“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,” Christopher Null writes for PC World.
“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,” Null writes.
Null writes, “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.”
PC World’s 50 Best Tech Products:
1. Netscape Navigator (1994)
2. Apple II (1977)
3. TiVo HDR110 (1999)
4. Napster (1999)
5. Lotus 1-2-3 for DOS (1983)
6. Apple iPod (2001)
7. Hayes Smartmodem (1981)
8. Motorola StarTAC (1996)
9. WordPerfect 5.1 (1989)
10. Tetris (1985)
11. Adobe Photoshop 3.0 (1994)
12. IBM ThinkPad 700C (1992)
13. Atari VCS/2600 (1977)
14. Apple Macintosh Plus (1986)
15. RIM BlackBerry 857 (2000)
16. 3dfx Voodoo3 (1999)
17. Canon Digital Elph S100 (2000)
18. Palm Pilot 1000 (1996)
19. id Software Doom (1993)
20. Microsoft Windows 95 (1995)
21. Apple iTunes 4 (2003)
22. Nintendo Game Boy (1989)
23. Iomega Zip Drive (1994)
24. Spybot Search & Destroy (2000)
25. Compaq Deskpro 386 (1986)
26. CompuServe (1982)
27. Blizzard World of Warcraft (2004)
28. Aldus PageMaker (1985)
29. HP LaserJet 4L (1993)
30. Apple Mac OS X (2001)
31. Nintendo Entertainment System (1985)
32. Eudora (1988)
33. Sony Handycam DCR-VX1000 (1995)
34. Apple Airport Base Station (1999)
35. Brøderbund The Print Shop (1984)
36. McAfee VirusScan (1990)
37. Commodore Amiga 1000 (1985)
38. ChipSoft TurboTax (1985)
39. Mirabilis ICQ (1996)
40. Creative Labs Sound Blaster 16 (1992)
41. Apple HyperCard (1987)
42. Epson MX-80 (1980)
43. Central Point Software PC Tools (1985)
44. Canon EOS Digital Rebel (2003)
45. Red Hat Linux (1994)
46. Adaptec Easy CD Creator (1996)
47. PC-Talk (1982)
48. Sony Mavica MVC-FD5 (1997)
49. Microsoft Excel (1985)
50. Northgate OmniKey Ultra (1987)
Full article with descriptions and rationales for each of the 50 products here.
Although PC World explains why they chose the Apple Macintosh Plus (“which corrected several defects of the original Mac”), we’d put the original Mac 128k atop the entire list, as it’s the model for basically all personal computers in use today, whether they be real Macs or upside-down and backwards insecure fake Macs running Microsoft’s derivative Windows OS on boxes assembled by others. We’d also rank Mac OS X much higher than 30th. And, where’s the Newton, PowerBook 100, and the Commodore 64?
Still, it’s nice to see Apple dominating such a list with 14% of the list’s products and 20% of the top 10.
Related articles:
Innovative Apple has changed the course of the personal computer revolution many times – April 02, 2006
Mobile PC names Apple PowerBook 100 the “Number One Gadget of All Time” – February 19, 2005
BusinessWeek: Steve Jobs changed the world three times – with the Apple II, Pixar, and the iPod – October 27, 2004
Newsweek: Steve Jobs’ Macintosh changed personal computers forever – March 02, 2003
TiVo @ #3
AppleTV … nowhere to be seen.
For those wondering why some of us have been screaming for Apple to make a true TiVo Killer out of the thing, there’s your answer.
I can hear it now; ‘B-b-b-but AppleTV is BETTER … it does DIFFERENT things … if TiVo is so popular, than AppleTV is smart to carve out it’s OWN niche …’
Right. Did IE try to carve out it’s own niche or do something different? Netscape Navagator is #1 on this list of the 50 most important tech developments (and would be in the top 5 of any thinking person’s list) and it essentially doesn’t exist anymore, displaced by a more aggressive competitor that does essentially the same thing. The AppleII has the #2 spot on this list, and yet Apple’s entire computer lineup holds but a /fraction/ of the II’s marketshare today – an entire company was displaced by the scourge that are Windows PCs. Lotus 1-2-3 at #5 has been completely displaced by M$’s Excel, which is actually a fine product. And finally, #4 is Napster, and we know what happened there – first lawsuits, then Apple’s iTunes, have made it a shadow of it’s former self.
Do you see the pattern? More precisely, do you see the potential rewards to be had, by doing something people really want & need – even if the thing that trailblazed the function already exists – and doing it BIGGER? Or, as in the case of Excel & iTunes, in some ways even better?
THAT’s what AppleTV should be doing to TiVo right now – making it a relic, soon to inhabit little more than a list of impressive firsts. In this case, AppleTV could be adding it’s own functionality – streaming – to a DVR-like device as the lever that pushes TiVo over the metaphorical cliff.
C’MON JOBS – JUST DO IT…
MDN MagicWord = before
…”BEFORE” SOME OTHER COMPANY TAKES TiVo’s PLACE ON THAT LIST.
I’m just sayin
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What I find interesting is how many of the companies who made those products on the list no longer exist and yet here’s Apple still chugging along.
umm, NeXT? Tim Berners Lee? Is this thing on?
Gotta agree with mdn about mac 128k. In the long run, MUCH more imitated than Apple II.
The Amiga 1000 is only 37?
Why is Win95 above OS X? And why is the original Mac OS not at No.1?
Unfortunately, Zune came in at 52. Just after Microsoft Bob.
@ Tommy Boy
Don’ you be dissin World of Warcraft – what you tryna say? all those years of my life been wasted?
omg…
This list is full of errors. Why is the Zip drive there? Its market relevance lasted all of two to four years and it stimulated the development of absolutely no further technologies (we’re still using optical CD/DVD and external hard drives). If anything, it was a failed attempt to increase the longevity of portable magnetic media.
Why is Windows 95 above Mac OS X, but the mouse not mentioned at all? Honestly, the f–king MOUSE!
Broderbund The Print Shop..??
Are they serious?
Napster is #4? Wasn’t that illegal?
Why not add crack cocaine to the list?
Better yet, add Windows virus’ to the list. That had an impact. ;-
Hmmmm. Cotton gin n tonic …. Hic