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A couple days ago, I posted CMS Report's Top Ten Stories of 2009. The articles listed were ranked by popularity based by how many times viewed and the rate that they were viewed through the year. Popular stories do not always signify well written articles or are always an indication of personal favorites. Each year, I write a number of content management or IT related articles that I love but for various reasons you the people didn't have interest in reading and sharing.

Below are some of my favorite articles written in 2009 that were not a part of the previously posted Top Ten list. If I had a Top 20 Stories list the articles in both of these listings would be included.

• Looking forward to Microsoft's Windows 7
• Reviewing Barrie North's Joomla! 1.5 book and video
• The problem is bigger than SharePoint
• Testing the water with Acquia Search for Drupal
• Shortcomings of Enterprise Wiki Deployments
• Two CMS Worlds on Twitter
• Charging for online news doomed to fail
• Theme development and the GPL
• Judging Five Overall Best Content Management Systems
• Quoting IT: Addison Berry

Here is something I haven't seen since Windows 95 was lauched...massive consumer excitement for a Microsoft product. One of the few benifits to Windows Vista is that it forced Microsoft to reconnect with its customers and improve the Windows development process. Microsoft just didn't need to work harder to improve relationships with home and business customers but also with PC manufacturers.

Natali Del Conte's CNET video below spotlights not just the Windows 7 software, but what PC manufacturers and service providers are planning to do with the new operating system. The products from Dell, HP, Acer, and Amazon's Kindle reader all look very cool.

I don't plan on posting any new reviews of Windows 7 since I already blogged about the operating system a few months ago. In November, I do plan on upgrading my home Windows 7 RC 32 Bit machine to Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit. Since the upgrade requires a fresh install I think it will be an interesting experience to write about.

It is Day 2 for the Microsoft SharePoint Conference 2009 and like many of you, I'm not at the conference. That's alright though because there are plenty of smart people at the conference more than willing to talk about what they are seeing there. It's a good idea to follow some of these people around and let them be our eyes and ears.

Probably one of the most vocal SharePoint evangelists I've come across is Michael  Gannotti. I've been following him on Twitter for some time. He's recently posted his take on SharePoint 2010 on the SharePoint Expert Blog. 

SharePoint 2010 is absolutely the biggest most important release of SharePoint to date and in the opinion of this techie the single most important product release since Windows 95! Think I have drank a little too much of the Kool-Aid? Well consider how this rev of SharePoint addresses connecting and empowering people, cutting costs through a unified infrastructure, as well as providing a platform that facilitates a rapid response to business needs. Need more convincing after reading this post? Then be sure to check out "What makes Microsoft SharePoint tick?" by Mary Jo Foley. After that if you are still wondering what all the fuss is about why not check out these three videos by the SharePoint team that provide an overview of SharePoint 2010, as well as focuses for the IT Pro and Developer. Once you are sufficiently salivating then be sure to pre-register for the SharePoint 2010 beta here!!

Mike has a lot more to say about SharePoint 2010 and I encourage you read the rest of his post.  SharePoint 2010 sound like an exciting package and finally taking Web content management a little more seriously. However, I suppose I'll personally have to wait as my organization is only now deploying SharePoint 2007. I have to wonder, if companies are slow in upgrading their Windows operating systems...are they any faster in upgrading their SharePoint platform?