Year in Review: Top tech stories of 2009

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Steve Jobs leaves and returns over health

Steve Jobs’ health is a closely watched subject since the Apple head recovered from pancreatic cancer. As rumours of his poor health suggested he was on his deathbed, Jobs in January admitted to having a “hormone imbalance.”

He stepped back for six months to focus on his health, returning to the firm to unveil new video iPods – but not before much speculation over his potential successor.

Google takes battle to Microsoft with Chrome OS

The battle between Google and Microsoft hotted up in July, with Google announcing it was working on its own operating system.

Nearly six months later, Google released the code for the open source Chrome OS, explaining that it would be released on netbook-like devices at the end of next year.

The system – which we reviewed here – will be cloud focused, and is designed to be used when connected to the internet.

Microsoft takes second in search with Bing and Yahoo

After spending much of 2008 trying to buy web search rival Yahoo, Microsoft instead launched its own search, dubbed Bing.

Rather than dual it out for second place, however, Microsoft and Yahoo then managed to sort out a search and advertising deal, which essentially sees Bing run Yahoo’s search, giving Microsoft it’s second place to Google it’s long desired.

Click here for our review of Bing.

Conficker hits the web

The biggest security story of the year was surely Conficker. The worm had infected millions of PCs and Microsoft even offered up a $250,000 bounty for information on its creators.

After hitting PCs at hospitals, the House of Commons and the Ministry of Defence, Conficker made everyone really nervous when a counter in the worm suggested something was to happen on 1 April. It did eventually connect to the Waledec botnet, and is still going strong around the world today.

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