Monday: The Good: What went right in Seattle tech in 2008.

Tuesday: The Bad and Ugly: Where things went wrong, and how they got worse from there.

Wednesday: What to watch in Seattle tech in the year ahead.

We here at TechFlash are big believers in looking back to figure out where things might be going. And as 2008 draws to a close, there's some incredible material to sort through.

We've never before seen such a dramatic economic erosion, one that is sure to alter the technology landscape for years to come. Certainly, at this time 12 months ago, none of us thought we would be talking about the possibility of entering the next Great Depression.

Things moved rapidly from good to bad to ugly. Given that transformation, we decided to draw on that 1966 Clint Eastwood classic for our year-in-review package. Tomorrow, it will be the bad and the ugly. And then, on Wednesday, we'll look ahead to the key issues, people and trends to watch in in the next year.

But we start today with the good -- the stuff we consider most worth remembering about the year in Seattle technology. Take the time to savor them, and feel free to offer your own in the comments below.

BILL GATES MOVES ON: OK, so the Microsoft co-founder's departure from full-time activity at the company wasn't necessarily a good thing. But it had to happen at some point, and the transition this summer was remarkably smooth under the circumstances, with Microsoft following through on the plan it had put in place two years before.

Gates' emotional farewell was an historic moment for the company and a chance for everyone else to reflect on his defining role in the industry.

POSITIVE SALES: Before the meltdown sliced valuations, several Seattle area tech companies had the good fortune of selling out. As noted in our deal summary last  month, timing is everything in business. And there were some companies that had impeccable timing this year.

Some of the notable acquisitions: Farecast sold to Microsoft for  $115 million in April; M:Metrics accepted a $44.3 million buyout from comScore in May; Pure Networks was taken out for $120 million by Cisco in July; and Insitu was gobbled up by Boeing for a reported $400 million in July. Other companies that sold at nice valuations included CleverSet, ImageKind, SnapIn and Attenex.

GAMING: Seattle's vibrant video-game industry often gets overlooked, but it is a powerhouse that's weathering the economic storm better than most high-tech sectors.

Nintendo, whose North American headquarters are in Redmond, continued to grab market share as kids and adults flocked to its popular Wii console. In the largest venture capital deal of the year, Big Fish Games hooked $83 million. And games remained a bright spot at RealNetworks, which posted a 19 percent jump in gaming revenue in the third quarter.

CLEARWIRE: The Kirkland broadband wireless company founded by billionaire Craig McCaw has lost more than 70 percent of its value this year. So why is the money-losing company in this list? Despite the rocky stock performance, Clearwire actually pulled off a massive merger and funding deal last month that included some of the biggest names in tech: Sprint Nextel, Google, Intel, Comcast, Time Warner Cable and others.

Getting those players allied was not an easy task. Asking them to pony up $3.2 billion to build a nationwide 4G wireless network also took a bit of moxie. Clearwire obviously has a long road ahead (hence the stock price), but we wonder what would have happened had the company not been able to orchestrate this deal.

IPHONE APPS: In a tech community dominated by Microsoft, it has been fascinating to watch the enthusiasm bubble up among Seattle developers for the hottest tech gadget of the moment: the iPhone. We've recorded more than 30 apps created by local developers or companies in the past five months -- from Avvo's alcohol drink tabulator to Urbanspoon's restaurant finder to REI's ski and snow report. Heck, Microsoft even got in on the action this month with the launch of its first application for the iPhone.

Of course, it is too early to say whether the iPhone platform will prove economically fruitful for independent developers. (Few are making much money right now.) But, with consumers downloading more than 300 million applications and developers creating some 10,000 apps, Apple's app store is proving to be a game changer in the mobile business, and a bright light of innovation in this time of economic gloom.

MICROSOFT INNOVATION: Yes, some might view that phrase as an oxymoron these days, but the Redmond company's research unit demonstrated its technological wizardry in 2008 with such projects as the WorldWide Telescope, the Photosynth photo-browsing technology, and even a spherical version of the company's Surface tabletop computer.

Meanwhile, the unveiling of Windows 7, the next version of the company's flagship PC operating system, was generally given a positive reception in the industry. The initiatives were a bright spot at a time when the company continued to grapple with the lingering effects of the troubled Windows Vista launch.

AMAZON: As the concept of cloud computing gained momentum in 2008, Amazon.com capitalized on its early lead in the market. The Seattle-based online retailer continued to build on its core web services, data storage (S3) and computing power (EC2), adding a slew of new products designed to expand the number of users beyond the early group of startup adopters.

These are still early days for cloud computing, and retail remains Amazon's bread-and-butter business. But as cash-strapped companies looking to cut IT costs gravitate to pay-as-you-go web-based computing, Amazon's early experience in the cloud could give it an advantage over rivals like Google, Microsoft and others that are pitching their own web services.