[MelancholyGiant]

A vast majority of the items on this list were eitherA. Derived from the IBM PC, orB. Add-ins to the IBM PC, or it's descendants, orC. Applications predominantly run on the IBM PC.So where's the IBM PC on the list?

[mohnkerns]

I definitely would have put PKZip on this list.

[ItsaMario]

Note: I speak from the viewpoint of a young adult.My list of the best computer-related products & concepts includes:1. The Internet itself, as a platform for a wide variety of both information and services- both what's on it now and what will be on it in the future.2. The GUI concept, whoever it is that deserves credit for it.3. The Apple II, for igniting the personal computer revolution when companies like IBM had no idea why regular people would want a computer in their home.With those in mind, my list of honorable mentions is the following:-Google Web search-Mac OS X-DNS-Napster (never used it, but it started the online music revolution)-PodcastsAs for the best desktop computing program of all, I'd have to say it's Quicksilver.

[Skyfox]

Voodoo3?? The Voodoo 1 was the revolutionary product that finally brought high quality 3D to the masses, and made a name for 3Dfx. By the time V3 came out, nVidia's excellent TNT and rapid development cycle were already well on the way to burying 3Dfx.

[snowmannishboy]

Apple's LaserWriter / LaserWriter Plus surely belongs on the list. That printer with PostScript, a copy of PageMaker and a Mac made for a revolutionary combination in publishing.

[Stevietheman]

I would add PHP, the first open source server-side scripting language designed for the web, by Zend Technologies. It made web programming more accessible to a broader range of computer users. And their extensive online help facilities, chock-full of useful user comments, were revolutionary. Consider that some of the most important and influential websites, such as Wikipedia, run on it. Even this discussion board runs on it. It is nearly ubiquitous in web hosting solutions.

[schlub]

That list is rubbishA lot of the products are too USA-centric or wildly outdated with no lasting effects. CompuServe, TurboTax etc. didnt see the light of day in other countries.Lotus 123 was certainly never used or mentioned after the Dark Ages.Voodoo and SoundBlaster cards didn't exactly revolutionise the world.The Print Shop??? Why is that even mentioned at all?!Blackberries and Palms are only used by Sales and Marketing Americans, and people who don't know how to unplug. Does anyone without their head up their own a*se actually use one?

[sieler]

What, no search engine?

[maybaum]

I'll bet the TRS-80 got more people into computing than all the Apples put together

[zandar]

can't believe you list more than one flavor of Windows, but don't mention UNIX!

[videography]

How is it that the best tech products of all time all came in the past 40 years? What about pencil - paper - 0 - 1 and those building block technologies that provide the foundation for these gadgets.

[jimb0]

Actually, the Amiga didn't bankrupt Commodore. Jack Tramiel ran off with a lot of the funds to Atari, then tried to make an Amiga copy with the 520ST and 1040ST. Commodore failed because of a lot of reasons, including not advertising the Amiga aggressively. Whenever I mentioned my Amiga most people didn't know what I was talking about. This was prevented by creditors looting the company after JT left. The main reason Amiga didn't catch on was that it lacked three letters: IBM. Mr. American Businessman was not computer-literate enough to buy outside of Big Blue in those days. Remember, it's not usually the best idea that wins, it's the best promoted.

[canis]

[quote name='jmjohnson']> > snip> > And the Amiga was actually designed by Atari, but sold to Commordore when the company ran into a cash crunch.No... The amiga was actually not designed by Atari. The designing company was Hi Toro.Atari had invested money in Hi Toro. When Jack Tramiel bought Atari from Warner, he also got his grasp on Hi Toro and its development of their prototype computer.Tramiel squeezed Hi Toro in order to buy the company cheap. But he squeezed Hi Toro too hard. Hi Toro contacted Commodore (the company that Jack Tramiel had lead through decades) and sold themselves and their technology for a much better price than Tramiel wanted to pay.The Atari ST is the result of Jack Tramiel's knowledge of the Amiga architecture, but missed some of the features that made the Amiga the superior in the fight between Tramiel's old company and his new one.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiga_Corporation -If you want to know more.

[robert1961it]

That's incredible!!! You forgot Phil Katz and PkZip program: the "plancton" for all e-applications.Really a shame!!!I will never read your hits anymore.

[FortWorthTexas]

Fun article. I would add AppleWorks. I was able to run a mail order business for 11 years with over 5,000 customers and 1/3 million items (collectible 45 rpm records) listed in a catalog I printed every other month using no program other than AppleWorks on my souped up Apple IIe (4 MEG RAM!!!! Wow!). All I needed was a laser printer and use of a newspaper printing company to make my catalogs.

[xyzzy32]

What a bunch of [Bleep]! You say "TECH PRODUCTS", and then limit it to computer stuff only. Are you so narrow minded that COMPUTERS are the only technical thing in the world? You say "OF ALL TIME," and then in the recorded history of several thousand years, you consider only about the last 20 while you were conscious?

[xyzzy32]

[quote:ed018128d0]quote="csusi"]Is it really necessary to tell PCW my job title and company size to post a comment...[/quote:ed018128d0]Simple solution: You never give accurate information to a nosy website like this![/quote]

[bbaltas]

I believe you forgot about Novell's Netware. Prior to this product file sharing was done only in larger organizations with a lot of UNIX or Mainframe experience. Small and medium businesses were introduced to networking with this software.What about WordStar as the first word processor. Next to Visicalc it was standard in a lot of offices along with the daisywheel printer.

[gongchengshi]

Interesting that Microsoft Windows never shows up on the list but OS X and Linux are both there. Although we all know that Apple's OS will always have a good 5 year lead on Microsoft's OS. So I doubt we will ever see a Microsoft OS on such a list because Apple will have already out done them 5 years before.

[gongchengshi]

[quote name='mikeed']ummm... google????????ummm..... Google is a company. Not a product. That would be like saying, "ummm... Sony"