Innovators Were the Big Winners in 2006

The biggest software update that Microsoft did ship, Internet Explorer 7, brought desperately needed updates to Microsoft's antiquated Web browser, but at a high cost in conflicts and bugs reported by readers since its release. Users could be forgiven for questioning the basic stability of Windows if a "simple" browser update could break their printer's software.

Microsoft's other key release, Windows Media Player 11, seemed to refrain from blowing up most computers but still failed at its goal of derailing Apple's iTunes.

Microsoft's software efforts, however, do give one reason for hope: The streamlined, toolbar-driven interface in programs such as the new Media Player and Internet Explorer shows a willingness to experiment and a recognition that the company's past efforts have become impenetrable to many users.

Vista and Office 2007 will feature this new interface; that's an uncharacteristically risky move by Microsoft. If customers take to it -- and if Vista's security and reliability live up to their advance billing -- then Microsoft can hope for a better 2007.

Most of Microsoft's hardware partners showed far less initiative of their own. Their two big headline moments: Massive product recalls after millions of Sony-manufactured laptop batteries were found in danger of exploding, then the revelation that Hewlett-Packard authorized disgraceful spying on reporters covering the company.

Computer makers who only tried to sell more gigahertz and gigabytes should have noted the example of the video-game industry. Nintendo's Wii lacked the high-definition performance of Sony's PlayStation 3 or Microsoft's Xbox 360 but was, by all accounts, ridiculously fun to play -- and sold in massive numbers.

For customers, the best technology news of 2006 may not have been anything in computing or the Internet, but the steady decline in prices for consumer electronics. Buyers of MP3 players, cellphones and digital cameras all benefited from this virtuous cycle -- but not as much as shoppers of high-definition televisions, who saw prices drop by as much as half in 2006.

Better products for less: If only the people making our hardware and software could live up to that ideal all the time.

Living with technology, or trying to? E-mail Rob Pegoraro atrobp@washpost.com.