PC World has just published an article, “The 50 Best Tech Products of All Time” — a fun walk down memory lane. How many of the 50 products listed have you used? I’ve used the following…
- Netscape Navigator (my preferred browser until IE 6.0)
- Napster (sparingly)
- Lotus 1-2-3 for DOS (I am a dinosaur)
- Hayes Smartmodem (my first modem was 300 baud, and I remember getting my first 2400 baud modem — it was the first time data loaded faster than I could read it)
- Motorola StarTAC (thanks to a past employer, before they sued me — long story)
- WordPerfect 5.1 (funny how “show codes” looked a bit like HTML today)
- Tetris (who hasn’t?)
- Palm Pilot 1000 (I was an early adopter)
- id Software Doom (idkfx, etc.)
- Microsoft Windows 95 (“Start me up!”)
- Nintendo Game Boy (see Tetris above)
- Iomega Zip Drive (100MB seemed like so much back then)
- CompuServe (my brother used the free hour we got without me being around, and I was so pissed off)
- Blizzard World of Warcraft (me and my 8 million friends)
- Aldus PageMaker (it was so impressive at the time)
- Nintendo Entertainment System (so many hours wasted thanks to this device)
- McAfee VirusScan (preferred by most employers)
- Apple HyperCard (more powerful and advanced than most realize)
- Epson MX-80 (love those dot crunching sounds)
- Microsoft Excel (one of the best things to come out of Microsoft)
What are my three selections which didn’t make it on the list?
- Zork I: The Great Underground Empire
In comparison to today’s games with intense graphics, this was a simple text-only game. It popularized the interactive fiction genre, and, thanks to the lack of graphics, is just as fun to play today as it was 20 years ago. - Intellivision
The gamesgames started simple enough but grew into impressive releases that included Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, B-17 Bomber (with Intellivoice), and MLB Baseball (where we got so good, the pitcher made nearly every play, and you can “Old Spice” the ball). - Borland’s Turbo Pascal
My first real experience in real programming was with this incredible (for its time) programming environment. I even rewrote a BASIC-language game, 3 in 1 Football, into Turbo Pascal. I didn’t have a printer, and the football game was on a different computer in a different room, so I hand-wrote pseudocode on paper then recoded it from scratch in Pascal. Not bad for a 14-year old.
It’s always nice to look back at where we came from to appreciate where we are.
Louis says:
From your list.
* Netscape Navigator
– I used this browser because it was the one to use back in 1994.this is when I started to get into HTML/web design.
* Motorola StarTAC
– I bought this because I wanted to be cool too.
* Iomega Zip Drive
– Simply the best. This zip Drive thing was one of my favorite toys.
* Blizzard World of Warcraft
– Hello my name is Louis and I’m a WOW addict! I’m on the wagon now but with any wagon I can surely fall off.
* Aldus PageMaker
– I used this briefly. Wish I had more time with it since I wanted to get into DTP.
I’m not sure they hit the right 50. There are a few things missing from “my” the Top 50 list.
AOL (You cant deny it. this was the best service for a n00b)
The Internet (Yeah, sure it not a product, but it is indeed the BIGGEST Tech thing around)
Wordpress (The defacto blogging tool.It certainly changed the blogosphere)