PC Pro's review of 2007: January - June

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 17 Dec 2007 at 18:10

As the year draws to a close we take a look back at the stories that have dominated the headlines in 2007, beginning with January to June.

January

January began with a bang with the launch of Vista. Five years in the making and at a cost of $6 billion, Microsoft would unsurprisingly go on to proclaim the launch a resounding success, but the year would prove to be a difficult one for both Microsoft and its embattled operating system with performance, sales and security all coming under the microscope at some point.

Less glitzy, but arguably more important, the XO also popped its head up in January, still labelled the $100 laptop. Like Microsoft, the One Laptop Per Child foundation was also blissfully unaware of how difficult a year 2007 would prove to be as manufacturing delays and shortages quickly drove the price up on its laptop for developing nations.

February

February saw Michael Dell return as CEO to the company he created, signalling a sizeable shift in direction for the ailing PC manufacturer which would spend the year broadening its product line and signing deals with High Street retailers, as it sought to move away from the direct sales model it pioneered and which many believed to be at the root of its troubles.

February also saw Intel open its new 45nm fab plant in New Mexico, an astounding achievement given that AMD had only just shifted to 65nm production. It was to be the story of AMD's year, as it struggled to keep pace with the chip giant that it had stung out of lethargy with its Athlon series of processors.

March

March brought warnings that uptake of new on-demand TV services might be hindered by ISPs throttling bandwidth, an issue that would continue to rumble throughout the year as customers woke up to the fact that advertised broadband speeds had little to do with actual speeds, and that not much was being done about it.