Ever since Apple ported OSX to the Intel x86 architecture, bootleg copies of the PC-compatible OS have flowed through peer 2 peer networks like a pandemic virus. In fact, an entire community of PC "Mac users" was born almost overnight, devoted to the cause of running OSX on mainstream PC hardware.

Being the curious lad that I am, I have longed to experience first hand how OSX 10.4 Tiger performs on generic PC hardware. All in the name of research of course. As I'm sure you have already figured out, I'm quite a Mac fan. However I still remain largely a PC user. Much as I love Apple and Macintosh platform as a whole, I still have a parallel affinity for the PC side of the computing market. Windows XP, despite its numerous flaws, is a viable and fairly reliable platform that I use daily, right alongside my Mac. It's not politically correct to endorse Windows or Microsoft, but then again I've never been politically correct.

(Behold...the ancient Dell Dimension 8100...in all its...uh, glory?)

A new year is here, and that means it's time for me to brush the cobwebs from my fractured Crystal ball. My predictions from last year are here.

What does this year hold for mobile devices?

As a long time Palm user I've come to know the Palm OS intimately. It has been my workhorse platform since the Palm III, and I still gladly remain a Palm user in preference to its elegant design and usability. And yet, like most enthusiasts, I have bore witness to a general slide in the once legendary and now mythical stability and reliability the Palm experience was known for. To be fair, crashes are not uncommon to any mobile platform. Even my old Symbian-powered Nokia cell phone would lock up on the odd occasion for no apparent reason other than to frustrate me. PDAs and Smartphones are complex devices running complex code, compared to dumb devices like feature phones. But Palm OS, for all its shortcomings, has had until recent years, a near untarnished reputation for being bulletproof and insanely reliable. That is no longer the case.

Technology is an indomitable force. Like a perpetual wheel in motion that shapes our destiny; always changing, constantly evolving, and often reinventing itself. In the world of mobile devices, we are witnessing another such change as the transition from purpose-built PDAs to Smartphones take shape. And yet, as increasingly popular as Smartphones are becoming, the concept of a PDA phone remains an idea before its time. I forsee a time when all phones will be Smart devices that replace EVERYTHING from PDAs to MP3 players. Smartphones will become the ultimate universal remote in our daily lives. An indispensable tool that becomes as much a part of us as our clothes. But we're only at the very beginning of this evolutionary journey.