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My 10 Best Tech Products of All Time

PC World has published a list of the 50 Best Tech Products of All Time and it really brought me back in time especially the mention of the Apple II, one of the first computers I worked with back in the early 80s.  Two men who built a computer in a garage started us off into the world of personal computing.  Gone are the days where you have to be a programmer or have an engineering degree to use a computer.  Now, anyone with cash in hand can buy a computer and have it up and running in the matter of minutes.  The Apple II revolutionized personal computing.  I believe it should be number 1 on PC World’s list.  Of course, that is my humble opinion.

Here are the top 10 products on PC World’s list.

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)

The qualifications for an item to be on the list is that it came about since the dawn of personal computing and had value at the time or still does.  This could be a piece of hardware or software.  There are some interesting choices on the list and good reasoning.  However, there are some notable omissions from the past and newer technology that is revolutionizing the way we use computers today.

I read the list and went for a ride down memory lane.  It made me think of technology I take for granted today that wasn’t available when I first started using computers.  Things like a built in hard drive, using a mouse for navigation, wireless networking and broadband Internet access.  I remember when a portable computer weighed 40 lbs and was considered compact!  When I was in college the computers just had line printers, they didn’t even have monitors (punch cards were before my time).

My top 10 list looks like this.

1. Apple II.   The computer that started it all for me.
2. IBM PC.  A glaring omission for their list and yet everyone cloned this computer to bring the cost of having a PC done to being affordable.
3. Built-in hard drive.  Gone are the days of 5 1/4? floppy disks. 
4. MS-DOS.  The beginning of Microsoft and where would we be today without Microsoft? (Take a stab at me for that one if you wish.)
5. CompuServe.  The beginning of life online. My first online exploration and email account.
6. Wireless Networking.  Gives me the freedom to roam around with my laptop and still connect to the Internet.
7. The scroll-wheel mouse.  How else would I entertain my cat.  Seriously, it makes scrolling through pages so much easier than pressing arrows.
8. Broadband Internet.  Without it I wouldn’t be able to stream audio and video.
9. Google.  synonymous with search, I googled myself today!
10. Apple MacIntosh. Gave us a graphical user interface before Microsoft came out with their first version of Windows.

I started with an Apple and ended with an Apple and put the core in the middle.  Yet, I use a Windows machine these days.  I wouldn’t mind having a Mac as well.

Read the article and think about what your top 10 list would be.  Is your list different from PC World’s?  What is missing?  Tell me what you think.

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