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Computerworld - You may not be conscious of it, but tech has shifted several degrees in the 2000s. Trends such as server virtualization and cloud computing didn't exactly creep up on us. It's a good idea to chart some of the more notable developments to keep things in perspective.

10. Microsoft's declining clout. Microsoft is out from under federal scrutiny. But the company's dominance of the desktop has waned, along with the possibility of it taking unfair advantage of competitors and customers.

9. China's supercomputers. A Chinese system topped the November 2010 ranking of the world's fastest supercomputers. It was a first for China, which took the spot held by the U.S. since 2002. (A Japanese system moved into first place last month, but China has two of the top five spots.)

8. Global outsourcing. Although it began much earlier, global outsourcing has had a much greater effect since the turn of the century. Purchasing IT services from third parties goes hand in hand with the rapidly changing role of IT in business.

7. Server virtualization. Although it wasn't widely recognized at the time, the 2001 release of VMware's first server product was a landmark event. Server virtualization has revolutionized the way IT purchases and provisions server horsepower.

6. Online purchasing. A decade or more after its birth, e-commerce has become pervasive enough to be a little mundane. For businesses, buying commodity goods and services no longer requires laborious research and paperwork.

5. Cloud computing. At least some IT shops are seriously considering sourcing critical IT services from the likes of Amazon and Google. Many companies source IT applications out of the cloud. Cloud computing, like global outsourcing, is a natural extension of IT's new mission: to focus on core competencies and use technology to create unique business value aimed at increasing profit.

4. The consumerization of IT. The most notable consumer advances in this young century -- digital cameras, GPS, online/mobile video, wireless broadband and lightweight, Web-based apps -- are all present in tablets and smartphones. Because these devices let people take work with them wherever they go, productivity is soaring. During the recession, many businesses have come to rely on that productivity. The result is an end-user-driven technology revolution.

3. Tech market caps. It's still difficult to believe that Apple is the second-largest company in the U.S. and the highest-valued tech company. Microsoft and IBM are neck and neck, trailing Apple by $100 billion. What alternative universe is this?

2. Tech IPOs. Pandora and LinkedIn are just two of the tech companies that have gone public recently, with Zynga, Groupon and LivingSocial expected to join them soon. Coming up: Yelp, Facebook and Twitter. There's a specific trend to this spate of tech IPOs: They're all Internet services, and many are social networking sites.

1. Social networking. Social networking and mobile apps are the software side of the consumerization of IT. Remember the expression "It's not what you know, it's who you know"? Social networking rewrites the rules of how you get to know people.

Many of us who have worked in or near the tech industry have a tendency to go with the flow of the rapid pace of technological change. But if you're drifting along with the current, are you spending any time drawing conclusions?

For example, the consumerization of IT is a transformational change, not a fad. Social networking isn't a useless time-waster. These trends represent a whole new way of gathering information, staying up to date on the job and doing business. If you're not living it yet, you will be.

Scot Finnie is Computerworld's editor in chief. You can contact him at sfinnie@computerworld.com and follow him on Twitter (@ScotFinnie).

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