2006 in review: Zune, Origami and French-Canadian manhood

Although many might have expected it, Microsoft's big consumer release wasn't Vista. That launch was put back until January 2007 for consumers.

Instead it released the Zune, an mp3 player to rival the iPod. Despite the millions Microsoft spent on researching and designing the device, it still ended up with a name that means penis in French Canadian slang. Furthermore, Zoons is a disease of the said member. Oh well.

Its distinguishing feature was an inbuilt wi-fi module that allows people to share music, but early reports suggest it's not good enough to truly rival the iPod. A European release could still be more than a year away.

In a bold stance, PCW predicted that the Origami PCs – better known as ultra mobile PCs - will carve out a big future in the highly competitive computer market. The first went on sale in June and by autumn Samsung was releasing a solid-state version into the UK.

The solid-state Samsung Q1 UMPC replaced the usual hard disk with 32GB of flash memory, meaning it has no moving parts and better battery life.

IBM's PowerPC architecture finally got dumped by Apple in 2006 as it completed its move to Intel's processors across the line, finishing with a Powermac range that used two top end Intel Xeon processors.

Apple added to the unthinkable by releasing Boot Camp, a utility that lets Macs boot the Windows operating system. Apple believed the move would encourage Windows users to switch to Macs because they will still be able to run their familiar applications.

It wasn't all good news for Apple though, after it suffered allegations of sweatshop conditions for the workers who build the iPod in China.

Foxconn, which manufactures the device, had broken Chinese labour laws by making staff work an additional 80 hours overtime per month. The Mail on Sunday reported that staff were paid a miserable $50 a month and had to live in dormitories, housing 100 people, where outsiders were forbidden. Apple refused to discuss the allegation.

Intel launched a completely new set of processors called Core 2 Duo. Performance scores shot up compared with the Pentium 4 architecture and Intel went from losing its performance war with AMD at key price point to winning it, and by a comfortable margin.

Not only were the processors more powerful, but they also consumed less energy, making them cheaper and cooler to run.

See also:
2006 in review: The year of the free broadband