Forecast 2007: The Outlook for IT

What you need to know about this year's hot skills, top technologies, and spending trends

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  The IT Outlook

It looks like you'd better brace yourself for flat budgets and sluggish hiring this year. However, some sectors -- and skills -- will still sizzle. Plus: Industry luminaries Vint Cerf, Robert Metcalfe and others predict the biggest IT trends of the new year.

Top Story

The Hottest Skills for 2007

With fewer IT openings expected this year, these five premium skills will still be job clinchers.

 

Hands On

Top Five Technologies Being Tested This Year

Our survey identified the top technologies queued up for testing in 2007. Here's how five companies are already reaping the benefits.

Navigating a Sea of New Security Threats

New security threats demand new thinking and solid executive backing.

Hope & Headaches

Ready for 2007? Just stay focused on the hot-button issues you'll have to meet head-on -- or sidestep. Columnist Frank Hayes has a few to watch for in the year to come.

 

Vista Sound-off

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Will Vista be a benefit or anightmare for IT departments? Columnists Mark Hall and Frank Hayes square off. Why Vista Is IT's Big Headache

2007 will be the Year of the Great Vista Fiasco, Hall predicts. And despite Apple's efforts, Leopard won't reap the benefits.

Why Vista Is IT's Big Opportunity

Sure, Vista has fiasco potential, but the real story is whether the upgrade will spur IT to start chopping out the operating system dependencies in applications, Hayes counters.

 

The Year of Spending Carefully

2007 Vital Signs

Computerworld's exclusive Vital Signs 2007 quarterly survey shows flat budgets and slow hiring in the year ahead. IT managers are putting security and data recovery at the top of their priority lists and expect a big impact from Vista.

Flat Budgets Drive a New Austerity

Flat IT budgets will make 2007 a year of conservative spending with a focus on efficiency.

Big Payback From Big-Bang Projects

Tight budget? Hit the ground running in 2007 with these fast-payback, high-impact projects.

Trendspotting

Q&A With Six IT Rock Stars

We asked six information technology luminaries, from Vinton Cerf to Robert Metcalfe, to predict the big IT stories and surprises of 2007.

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Provocative Predictions for 2007IT executives and other industry leaders think big about the changes and advances the new year will bring. No-brainers

Predicting what will happen in 2007 is far too difficult, so Don Tennant offers his second annual list of what you can be assured will not happen in the new year.

Beyond dual core: 2007 desktop CPU road map

What do AMD and Intel have in store for desktop processors this year? We've got the goods.

The new hotness: Personal tech in 2007

2007 will be an amazing year for personal technology. Call it "The Year of the Super Toy."

    Extra: The seven top mobile and wireless trends for 2007 What does 2007 hold for open source?

Yet again, this won't be the year of desktop Linux, says columnist Neil McAllister, but 2007 is shaping up to be a year for settling unfinished business within the open-source community.

Top tech stories you'll see in 2007

From malware run amok to the growth of the Wi-Fi universe, IDG News Service reporter Nancy Weil forecasts 2007's top technology stories.

Vote for the technology that will make the biggest splash in 2007, or e-mail us your own predictions.

Copyright © 2007 IDG Communications, Inc.

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