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Stories of the year
The best of silicon.com from 2007

By Gemma Simpson

Published: Friday 14 December 2007

This year was full of high-profile launches, thanks to Apple's iPhone, Microsoft's latest OS Vista and the Google Android announcement.

But one of the biggest stories of 2007 - and not just in the tech world - turned up in October when two password-protected CDs containing the records of 25 million child benefit recipients were sent unrecorded and unregistered by a junior HMRC official through the post to the National Audit Office - but they never arrived and have not been found.

Stories of the year - 2007

Click on the links below to read the stories everyone was talking about this year...

Missing: 25 million child benefit records

Minority Report: The 10 worst things about Apple

Minority Report: The 10 best things about Apple

Tesco IT chief steps down

iPhone in the UK: Hands up who wants one?

Poll: In a fight between Vista, OS X, Linus, XP…

The A to Z of green IT

Q&A: Graham Linehan, writer and director of The IT Crowd

AS Profile: Mark Zuckerberg

Cheat Sheet: MiFID

Naked PCs: The naked truth

ID cards will be secure, insists Home Office

Techie shortage costing us billions, says Europe

Lie detector beats benefit fraud

Psst! Don't want Vista? You're not alone…

BBC iPlayer row: The government speaks…

Q&A: William Gibson, science fiction novelist

Five skills you need to be a CIO

Chip and bin wheels closer

Mac versus PCs – the CIO verdict

Five hot outsourcing trends to watch

Five questions to ask before moving to Vista

Exclusive: UK's top CIO revealed

Women in IT: Welcome or not?

Top 10 tips for working from home

In the wake of the breach, HMRC has been criticised by security experts and CIOs. The government has now agreed to data security spot checks across all departments and ministers are calling for an ID cards review.

This highlighted the fact there is no similar obligation for private sector organisations to notify UK citizens if their personal data has been compromised by a security breach. And this is why silicon.com's Full Disclosure campaign launched this year, calling for a rethink of the UK law to force organisations to report breaches of their data security which could put their customers' sensitive personal details at risk - as is the case in many US states.

Apple has had a mixed time this year - despite its long-awaited iPhone hitting the UK's shelves - the Mac maker also launched its Leopard OS this year but some users found their machines struck down by the 'blue screen of death'.

And according to a poll of silicon.com readers Windows XP would be top dog in an OS battle, with Mac OS X coming in second place.

When it comes to the question of taking the Vista plunge, it might be wise to check out these 'Five questions to ask before moving to Vista' first. In this feature, silicon.com looked at the main upgrade issues - from potential hardware and software clashes, to how best to migrate - and even whether your business needs Vista (more on that debate here).

The UK pricing for Vista was also attacked by silicon.com readers who cried foul over the price difference between buying Microsoft's latest OS in the UK and buying it in the US.

The Mac faithful were riled by our 10 worst things about Apple feature - before realising the top 10 best things about Steve Jobs and co column was not far behind in this two-part special.

The age-old Mac vs PC debate was reignited this year when half of a silicon.com CIO Jury decided the cost of upgrading to Microsoft's latest OS - Windows Vista - is encouraging companies to consider investing in Macs or Linux-based machines instead.

Apple's Steve Jobs also featured in the A to Z of green IT which highlights the opportunities and pitfalls of businesses being eco-friendly. He also cropped up in this year's silicon.com Agenda Setters list, along with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg - who topped the annual chart of tech's movers and shakers in October.

And as the European investment banking regulation MiFID came into force on 1 November, silicon.com's MiFID Cheat Sheet proved a valuable resource for those affected by it.

The UK ID card scheme was making headlines this year with the Home Office attempting to reassure people their information held on the National Identity Register will be secured.

The comments were made after Frank Abagnale, the one-time confidence trickster turned security expert (who also inspired the film Catch Me If You Can), said the scheme should be scrapped if the government can't guarantee its security - something which certain ministers are calling for as well, in light of the HMRC breach.

silicon.com has also interviewed some of the most interesting people around tech this year, with Q&As from Graham Linehan, writer and director of tech sitcom The IT crowd, science fiction novelist William Gibson and 'father of Java' James Gosling.

An unpopular story with silicon.com readers was one on future waste charging options - explored with proposals for micro-chip equipped wheelie bins being rolled out. Unsurprisingly, the 'chip and bin' story generated a lot of reader comments.

silicon.com readers also had their say this year on PCs sold without an operating system - or 'naked PCs' - but the idea doesn't appear to be everyone's cup of tea.

Controversy around the BBC iPlayer was seldom out of the news this year with the government responding to an e-petition complaining about the lack of a version for Macs and Linux on the 10 Downing Street website, signed by more than 16,000 people.

The skills crisis is still giving IT bosses sleepless nights judging by the results of silicon.com's ninth skills survey in August.

The survey reveals employers are finding it harder than ever to recruit for IT positions, with 45 per cent of respondents saying they have IT roles they can't fill.

But our article on the five skills you need to be CIO should provide some good pointers though. Using the collective wisdom of the CIO Jury, silicon.com picked out the essential ingredients needed to be the complete CIO.

The UK's top CIO was also revealed as part of the silicon.com CIO50 special report this year.

2007 also sees the departure of Richard Granger from his NHS IT post - read the top 10 Granger quotes here.

With mobile and flexible working moving up the corporate agenda our warts-and-all account of what happened when the whole silicon.com editorial team worked from home for the day revealed the trials and tribulations of road warriors running out of power - and even how a cat disrupted the working day.

In fact, staying at home is probably the wisest choice - as we also revealed levels of laptop theft around the country. For many people obviously branded laptop bags have to bear at least some of the responsibility for increasing levels of theft.

And it was more bad news in April as the month saw CrackBerry addicts in the US forced to go cold turkey as an outage took their beloved devices offline for several hours.

It was good news for Google as ever this year, as the search giant is now a bigger name than the likes of Coke, Marlboro and Toyota after being crowned the most powerful global brand of 2007. And which tech giant did it oust to seize the top spot? Who else but Microsoft of course. Now that's gotta hurt.

But after months of rumours don't expect to see a Google phone, or Gphone, on store shelves anytime soon. The search giant instead launched Android, a new software platform designed to provide open access to mobile phones for application developers.