In January, the biggest stories included the economic hangover continuing with more high-tech layoffs, industry watchers pondering the effect of newly minted U.S. president Barack Obama, Downadup laying in wait and Microsoft offering a Windows 7 beta for download
In February 2009, the biggest stories included Conficker”s evil twin, HTC launching a rival to Apple’s iPhone 3G, Facebook changing its terms of use, U.S. president Obama”s promise of broadband across the U.S., and more
In March 2009, the biggest stories included Microsoft releasing Internet Explorer 8, Rogers Communications getting a new CEO, Steve Wozniak in his TV dancing debut, Cisco Systems making its first foray into the server market, and more
The biggest stories of April included the collapse of the IBM-Sun deal, the rise of a new Oracle-Sun deal, rampant speculation of a Twitter purchase, a new Canadian CIO, widespread panic over the Conficker virus, and more
In May, big stories included Oracle CEO Larry Ellison’s decision to keep spending money on acquisitions, Microsoft’s huge investment in its Bing search engine, the ongoing recession’s negative impact on Bell and Telus, and more
This month’s news included Michael Jackson posthumously crashing the Internet, Rogers teaming up with a former Mighty Ducks star, a nightmarish piece of proposed legislation for small ISPs, the continuing adventures of AMD and Intel, and more
Nortel news dominated the month of July, with bids from Nokia, MatlinPatterson, Ericsson and controversy from RIM. The CRTC conducted net neutrality hearings, Google announced Chrome OS, Apple made its success with the iPhone clear, and more
August brought the Nortel debates into Canadian parliament, Canadian privacy law received worldwide attention during negotiations with Facebook, a Texas federal court ordered Microsoft to stop selling editions of Word and Office containing customer XML, and more
Skype finally became available to Canadian iPhone users, Avaya won its bid for Nortel Networks’ enterprise business unit, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission began hearings over whether Globalive Wireless could operate in Canada, CA CEO John Swainson retired, and more
Government agencies were in the spotlight in October, and not for the right reasons, with discontent over CRTC decisions and a scathing report on the lack of ROI at eHealth Ontario. And Microsoft”s long-awaited successor to Vista finally hit the shelves
In November, Nortel reached the end of the road, Rogers (TSE:RCI.B) was stripped of its “most reliable network” title, and David Suzuki called the IT industry on the carpet over cyberjunk. More of the year that was
In December, Globalive Wireless got the green light from the federal cabinet to operate in Canada, Microsoft lost its appeal and was ordered to remove custom XML from Word, users faced the “black screen of death”, and Nortel said it plans to sell its VoIP business to Genband