he’d been posting on his blog in 2010. I thought that was a good idea, so I’m shamelessly stealing his idea to highlight some of the key posts from the last twelve months on this blog. There were many more, technically-focused, ones but these are a good summary of the year’s events:
January
- A look forward to SharePoint 2010 – Microsoft’s collaboration platform continues to improve (but so much of the benefit comes down to how it’s implemented).
February
March
- How UK iPhone users can save money – switch to a SIM only deal at the end of the contract.
- Desktop virtualisation shake-up at Microsoft
- Three phases of Microsoft support (often misunderstood).
April
- Office 2010 is released to manufacturing – including some useful resources for those looking at deploying a new Office release.
- Introducing Microsoft PowerPivot – a possible answer for collating data from across the organisation?
May
- Overview of Windows Phone 7 – some of the details may have changed between this post and launch, but it explains what Microsoft is trying to achieve.
- Highlights from the second Dell B2B Social Media Huddle (#dellb2b) – I’m hoping there will be a third one soon!
- So you think social media is a fad?
June
- Why CEOs don’t blog/tweet (with thanks to Rob Shimmin, who presented this at the Dell B2B Social Media Huddle).
- How to be an Internet private eye (based on another session at the Dell B2B Social Media Huddle).
- Lies, damn lies, and Apple marketing – how can someone with as much Apple kit as me be called an #ihater?
- Installing Ubuntu on Windows Virtual PC – it’s harder than it should be, but it is possible.
July
- Move along folks, nothing to see here (well, there were a couple of posts, but nothing really worth shouting about)…
August
- Publishing: yet another industry clinging on to an outdated business model (and in danger of falling ito the same traps as the music industry).
- Yikes! My computer can tell websites where I live (thanks to Google) – Internet privacy is an oxymoron.
- Playing with video on the iPad (aka jumping through hoops because of the lack of Flash support…)
- Running Spotify and other apps as background tasks on an iPhone 3G (with iOS 3.x – because iOS 4 is too slow for old iPhones).
September
- Jailbreaking does not equal piracy (although, from reading the consumer-focused media, you’d be forgiven for thinking it did).
- Hyper-V R2 Dynamic Memory: over-subscription vs. over-commitment – trying to cut through the FUD and explain the differences between good and bad resource allocation.
- Keeping Windows alive with curated computing – how the applications store model could potentially increase software quality and breathe new life into an aging operating system.
October
- How Steve Ballmer told me what to do with my iPad – it seems that Microsoft still believe Windows is a suitable choice for tablets…
- After 3 months with my iPad, was it still a good purchase?
- Windows Phone 7 will fail if the channel is not ready – let’s hope I’m wrong about the failure… but the channel was certainly not ready!
November
- Getting hands on with Windows Touch (with a monitor on loan from HP…)
- How tablets will disrupt desktop managed service delivery – a look at why next generation tablets (such as the iPad) have the potential to shake up end user computing.
- easyJet’s journey into the clouds – a look at how one of the UK’s leading low-cost carriers has adopted cloud computing within its IT strategy.
- Six months to set up a new blog – what were you doing man? (aka, why there hasn’t been much blogging around here recently – I’ve been setting up a new blog platform at work).
December
- Tumbleweed (and some geekery) – although there are plenty of posts in the pipeline for next year.
Even though 2010 was a quiet year on the blog (120 posts this year is a record low – especially when considering I averaged almost one a day in 2008!), I did win a Computer Weekly Blog Award, and I have been busy elsewhere:
- I switched roles at Fujitsu, moving out of a technology-focused role and into one which concentrates on thought leadership and innovation. As part of that, I’ve been working to getting the Fujitsu UK and Ireland CTO blog off the ground – including editing a fair amount of the content there.
- I’ve also seen the last of the videos I produced for Microsoft go live (running Hyper-V Server from a USB drive)
- Mark Parris and I continue to try and run Windows Server User Group events. We’ve experienced some “difficulties” this year but it looks as though things are changing for the better at Microsoft UK and hopefully the remaining blockers will be removed soon…
- I’ve been a part of most of the IT TweetUps (#ITTU) that we’ve run this year.
- I was re-awarded my Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) status for the third year running.
- I gave a presentation on Internet Safety to parents at my son’s school.
- I’ve also been prolific on Twitter (@markwilsonit) and I’ll try and post some Twitter highlights over the next few days.
As for 2011, well, expect this blog to remain one of my main online activities but, as I spend less time working directly with technology and more working on strategic IT issues, the focus is changing. Indeed, some people think blogging is dead (it’s not) – others say it is now more about content marketing! Whatever the semantics, I’ll be here for a while yet. Thanks to everyone who reads my “stuff” and engages with me – whether it’s as a blog comment, an e-mail or a tweet – and have a happy and prosperous 2011.