Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/TRlejqKX0-0/best-new-and-improved-software-of-2008
Mobile phone operating systems and a reheated web browser war: that's how we'll recall the year 2008 when it comes to software. From brand new to revamped browsers and mobile platforms and apps, 2008's been good to technophiles who like their data in the cloud and accessible wherever they are. Let's take a look back at this year in software, and some of the best new and improved applications, web services, and mobile platforms that were born in 2008. Looking back at the last 12 months, these are the apps that get a gold foil-wrapped chocolate coin from us this year. Photo by Gaetan Lee.
Firefox 3
Not only did you swoon over the release of Firefox 3 because of the "AwesomeBar" and the rest of the "Had no idea I needed this but now I love it!" features it offers, but because the launch itself was a grass-roots community-driven effort towards making software history. Indeed, on June 17th of this year, the makers of Firefox set a new Guinness World Record for most software downloads in a given day, at more than eight million downloads of the new browser iteration in 24 hours. If you haven't dug into the advanced functionality Firefox has to offer, check out our power user's guide to Firefox 3.
Google Chrome
While Mozillians and Firefox users celebrated across the globe over! the sum mer, no one knew that search powerhouse Google was in the software development lab cooking up their own lean, mean browsing machine that would forsake all of the fox's bells and whistles (and extensibility) to run Javascript-based applications lightening-fast. On September 2nd, Google released the first beta of Chrome, their new web browser which they hope you'll make your window to the web and all its apps. Our own in-house browser speed tests show that Chrome is indeed speedy, and we're seeing a significant uptake on Chrome usage by Lifehacker readers. (Last month's browser breakdown for Lifehacker readers was 62% Firefox, 22% IE, 8% Safari, and 6% Chrome. Not bad for a browser that's been out only a few months.) For more Chrome goodness, see our power user's guide to Google Chrome.
iPhone 2.0 and the App Store
Yeah, yeah, the iPhone launched in 2007, but this year the iPhone 2.0 software and the new iPhone 3G model with a faster data plan and GPS came out to hype almost as big as the original iPhone launch. The combination of an operating system that finally ran third-party apps officially plus pinpointy GPS goodness set the bar for what users can expect to get from the next generation of smartphone with a fast internet connection, full-on browser, and spot-on location-awareness. Plus, dozens of the apps available for the phone are free. At first, we were in love. Later, we had! our dou bts. The iPhone 2.0 launch did start to show some of the cracks in the Apple armor—several of the earliest versions of the software were crash and freeze-prone, requiring many users to uninstall apps and reset their phone software to fix maddening keyboard delays and application crashes. Meanwhile, Apple's approval-only App Store left a few applications out in the cold. Still, the iPhone 2.0 software created a compelling mobile platform and app marketing campaign that made Aunt Bertha really want to try that Neil Diamond song out on Shazam.
iPhone 2.0 Jailbreak Utilities and Apps
What with the App Store limitations and Apple's insistence on ruling over what you can and cannot do on your phone, it's not surprising the enthusiastic "jailbreak" community soldiered on this year, continuing to offer installers and non-Apple-approved applications for your iPhone even in the face of the mainstream iTunes App Store. We take our hats off to these intrepid hackers, who offer such lovely functionality as the ability to SSH into, theme, and download video clips to your phone; if you haven't jailbroken your iPhone or iPod touch, here are a few of our picks of best iPhone 2.0 jailbreak apps you can't find in the iTunes Store.
Google Android
Google's answer to Apple's proprietary iPhone hardware and software came in the form of their very own touch mobile phone operating system, Android, which launched this past October. Unlike the iPhone, this new mobile platform is open source and will run on various handsets going forward. Right now Android's first release is only available on the HTC G1 handset; you can see o! ur hands-on first look at Google Android running on the G1 here. As an iPhone user frustrated by limited apps, crashiness, and lack of copy and paste, Android is like a breath of fresh air. Even though the mobile OS is still very new, its open-source nature has led to hundreds of new apps. See our pick of best Android apps to boost your mobile productivity.
Digsby
One of the few software apps on this list that's not open source or made by a ginormous company, new instant messenger client Digsby took chatters by storm with its ability to consolidate your IM, email, and social networking in one place. Even though the Digsby beta only went public in February, by April it was already one of our readers' top five favorite instant messaging tools.
XBMC and Forks
We were really late to the Xbox Media Center (XBMC) party when we showed up last year and installed it on our old classic Xbox, but since then we've been hooked on this rich, open-source media center. Luckily, just because those old black boxes are becoming obselete doesn't mean the XBMC software project has died off. Just the opposite: XBMC has forked into several neat branches that run on various hardware platforms so you can enjoy the same media center goodness without hacking an old Xb! ox. Chec k out a few launches from various factions of XBMC developers this past year that have warmed our hearts:
Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex and Hardy Heron
Another year, another TWO Ubuntu releases, and they just keep getting better. You have to love the free, open source operating system that manages multiple releases within the span of a year—something Apple and Microsoft, companies you pay hundreds of dollars to for the privilege of using their software, can't pull off. If you've tried Linux on your desktop before and killed the partition in frustration only to slink back to Windows, it's time to give it another go. This year we thought version 8.04 Hardy Heron made Linux worth another look; the follow-up, version 8.10 Intrepid Ibex is even better.
Gmail Labs, Gadgets, and Themes
Our favorite web application on the internet, Gmail, continues to burn down barns and rip up the competition with continual iteration and feature adds. This year, Gmail added a "Labs" section to your account, a safe way for power ! users to enable "experimental" power features to their email while keeping everyone else's safe from harm. Truthfully, when I attended the Google press event announcing Gmail Labs back in June, I had my doubts about whether or not the featureset would ever expand beyond the initial 13, and if it would go beyond eye-candy games like Snakey to, you know, actually useful stuff. Turns out it did. Six months later, ten more Gmail Labs features are available in your account, including a super-useful Gadgets feature that lets third parties embed their apps into your inbox. (Like Bit.ly or Basecamp.) Later, Gmail launched themes as well as a Google Desktop gadget. In the midst of all this, the Gmail security team took the time to respond to a breach that several users had experienced and blogged about online. Clearly there's someone home at Gmail; this is a rapidly-evolving product that any webapp developer should use as an example on how to iterate quickly.
Honorable Mentions
Making best-of-year lists is always difficult because you risk leaving off really deserving items. At least two that go in our honorable mentions bin are the Firefox keyboard interface prototype Ubiquity, and photo-sharing site Flickr's launch of short video c! lips in April.
Now, you tell us which one of these apps impressed you the most in the year two thousand and eight.
Which new or improved app impressed you the most in 2008?
( polls)
If you can't get enough of best-of lists, hop into the time machine and see our top 10 new and improved apps of 2007, and our best apps of 2006 and of 2005.
Anything you would have included on this list that we left out? Tell us about it in the comments.
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