It’s that time of year — the time when every IT pundit worth his or her salt is required to publish a New Year’s list of predictions or resolutions. So, being Linux Magazine’s equivalent of Professor Marvel (from the 1939 film classic The Wizard of Oz), who has a talent for seeing the patently obvious, I’m here to take my shot.

Ah, here it is, the crystal ball, made of the same, genuine, magic, authentic crystal used by the Priests of the Penguin during the days of the Labs of Bell, in which Ritchie first saw the approach of Kerrigan, Thompson, and Mcllroy, and so on and so on. Now, you’d better close your eyes, to be better in tune with the infinite. Yes. I see the clouds and the sky opening up.

Early in the year, I see the Fruit Worshippers of Cupertino releasing the much anticipated iPhone to try to conquer the emerging digital convergence market, where the MP3 player, cell phone, and messaging device is combined into one unit. But the arrogant Fruit Worshippers will underestimate the power of Motorola, Nokia, and other manufacturers who will leverage the power of Embedded Linux to create cheaper, better, and more flexible devices.

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