1.

It's hard to choose just five pieces from a whole year, but here are my choices:

2.

Embrace and Get Over It (where I advise Microsoft to view Linux as they viewed the Macintosh in 1983); Edit This Page (a preview of Manila, six months before it shipped); A Bright Future for Syndication (an anthem for the web struggling to overcome attempts to control it); The Ancient Geeks (explains how Microsoft is transitioning) and We're All Newbies (explains why being a newbie is a good thing).