1. Confluence - I have used Confluence probably more than any other software this year, and I still love it. I jointed Atlassian for two days for their Doc Sprint a while back, and have been creating lots of complex pages using forms and macros. I love this product.
2. Google Apps – Basically if you don’t yet have Google Apps for Your Domain, and you have a domain, then get it. It just works! I would recommend GAFYD to any organisation unless they have a specific reason or are large enough to use Microsoft Exchange.
3. Google Docs – Even though it was sad that Google Wave died this year, there have been so many great features added to Google Docs that I now use either Google Docs or Confluence more than Word. Some of the great new features are Drag and Drop images, Heading Style keyboard shortcuts, Collaborative editing and mobile editing.
4. Dropbox – How much do I love DropBox? Let me count the ways… It’s one of those apps that falls into the category of, if you don’t have it already, just get it now!
5. Access 2010 – As with most of the 2010 office suite, Access 2010 is a vast improvement over Access 2007. Having built one major client app in Access 2007 and Access 2010 each, I will very much think to say to clients that unless they upgrade to 2010, there is not much point continuing.
6. Snagit - One of the projects I have been doing this year is writing a help system in Confluence. So ScreenShots are a key part of that project. Snagit is indispensable for ScreenShots. Snagit 10 has some great new features also that makes it worthwhile to get the upgrade.
7. Sketchflow - I did a full project Mockup in Sketchflow. I now have a bit of a love / hate relationship with Sketchflow. It has it’s place if you are creating a full Silverlight or WPF app, but probably stick with Balsamiq for simple Mockups.
8. Visio 2010 – Again there are so many fantastic new features in Visio 2010 that makes it so much easier to create good looking and easy to update diagrams. The new live connectors feature alone is worth the upgrade.
9. Notepad++ – I use Notepad ++ extensively and just found some great new features in it that makes it even better.
10. Google Chrome – My browser of choice now and the great new features of the Chrome Apps and Syncing makes it the best browser now. I still do use Firefox for web development, however as I love Firebug still.

Other Mentions:

• Gmail - still my favourite email app – every time I have to use Outlook (event though 2010 is much better), I die a little inside.
• Various VPN’s – I use at least 4 VPN clients and it allows me to connect to various client workplaces and work remotely, which is great.
• Office 2010 – Apart from the specific mentions above, Office 2010 is just a fantastic improvement over 2007.
• Google Wave – Such sad news this year that Wave was killed off. But overall it might be good – there are features that have been integrated into Google Docs, and now Facebook messaging will be taking a leaf from Google Wave – can’t wait to see that.
• SharePoint 2010 – I haven’t done much work with SharePoint this year, but I can’t wait to get my hands on SharePoint 2010 for a real client’s site to see how it works.

As shown by the numerous links in my previous post on Facebook Privacy, there has been a public outcry over the current state of Facebook privacy. Thankfully, Facebook has responded and said they will simplify their privacy settings. Whether this about-face is due to the outcry or to the Quit Facebook campaign we won’t know for sure, but it is encouraging at least.

There have been some excellent posts today from people saying why they are quitting Facebook today. Some excerpts:

Facebook itself has changed, from being a private network between friends to being a commercial experience, where your supposed “relationship” with brands and TV shows are intermingled with your relationships with people. This is perverse. But this, and other changes have made Facebook, for me, a place I no longer wish to inhabit.

The other reason I’m quitting Facebook is to recover some balance in my relationships. The siren call of Facebook is that you can maintain “relationships” with people in your life merely by dipping your toe into the stream of bon mots that flow past. I don’t think is true.

Jason Langenauer @jasonlangenauer

…when I look at Facebook, I see a goldmine. I can see millions of people logging on, interacting, sharing their interests, their behaviours, their likes and dislikes not just with their “networks” but also with Facebook. And maybe even with Facebook’s partners. It is this latter form of sharing that concerns me.

For most of us, joining Facebook meant entering a social compact – we’d share the content, context and contacts of our lives – and we’d do so using Facebook’s social networking platform. We’d be able to control who had access to what we share and Facebook could monetize this in ways that worked in good faith…

Changing this compact now is difficult – and has not been communicated well. Rather than being transparent about their intentions, Facebook have opted to spin the changes, suggesting that the world has changed and that Facebook is moving to accommodate this.

Gavin Heaton @servantofchaos

No, Facebook, if I delete my account everyone will still be able to contact me. Any time they like. Don’t lie to me.

Stillgherian @stillgherian

Over the last several months I have become increasingly aware I didn’t like the organisation behind it and I’m not comfortable with it.

Mark Pesce, @mpesce, as quoted in the Australian

One of the themes through these articles is that Facebook has become less about connecting with people and more about mining your data. I understand that, and I’m willing to work with that for now, as I still get enough benefit from the connections I have with friends and family on Facebook.

