A collective meh
While we shouldn't forget that Windows 7 was possibly the most highly anticipated product launch of last year, the companies that have generated easily the most buzz for their new products at the start of this year have been the two that are competing to claim Microsoft's crown - Google and Apple.
And yet some of the lustre has been scraped off these great tech innovators at the launch of the Nexus One, the iPad and Buzz seem to have all been met with a collective ‘meh'. The main knock on the two pieces of hardware has been that, while they're good devices, they don't do enough that's truly new.
My colleague Parm and I both watched the iPad launch webcast and were both initially underwhelmed. On further reflection, however, Parm now thinks the iPad is a game-changer, and he and I have debated this subject at length, on which more later.
But what prompts this opinion piece is the release of a blog post by Google, a mere two days after the launch of its new social networking tool Buzz, addressing the many concerns and criticisms already levelled at it. Many of these concerned privacy, an issue Google already had to frequently address even before the launch of Buzz.
Google will spin this as it listening and responding to its users - and it is to be commended for being so responsive - but at the same time many people are questioning not just the features and flaws in Buzz, but whether there is any need for it at all.
