Predictions please

[herbert_goon]

It's that time of year again....anyone fancy making some predictions about 2006?

My predicitions:

1 - Chipset consolidation. There are so many players now surely they are going to start gobbling eachother up? With ATI in the game as well (remember nvidia pre nforce?) something will have to give - maybe VIA (this could mean them concentrating on epia) or maybe ULI. If AMD are going to re-enter the chipset game maybe they will be the buyer?

2 - Emissions tax. More Watts/Hour your CPU is rated, the more you pay (built into the price). This is very likely, as with all electronic, but I wager the EU will implement this and the US won't leading to either: UK harware etailers sourcing direct from the states or some etailers going titsup.

3 - First grid virus. Malware seems to always be a few years behind "normal" software development. Current stuff, especially script virii are not very sophisticated and can be written by a vb programer (and there is lots of them!). Worms are so "dirty" and lack any elegance. Now - I give you FOLDING@Home the virus. A sophisticated botnet - each bot cross communicates with other bots making the botnet that much harder to bring down and detect than the "one to many" botnets of today. MMWAHAHAHAHA

4 - Intel to move into discreet graphics. They are already the biggest player in integrated graphics so why not? It's a decent size market. Intel can afford it and have the ability to produce the product.

5 - and finally....not it related....but my divorce finally coming through!!!Oh and a european leader assainated, terrorist attacks in Italy and the US and UK interest rates bottoming out at 4%....(folds up nostradamus quietly and discretely slides it back under desk)

Discuss

[specofdust]

Keeping it just on computers for myself, I'd say:

ATI will retake the lead in the graphics industry, Intel will attempt to claw back some ground in the CPU market but will have a tough time if M2 is released in '06

Software companies will get bigger, the smaller ones will be eaten or die, prices will continue to rise as the entire publishing industry attempts to increase profits, more anti-piracy measures will come into place alongside laws that turn file-sharers into T's so the CT's can come and USP them in the head.

[Jonny M]

Chipset consolidation. There are so many players now surely they are going to start gobbling eachother up? With ATI in the game as well (remember nvidia pre nforce?) something will have to give - maybe VIA (this could mean them concentrating on epia) or maybe ULI. If AMD are going to re-enter the chipset game maybe they will be the buyer?

VIA are going nowhere, and ULi are huge (owned by Acer, same as Aopen). SiS I'd like to see disappear, but that won't happen any time soon either.

[5lab]

i dont think that tax thing would happen - it would have huuuge repurcussions throughout multiple industries, and i recon it is at least 5 years away, if it happens at all

[smtkr]

the US and UK interest rates bottoming out at 4%

Bottoming out? If you're referring to short term rates set by the federal reserve (in the U.S.), you will be wrong. I predict them TOPPING out by the middle of next year.

[LunarJetman]

Mobile phones will start coming with 10 Megapixel Cameras, Built in GPRS recievers for SatNav, 5 gigs of memory, 3D chipsets, will make coffee, tell you you're good looking when you are feeling low, but the buttons will still be too close together to text, and they will still spell FOOT when you want DONT.

Other than that, I am notoriously bad at predicting anything: (I bought a PowerVR card instead of a 3dfx, a Commodore CD-32 and a 3DO console, and I collect Laserdiscs, not DVD's lol)

[Knoxville]

solid state modelling amps will improve again and be heralded by some guitarists to be as good as valve amps, when infact they still won't be quite as good.

[ajbrun]

Next year,
I predict a riot, I predict a riot
I predict a riot, I predict a riot

La-ah-ah, la la lalala la
Ah-ah-ah, la la lalala la





(sorry)

[Theo]

Medison to win the Arkle. That's about all I can think of at the moment...

[windog]

I still wont find an E-Tailor with a 146 Opteron for sale!

[herbert_goon]

OK well I was right on Number 1!!

52 million: This is the sum that NVIDIA forked out to acquire Taiwan-based core logic maker ULi. While NVIDIA says that it requires more engineers to make its chipset ambitions come true, the acquisition might be at least as much about establishing a serious budget chipset portfolio for NVIDIA.

[chicken]

The first "3D" flat panels will begin to appear, they will suck, badly.

Some new form of flat-screen will come out, like the paper-like one or similar. It will be slow but it'll do much better than the 3D ones.

The PS3 will be cracked by a bunch of Linux fans and used to more potential than just games, as it gets cheaper it will spread more into non-game use.