What I have done, however is lock Facebook down to private settings around posts and photos (I actually have only ever uploaded 2 pics to Facebook). I have also deleted almost all 3rd party apps, and almost all of my “likes”. I will probably further reduce these over the coming weeks.

I will ensure that I do not use Facebook Connect or “like” any page from within or external to Facebook without a very good reason. Hopefully that will reduce the commercial tracking of my information.

I may be in denial and heading down the wrong path, but I will be vigilant over the coming months and re-assess if I feel further erosion of my privacy, or seemingly bad deeds by advertisers and the like.

Yes, I tweet, and all those tweets are public, and yes I get the occasional business type spam of someone trying to sell me stuff but that is quickly dealt with via the block button. Someone may be scraping all my tweets to see what I’m interested in, but at the moment there is no easy way for advertisers to target me with that information.

So it’s time to be “Alert, but not Alarmed” and just be more careful and judicious with my Facebook usage over the coming months.

I have tried to find links that talk about the new Facebook privacy issues in simple to understand terms, not developer-speak. So I would encourage you to read some of the links, have a look at your Facebook settings, and most importantly talk to all your non-geek friends, your Mum, your Kids, your Neighbours etc – all those people who probably have no clue about what happens when they post something on Facebook, or click a Like button on a website.

• Why is Facebook Privacy now an issue? Have a look at the diagram on this site to see at a glance why this is something to be concerned about now: http://www.allfacebook.com/2010/05/infographic-the-history-of-facebooks-default-privacy-settings (ht @pricillascala) . And basically the above information as text: http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/04/facebook-timeline/ (ht @hollingsworth).
• Why is it so difficult to know how to change your settings? A really good overview of why the Facebook settings are so difficult for mere mortals to understand: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/05/12/business/facebook-privacy.html (ht @trib).
• Where do my wall posts show up? Did you know that your wall posts with specific key words show up on other pages? http://searchengineland.com/facebooks-posts-by-everyone-feature-do-people-realize-theyre-sharing-to-the-world-41525
• What happens when you click the Like button on a website? All your “Like’s” are now public by default. This is also true when you click on a Like button from another website. Also by clicking on the Like, the website may send you updates to your profile. There is no option to “Like” but not have them send updates if they want to. More info here (but it is a little hard to understand).
• How to fix your profile in 2 mins – Video. Not quite detailed enough for my liking, but it is a start – if you at least do this, you will be aware of some of the settings: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/13/facebook-privacy-settings_n_575732.html (ht @evilsue).
• 5 essential Facebook Privacy Tips. This link is from Mashable and has some good tips: http://mashable.com/2010/05/18/facebook-privacy-tips/
• Don’t let advertisers use you to advertise for them: Go to Facebook -> Account Settings -> Facebook Adverts and select “No One” (ht @mpesce).

For a more in-depth look at the whole Facebook privacy issue, Time magazine has it as their cover story this week. I think the article is easy to read and not too techy.

For the more geeky amongst us there are a few more links you may want to have a look at:

• What Does Facebook Know About You? This link shows all the information about you that is publicly available: http://zesty.ca/facebook/ (ht @servantofchaos). There is also www.reclaimprivacy.org that will scan your settings for anything that is visible to the entire internet (ht @silkcharm).
• Wall Posts are now Public by default: http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/12/facebook-privacy-update/
• Taking it to the extreme – a link to a quite involved how-to for locking down your facebook profile almost completely, including removing most of your friends an making a fan page for them – I think this is going a bit too far. http://www.zdnet.com/blog/perlow/lockdown-or-death-for-your-facebook-profile-an-advanced-user-guide-to-social-networking-privacy.
• How to opt out of Personalization – “if you opt out, your friends may still share public Facebook information about you to personalize their experience on these partner sites unless you block the application”: http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/04/how-opt-out-facebook-s-instant-personalization (ht @trib).
• 10 New Privacy Settings – a good overview of all important privacy settings: http://www.allfacebook.com/2009/12/facebook-privacy-new/ (ht @trib).
• Deceiving users with the ‘Like’ button – I’m not sure about the complete accuracy of this but if it’s true – OUCH! http://arnab.org/blog/deceiving-users-facebook-button
• Top 10 Reasons to Quit Facebook – I’m not at that point yet – I still get value from Facebook, especially for events and keeping in touch with Family. I believe it is possible to use it without showing everything to the world: http://www.rocket.ly/home/2010/4/26/top-ten-reasons-you-should-quit-facebook.html

Things I love:

• Simple clean interface
• Easy to set up
• Other people like me are too scared to put their real pic up
• Posting to the blog from Facebook (now if only Tangler had a facebook app)
• The possibility of finding new (and old) friends

Things I hate:

• The “crap” that’s in there (generally things that are stupid, meant to be funny, and not serious)
• Tried to put a resume app in but the app did not work… should probably just stick with the serious job networks for that…
•  No one from my school, previous jobs etc… (guess they are just not cool enough… but I did find one friend from a previous job).