The keep abreast selection is fromPC World . you’re able to interpret the full clause atpcworld.com .
The Beatles . Citizen Kane . Muhammad Ali . Many have laid claim to being the “ best ever ” in their several fields of piece of work , but only one can be at the top of the leaning . And the same is true when it comes to technology .
So what ’s the good technical school mathematical product to come out of the digital geezerhood ? And what restrict a product as “ the near ? ” First , and first off , it must be a quality product , a piece of hardware or software system that has truly changed our lives and which we ca n’t live without ( or could n’t at the metre ) . Beyond that , a product should have attained a sure level of popularity , had staying power , and in many cases , made some sort of discovery , work the evolution of late product of that ilk .
So after consider C of intersection and enlist in many hours of scrupulous debate , PC Worldpresents the 50 Best Tech Products . Note that we ’re only looking at technology to arise since the dawn of the computer , so do n’t expect transistor radios and the cotton fiber noose on the leaning . Instead , you ’ll ascertain power train that , in all likelihood , you used yourself at one point or another — and , in many case , production you ’re still using today .
And oh yeah , you may believe our choice are ridiculous or that we ’ve left out much more important Cartesian product . Have at us . Smack us down righteously .
Anddon’t forget to voteon the productyouthink should be number one .
Here ’s our top six .
1 . Netscape Navigator ( 1994 )
Netscape Navigator ( trope good manners of University of the Third Age initiation to the net )
Marc Andreesenmay have have it away what he was get into when he co - pen Mosaic at the National Center for Supercomputer Applications , but it was n’t until he graduate from college and met with some Valley type that the Web revolution really start . In 1994 , Andreesen launched Netscape Communications , offering his new Navigator Web internet browser ( base on Mosaic ) to the world . Finally , substance abuser outside of the academic world got a taste of HTML , and nothing has been the same since .
Netscape was the reason people started spending 60 minutes a day on the net , conduct to the boom ( and bust ) of many a internet site . It was also the cause why Microsoft got sucked into antitrust litigation , when Internet Explorer was eventually embedded into Windows . And the party ’s August 9 , 1995 IPO is universally look at to be the official jump of the dot - com earned run average .
unluckily , Netscape could n’t keep up with the times and was transcend by Internet Explorer in the later ’ XC . Netscape still exist ( under the ownership of AOL ) , but has fallen into unadulterated disuse , though its influence can still be experience all over the Web . For instance , fragments of its original code live on in just about every internet browser still in production , fromMozilla Firefox to Internet Explorer . To reminisce about onetime versions of Netscape function by , agree out theNetscape internet browser Archive .
2 . Apple II ( 1977 )
Apple II(image courtesy of Courtesy of John Davin ’s Antique Computers )
While the original Apple I computer was really just a hobbyist ’s diversion , the Apple II was a computer for Everyman . Beating theIBM personal computer 5150to marketplace by four years , theApple II ( and its cousins , the II+ , IIe , and IIc)quickly became the computing machine for people who want a automobile that really did something ( rival like the Commodore 64 and TRS-80 Color Computer were mere toy by comparison ) .
So what was so special about the Apple II ? It offered plenty of productivity tools ( including being the first PC to range the VisiCalc spreadsheet ) , it was good at gambling , and it was quite extendable ( when ’s the last time you had a computing machine with eight expansion slots ? ) . And the machine itself looked so much cooler than anything that preceded it , a school of thought that still lives on in theApple computing machine of today . The Apple II may not have been the first personal computing gadget , but it was the spark that stir up the personal computing industry . ( Last class , to denounce Apple ’s 30th day of remembrance , Macworldplaced the Apple II at No . 4 on the leaning of the 30 most significant products in party chronicle . )
If you ’re favourable , you might still be able to obtain anApple II on Ebay , though they do n’t seem to last long .
3 . TiVo HDR110 ( 1999 )
Tivo HDR110 ( double good manners of TiVo Inc. )
It ’s hard to believe but it ’s true . TiVo has been around for almost a decennary , making it nigh geriatric in the world of tech . The premise is dewy-eyed : TiVo ( and its competitor ReplayTV ) interchange the VHS tape with a monster hard drive , transcription shows to phonograph record instead of analog media . That meant you could pause and resume unrecorded TV , skip over through commercial in an instant , and record an total time of year of shows with just a few clicks of the remote controller . TiVo ’ ’s innovations(it is now up to itsSeries3 model ) helped it to handily beat ReplayTV in the battle for mindshare , though it struggled to reach gainfulness and now run a risk falling prey to that killer of many a bright company : commodity position . Though TiVo the make may eventually conk out , “ tivo ” the verb will probably be with us evermore .
4 . Napster ( 1999 )
Napster ( image courtesy of Taxster )
No , we ’re not verbalize about the current Napster subscription religious service , which pretty much has nothing to do with Shawn Fanning ’s groundbreaking ceremony file - swap software package . Say what you will about how Napster alleviate copyright usurpation on a massive scale ( it had 60 million users , at its zenith ) , but piracy was around well before Napster come along and stay without it .
Rather , Napster is of critical grandness not only forinventing peer - to - peertechnology , but also for force record book labels to play ball and work with technical school company to legalize the digital music industry . Even P2P is finally on the verge of legitimacy , as company like Warner Brothers and Paramount have recently signed deal to allot mental object through P2P upstartsBitTorrentand idiot box streamerJoost .
5 . Lotus 1 - 2 - 3 for DOS ( 1983 )
Lotus 1 - 2 - 3 for DOS
Whenever the issue of grampus apps come up , citation of Lotus 1 - 2 - 3 is never far behind . 1 - 2 - 3 was the PC ’s first critical applications programme , and it was almost single - handedly responsible for giving the microcomputer the major get-up-and-go it needed , past all other contend computer hardware platforms , to become the de facto monetary standard for business users . Lotus 1 - 2 - 3wasn’t the first spreadsheet app , but it was visibly superior to competitor VisiCalc , and it remained the standard until the boost of the Windows era andMicrosoft Excel . Lotus chose to befuddle in with OS/2 instead of Microsoft , alas , ultimately varnish its fate in the market , though it lives on now asLotus 1 - 2 - 3 Millennium Edition .
And if you could give up yourself for toss out your old adaptation , $ 20 or $ 30 can get you a copy ofLotus 1 - 2 - 3 on eBay .
6 . The iPod
Portable music players were old chapeau by 2001 , having been around for several old age and already a staple of crummy clone specialists . But Apple thought it could do better , and it make out to the plot influence to shake things up . Mission attain . TheiPodwas an instant success , reinventing the ungainly and utilitarian digital music player as a fashionable — not to remark elegantly mere — means to listen to medicine . The market react categorically . Apple control a monster73 pct shareof the music player market . Its penny-pinching competitor , Sandisk , has 9 per centum . Newer iPodshave greatly expanded that market by adding features like TV and slimmer cases — and so far this franchise freightage train show up no signs of slowing down .
Other Apple merchandise in PC World ’s Top 50
