Let's look at the themes that characterized 2006. They're spread out over a variety of applications and in some cases have to be teased out of ongoing product development. But they'll affect how we use computers for a long time.

* 2006 saw the emergence of the Internet as a viable working medium.

Sure, there have been experiments along these lines before, but products like HyperOffice (www.hyperoffice.com) showed the power of managing documents and collaborating with co-workers online. With Google's Docs & Spreadsheets, the options for using the Net from any connected PC expanded (docs.google.com). Microsoft is moving hard on this front with its Office Live initiative (office.microsoft.com), hoping to keep its cash cow applications viable for business.

* How does the online office initiative play out?

It will take years to see who dominates the space. But in the interim, smaller online applications took the Net by storm. 2006 saw sites like del.icio.us become regular stops for users trying to organize their Web bookmarks. And news hounds hoping to keep up with the Net's latest had a field day with energetic services like Digg (digg.com) and Reddit (reddit.com), both dedicated to taking user recommendations and juggling them to see which stories command the most interest.

* Here's a tip on how to get a handle on the massive news influx on sites like Digg and Reddit.

A site called Original Signal pulls these and many other aggregators based on user-submitted content together (www.originalsignal.com). Better still, you can read them by topic using Original Signal's directory structure, helping you avoid the bane of these new sites -- so much content that you can throw away an entire day browsing.

* 2006's greatest buzz was reserved for nonverbal sites like YouTube (www.youtube.com) and Flickr (www.flickr.com), both of which tap the ever-present background theme of users building the content of aggressively expanding Web sites.

The Israeli strike on Lebanon put YouTube front and center, as it became the publishing platform of choice for personal video shot through camcorders and other equipment. Both sites offer a new spin on news gathering, in which the people most affected by breaking stories can tell their own tale.

* The One Laptop Per Child initiative (laptop.org) showed how to silence the naysayers this past year by doing the seemingly impossible.

Trying to produce cheap laptops for developing countries where power is iffy, its engineers created a new screen display that can operate either in full-color mode or, when power is a problem, in a quite readable black and white mode. Add up all the other power-saving options and the diminutive laptops can slash power consumption by 90 percent compared to conventional machines. The design is ingenious enough that they can operate off a hand-crank if necessary.

* Ubuntu Linux brought the open-source operating system ever closer to mainstream viability with a clean, stable installation and a powerful set of software tools.

I honestly can't recommend Linux for the average user yet, because when problems do surface, the solution often involves online consultation with other users and (sometimes) hand-editing of configuration files. But if you have the chance, check out a running Linux system from Ubuntu or Red Hat or Xandros and you'll find the actual user interface is familiar and intuitive.

* The "Long Tail" was the term used by Wired's editor in chief Chris Anderson to describe the stream of products and ideas that don't dominate the market but remain viable because of Net access.

With publishing on demand, for example, we may be able to rescue book titles ignored by the megabookstores, books whose audience isn't broad enough to justify a 5,000-copy press run. As a way to break the stranglehold of marketers on the dissemination of ideas, the Long Tail concept holds bright promise empowered by Web technologies.

* In an industry moving toward "bigger is better" even in portable devices, it's a pleasure to see Apple's $1,099 MacBook make a splash in 2006.

The 13-inch screen leaves you plenty to work with, without the size and weight burden of desktop replacement machines, a return to robust portability rather than briefcase-size luggables.

Moreover, match Apple's Boot Camp software with a MacBook and you can run Windows when you want to, though anyone getting a handle on Apple's OS X may quickly learn to love its power and stability. Apple's move to Intel chips was a winner that needn't have taken so long.

* Where does this leave us now?

The move toward portability in both equipment and online applications seems healthy. Expect the talk of a "revolution" in user-generated content to fade as the novelty wears off, but technology has made the average person a reporter on the spot whose work can now gain a quick audience. That's a fascinating trend that 2007 should consolidate.

Meanwhile, expect strong open-source and Apple options to continue whittling at Microsoft's dominance as we move into the era of Vista.