George Colony, founder and chief executive of Forrester Research, said in a recent interview with the New York Times that the current tech sector downturn will be different than the 2001-2003 slide. This time, he said, there are plenty of tech tools that are embedded in the system. That includes broadband adoption, cell phones and electronic commerce.

"Your customers are connected to you this way," he said. "You can't stop technology spending, like you could the last time. You risk losing customers."

Forecasts for technology spending are meaningless these days, he said. No one knows yet when the economy will reach bottom, and until the market shows signs of stabilizing, industry forecasts are pretty much off the mark. But the Obama administration, he said, should be good news for the technology industry because it's younger and more tech-savvy than the Bush administration.

For more on forecasting tech:
- check out the New York Times article

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