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Posted on 04/03/2007 8:52:35 PM PDT by Swordmaker
From breakthrough hardware to time-honored software, we salute those amazing products that changed technology--and our lives--forever.
The Beatles. Citizen Kane. Muhammad Ali. Many have laid claim to being the "best ever" in their respective fields of work, but only one can top the list. And the same is true when it comes to technology.
So what's the best tech product to come out of the digital age? And what qualifies a product as being "best"? First and foremost, it must be a quality product. In many cases, that means a piece of hardware or software that has truly changed our lives and that we can't live without (or couldn't at the time it debuted). Beyond that, a product should have attained a certain level of popularity, had staying power, and perhaps made some sort of breakthrough, influencing the development of later products of its ilk.
So after considering hundreds of products and engaging in many hours of painstaking debate, PC World presents the 50 best tech products. Note that we're looking only at technology that has arisen since the dawn of the personal computer, so don't expect to see the cotton gin and the transistor radio on the list. Instead, you'll find gear that, in all likelihood, you used yourself at one point or another--and, in many cases, products you're still using today.
And, oh yeah, you may think our choices are ridiculous or that we've left out much more important products. Have at us. Smack us down righteously.
You can comment on the story and give us your views through the comments section on the bottom of every page OR go directly to this story's forum.
And don't forget to vote on the product YOU think should be number one.
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I can’t believe the Zip drive made it to #23...
Most expensive paperweights of the nineties.
Heck, I have a Sparq drive in the closet. The thing worked well with my old Compaq desktop, but it did not play well with my Thinkpad 1400. Now, it collects dust in the closet.
WordPerfect 5.1 was an amazing product. Still far superior to anything else out there, even the later versions of WP.
I have to disagree... even though they had a disconcerting tendency to crap out when you needed them. Crap out or not, you could still run down and buy a new one and restore your backed up data from the disks which usually were rock solid.
I cannot recount the number of times a business client needed to restore from a back-up tape only to find the tape drive transport was broken... and a replacement tape drive, which was the only thing the now outdated tape would fit, was now four times more expensive than it was new, IF it was available at all.
The ubiquitousness of the Zip drives made their removable disks much safer as backup media.
Heh heh heh! Compaq.
I just remember that evil little grating sound it would make, right before it shut off. This was usually after I’d spent hours watching that little animated sheet of paper fly from one folder to another...
But then, to give you an idea of my level of technical expertise, I was a really big fan of Microsoft BOB.
bumpeb
Well, I loved that machine. It worked well and was a performer when I bought it. Four years later, I took it to Best Buy for servicing (mistake) and they killed it. Since then, I won’t buy a paperclip in Best Buy.
They were handy...until they suddenly developed the click of death. And they were slllllow. But they got me through a lot of data transfers that would have been far more difficult any other way.
Looking back makes me very, very grateful for USB flash drives!
I shouldn’t admit this...
I’m a PC support type of gal, but I played with Microsoft Bob for *hours*. Had all different rooms arranged...stuff like that.
*blush*
I would add the Diablo 630 daisy wheel printer somewhere on the list. Along with Lotus 123 it allowed the PC to be accepted in the front offices of businesses.
Only if you could stuff that stentorious machine gun into a sound deadening case...
I thought you changed your screen name.
LOL.....well, yes, that was the accessory that was never spoken of at the point of sale. They knew they would see you later that afternoon.
I did...But I missed my bookmarks and my homepage and my pinglists. I’m kind of wrapped up in this one. I wrote a little blurb at the end of my thread and thought I pinged everybody, sorry I missed you. :-)
omg...Don’t even sneeze on the thing or it will lose your data.
The forgot the Escort Radar Detector, the Sybian and the P-38 c-ration can opener.
Voodoo3 at #16 FTW!!!!
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