2008: The Year in Software
From exuberant to disconcerted, tech execs have felt quite a year. SandHill.com looks back at the year in software business and the best-read articles of the year.
By Maryann Jones Thompson, SandHill.com
Dec. 18, 2008
Thinking back to January, it would have been difficult to predict the scale of the economic drama that would transpire in 2008. NetSuite had just raised $161 million in a big December 2007 IPO. The offering prompted BusinessWeek to write:
"VCs expect 2008 to be the year that they finally start to unload companies in their portfolios that have been absorbing cash for years. A survey of 170 VCs …showed that 59% of venture investors expect the market for IPOs to strengthen in 2008."
By the end of the third quarter, only 6 venture-backed startups had gone public this year. That's down from 55 during the same period last year.
But for the software business, all news was not bad. Years of belt-tightening, strategic fine-tuning and innovative technologies have combined to place the software industry in a better position than many other sectors. Here is a look at the most notable news stories and SandHill.com's most popular executive perspectives that shaped 2008.
The Software News of 2008
The first half of 2008 looked like the year would be a continuation of 2007: steady growth fed by an evolution to new models and technologies. But the second half turned out quite differently. Here is a list of SandHill.com editors' picks for the top 10 software business news stories of 2008.
The most silver of linings: Everyone from IBM to startups jumped into the realm of cloud computing with big hopes for next year.
No more safe harbor: Tech companies begin to sink with the rest of the economy and layoffs mount.
Two headline mergers: Oracle finally got BEA. Sun bought MySQL (only to stumble later in the year.)
One that got away: Microsoft's offer for Yahoo was abandoned after nearly three months of back-and-forth - and never consummated even after shareholders want Yahoo to go crawling back.
A funding lockdown: Software M&A, IPOs and venture funding screeches to a halt in the fourth quarter.
Even tigers stumble:Giant Indian offshoring services companies start to feel the pinch.
On demand still in demand: SaaS defies the market downturn with a record deal for Workday and a feeling that SaaS might keep the software sector afloat during the downturn.
Open source is too: The down economy looks like it will push enterprises to take a new look at low-cost open source solutions.
Browsers still matter: Firefox sets a record with 8 million downloads in 24 hours and Google gets in the game with Chrome.
A new national perspective: Industry leaders are hopeful that president elect Obama's administration will make technology a U.S. priority.
The king is dead. Long live the king: Bill Gates retires but Microsoft's influence goes on.
"VCs expect 2008 to be the year that they finally start to unload companies in their portfolios that have been absorbing cash for years. A survey of 170 VCs …showed that 59% of venture investors expect the market for IPOs to strengthen in 2008."
By the end of the third quarter, only 6 venture-backed startups had gone public this year. That's down from 55 during the same period last year.
But for the software business, all news was not bad. Years of belt-tightening, strategic fine-tuning and innovative technologies have combined to place the software industry in a better position than many other sectors. Here is a look at the most notable news stories and SandHill.com's most popular executive perspectives that shaped 2008.
The Software News of 2008
The first half of 2008 looked like the year would be a continuation of 2007: steady growth fed by an evolution to new models and technologies. But the second half turned out quite differently. Here is a list of SandHill.com editors' picks for the top 10 software business news stories of 2008.
The most silver of linings: Everyone from IBM to startups jumped into the realm of cloud computing with big hopes for next year.
No more safe harbor: Tech companies begin to sink with the rest of the economy and layoffs mount.
Two headline mergers: Oracle finally got BEA. Sun bought MySQL (only to stumble later in the year.)
One that got away: Microsoft's offer for Yahoo was abandoned after nearly three months of back-and-forth - and never consummated even after shareholders want Yahoo to go crawling back.
A funding lockdown: Software M&A, IPOs and venture funding screeches to a halt in the fourth quarter.
Even tigers stumble:Giant Indian offshoring services companies start to feel the pinch.
On demand still in demand: SaaS defies the market downturn with a record deal for Workday and a feeling that SaaS might keep the software sector afloat during the downturn.
Open source is too: The down economy looks like it will push enterprises to take a new look at low-cost open source solutions.
Browsers still matter: Firefox sets a record with 8 million downloads in 24 hours and Google gets in the game with Chrome.
A new national perspective: Industry leaders are hopeful that president elect Obama's administration will make technology a U.S. priority.
The king is dead. Long live the king: Bill Gates retires but Microsoft's influence goes on.
