Re:Viewing 2004: The 10 biggest stories of the year

Here are the 10 stories we believe shaped the tech world in 2004. And see the bottom of the page for the top 10 stories as voted for by readers.

iPod mini:
Undoubtedly the success story of the year. The hype which surrounded the launch of the iPod mini eclipsed all other product launches. There were tales of queuing, fighting and a general clamour for must-have colours when the in-demand MP3 players hit the shelves in the US. The popularity meant the European launch got pushed back, sending many on pilgrimages Stateside to buy the desirable gadgets.

However: a word of warning. The three which members of the silicon.com team brought back from the US all broke, fatally, within the first six months. It's not a great hit rate - but with iPod minis flying off the shelves this Christmas nobody seems to mind taking that risk. Read our Cheat Sheet on the iPod mini here.

Sarbanes-Oxley:
A big story or a big turn off. It's true that anything that could be written about SOX has been written about SOX but the tech implications of this tighter regulation were manifold - from ensuring the integrity and accountability of all electronic communications to the archiving of all business critical data. Read our Cheat Sheet on Sarbanes-Oxley here.

Phishing:
THE big security story of the year was phishing and the incredible rise in the number and sophistication of emails designed to steal personal data from unsuspecting dupes. The crude 'We is Lloyds bank and we's want yours bank details' raw text emails were fast becoming a thing of the past and domain spoofing and mock branding were now rife. Emails were looking more and more official to the uninitiated. Read our Cheat Sheet on phishing here.

Spyware:
Spyware, like phishing, represented an attempt to steal personal data and like phishing it saw a huge increase in the scale and severity of the problem during 2004. Applications were covertly loaded onto users' machines often without them knowing. Many of these applications were largely benign while others have the potential to log keystrokes and steal screen grabs. Read our Cheat Sheet on Sypware here.

XP SP 2:
The long-awaited patch for Microsoft's XP operating system arrived in the summer - to make everybody's life easier. It failed. For many the headaches of testing, installation and compatibility were almost worse than the problems of an unpatched system. Still, it was free.

The majority of improvements related to security and represented an effort by Microsoft not just to patch computers but also to make some running repairs to its reputation. Read our Cheat Sheet on XP SP 2 here.

The Microsoft ruling:
The other Microsoft story this year was the EC ruling and resulting fine handed down by competition commissioner Mario Monti.

As well as a fine which Bill Gates could pay in cash the company was ordered to offer for sale versions of its operating system without Media Player. In reality a futile gesture that few will opt for, but a thorn in the side of the Seattle behemoth - so no bad thing it could be argued.

Microsoft then appealed - a process bogged down in the general wrangling, industry soap-boxing and carping that follows any Microsoft ruling.

Consolidation:
In 2004 amount of consolidation gathered pace - predominantly in the security market, though it was the Oracle and PeopleSoft saga which attracted the most press. That deal eventually went through last week with a whopping $10bn price tag attached - a sum which was eclipsed only by Symantec's $13.5bn deal for Veritas which came in the same week.

Browser wars:
Back with a vengeance in 2004 were the browser wars - a phrase which has lay dormant during the past three years of unchallenged Internet Explorer dominance. Firefox attracted the most attention and the most plaudits. It's unlikely it will ever get close to unseating IE but it's certainly done enough to breathe new life into the area and challenge all players to think about the ways they can push forward users' browsing experience. Read our Cheat Sheet on Firefox here.

RFID, biometrics and ID cards:
For many these three issues were related. Although RFID most practical uses are in the supply chain as a 21st century barcode the greatest attention was paid to its use in tagging. All three are therefore about the individual's identity. Are you who you say you are? Who else knows that information and how do you prove it?
Read our biometrics Q&A here.
Read our Cheat Sheet on biometrics here.
Read our Cheat Sheet on RFID here.
Read our Cheat Sheet on ID Cards here.

Voice over IP:
The next big thing for consumer and business telecoms was identified as VoIP long before 2004, but this was certainly the year that message reached fever pitch. The option for cheaper calls and data convergence seems a no-brainer and the launch of Skype from Kazaa founder Niklas Zennström provided the means. It will definitely be one to watch for 2005 as well. Zennström's innovation also saw him hit our influential Agenda Setters list - straight in to the top three. Read our Cheat Sheet on VoIP here.

Of course importance and popularity don't always go hand in hand. Just look at Tony Blair. As such, some of our best-read stories of the year turned out to be some of those which might kindly be filed under 'quirky' - representing technology's ability to galvanise the weird and the wonderful. One, at number six for the year, refuses to go away and dates from early 2002, though it's an issue which was still topical in 2004.

1. Peeping Tom filter lets phones see through bikinis
2. Web 'copycats' ripping off small businesses
3. iPod users are music thieves says Ballmer
4. Janet Jackson's boob flash tops web searches
5. Stealth wallpaper could keep WLANs secure
6. 'Nigerian' money scam: What happens when you reply?
7. Hackers tell man he's "too fat" to eat at Burger King
8. Spyware charge levelled at Lexmark
9. Microsoft software caused air traffic shutdown
10. Schoolchildren to be RFID-chipped