28 Things Didn't Happen In 2007

A lot of predictions were made about 2007, just like every other year. Some came true, some didn't. Here's a list of what didn't happen.

Well, there were many copycats, but not a lot of breakthrough players. Vertical search? Only if Google's integration of Universal Search counts.  Niche networks? Though I predicted the beginning of this era, very little has happened. People are still flocking to the broad-appeal social networks, but that still could change.

A significant portion of the tech elite predicted this would be the year RSS went mainstream. And, well, it really didn't, despite Vista, which people are ditching in favor of a return to their beloved Windows XP. Ask anybody not closely  following developments on the Web if they know what an RSS feed is. Bet you'll be surprised at how few have heard of one. But that too, may change in the coming year. You know, again.

Several industry observers noted that somebody, probably Google, would buy Feedburner. And that's exactly what happened, perhaps another sign that RSS is on the brink once again.

Blinkx and Brightcove, MetaCafe and DailyMotion all made headway in 2007, but all anybody talks about in regard to online video is YouTube, which possibly may have nailed down the right balance of user-generated content and monetization. But definitive success remains to be seen. Bandwidth costs are a bit of a concern, too. Who knows? Maybe Hulu will strike it rich?

Google didn't split, but is also didn't reach $1,000 per share as some predicted. But there's always next year, and hovering around $700 is not too shabby.

At the end of 2006 the term "YouTube Presidency" was already being tossed around. And sure enough, 2007 saw the first YouTube debates for both Democrat and Republican frontrunners. That means that YouTube not only became vital for the expansion of user-generated content, but also as an agent for social change. But candidates still dodged tough questions like they were playing full-contact lawn darts.

SecondLife seemed unstoppable in 2006, and for part of 2007, spawning its own currency and legal philosophies. Companies began experimenting with building their own SecondLife areas, and thieves and vandals ran amok, too. At the end of 2007, who's still talking about it? Hardly anybody, and the virtual tumbleweeds seem to be increasing as members seem to spending less and less time there  -- their initial infatuation wearing thin. Jury's still out though. The site has seen some positive growth, just the not the explosive growth everyone was counting on.

Widgets certainly did explode onto the scene in 2007. After Facebook opened up its platform to developers, the applications began pouring in. And then Facebook users started virtual food fights. Sophisticated usage or not, you have to chalk one up for the success of widgets in social networking.

When people are uninstalling Vista and replacing it with Windows XP, you might expect any competing office product to gain ground against Microsoft Office, too. Everybody oohed and ahed over Google's new presentation offering, but then went right on using PowerPoint. Because that's what you use for presentations, everybody knows it. Google gets an 'A' for effort and for presenting alternatives, but as Microsoft is learning with Vista, the public seems rather reluctant to change the status quo.

Unless it's for Apple products, that is.

Nobody, contrary to predictions that MSN AdCenter and Yahoo's Panama would gain ground against AdWords and AdSense, really put up a much of a fight against Google. Google continues to gain search share and search advertising dollars while its two biggest competitors still struggle to keep up.

Windows Live, Windows What? That's different from MSN how? No one really knows or cares that much outside of Redmond, unless they actually kept Vista and didn't switch the default search to Google.

No, there's still no traditional operating system from Google to compete with Microsoft and Apple. But there is Android, which Google is developing for mobile phones, so there may finally be some vindication for those who've been waiting now for years.

Internet TV? Well, not quite yet, though TV made prodigious use of Internet content. Baby-steps have been made toward the transition with releases like AppleTV, network websites and mini-shows for the web. Verizon and AT&T are both banking on television over fiber connections. The vast majority still get their TV from broadcast, cable, or satellite, but the winds of change are a-blowin'.

In fact, eBay wrote off Skype as overvalued and Vonage was sued by everybody within arm's reach. 2007 wasn't so great for VoIP, but who knows about 2008? Maybe, maybe.

The pageview, as a metric, hasn't died. It may not be as strong as it once was with new measures like user engagement or new formats like AJAX becoming more popular, but the pageview is still used for many business models, especially those selling advertising. Eyeballs are still eyeballs.

But they might be sick. There's still a generational split when it comes to where people prefer to get their news, but even that appears to be dwindling. The younger crowd no doubt prefers digital formats while the older crowd, which still clings to email too, likes the morning paper and a cup of coffee.

When Google acquired YouTube late in 2006, their was a resounding chorus that Google just bought itself a world of copyright problems. Sure enough, Viacom slapped them with a billion-dollar lawsuit which still hasn't been settled despite Google's effort to be more vigilant about fighting copyright infringement. YouTube's still the best place to find anything you might have missed on MTV.

And neither did Yahoo, for that matter. Semel is out, and Yahoo is, well, still a distant second.

But Facebook did. an analyst noted that "AMZN is a stock that continues to live on borrowed time," when it was at $38.50, two months later, it's selling at $95.