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PC World's 20 Most Innovative Products of 2006

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the top-20-list dept.

Craig Sender writes "PC World has put together a list of their choices for the 20 Most Innovative Products of 2006. The List includes Office 2007, Nintendo Wii, Sony Reader, Sony PlayStation 3, the BlackBerry Pearl, and some other interesting choices."

8 of 233 comments (clear)

  1. Proving once again that PC World has no shame by loftwyr · · Score: 4, Insightful

    PC World brings you the top 20 most frequent advertisers' current most hyped object!

    But wait! There wasn't an iPod! But iPods are the most innovative things evar!

    Number 0 must be the iPod Video, now with rubber ducky control built in!

    1. Re:Proving once again that PC World has no shame by HappySqurriel · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Well, I went looking for a definition of Innovate and what I got was:

      To begin or introduce (something new) for or as if for the first time.

      What bothers me with this list is that most of the products can not really be classified as inovative; the list might be alright if it was the 10 most important products released in 2006, or the 10 most improved product lines of 2006, but 10 most innovative is a big stretch. Now, I recognize that this is partially my love of the Wii speaking but the Wii is (from my understanding) the only product on that list which really brings anything new; the others may bring a lot of improvement to their product lines, but they don't bring much that is really new.

  2. YouOS by daigu · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Anything in alpha testing can't really be called a product, much less the most innovative product (or in the top ten) of the year.

  3. These guys are confused. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Even if PC World is too clueless to realise it, there is a difference between "innovative" and "better than the same thing was last year, due to incremental advances". Core 2 Duo: Good? Hell yeah. Innovative? Not exactly.

    750GB HDD: A nice upgrade from the 500GB ones? Sure. An innovation? Well, the number is bigger than it was last year.

    That logitech control puck thing: Cute? Sure. Innovative? Well, it has a few more buttons than the Griffin PowerMate that has been around for years.

    And so on and so forth. There are almost no actual innovations. Mostly just feature bumps and price/performance increases. Now, that is what makes the world go round, most of the time; but don't call it "innovation".

  4. Could be. by khasim · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Could it be that MS Office (#1 on this list) just isnt popular with the slashdot crowd and that is why the first several posts are denouncing PC World as paid Microsoft shills?

    It could be.

    But then ..... look at #8
    8. Dell XPS M2010

    Sporting a cutting-edge design, the Dell XPS M2010 (starting price $2999) makes a bold and immediate statement. Not quite a desktop and definitely less portable than a standard notebook, this hybrid system neatly balances elements of both. You get a 20.1-inch screen, a slot-loading DVD drive, and a detachable, full-size Bluetooth keyboard, plus an integrated Webcam, eight built-in speakers, and a subwoofer. Powering this entertainment system are ATI graphics, an Intel Core 2 Duo CPU, and up to 4GB of RAM. It also folds up into a briefcase-like bundle, complete with a handle--but it weighs a hefty 18-plus pounds.

    Now, compare that to this system.
    http://www.obsoletecomputermuseum.org/compaq/

    Yes, the "luggable" computer. But, all you have to do to make it "innovative" is to add more speakers (speakers with a portable computer, how ... innovative) and a bigger screen (see previous).

    And reviews like that are why PC World is disparaged.
  5. Re:Office 2007? by linguae · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Office 2007's innovation is the ribbon interface, which does away from the traditional toolbar/menu interface. Although I personally don't like the interface (the ribbons are uncustomizable, and some options that used to require only one click on a toolbar now require two or three clicks), the interface does accomplish the task of placing related options together in an easily accessible way to novices of Office, as well as accessing less-commonly used features.

    Like the interface or not, the ribbon interface is an innovative way of grouping tasks together, especially in a program such as Microsoft Office that supports hundreds of features. If the ribbon interface contained some concessions for experienced computer users (shortcuts and ribbon customization, for example), then the ribbon interface may be a serious contender to the traditional menu/toolbar paradigm on the Windows platform. This is probably the single most innovative thing I've seen coming from Microsoft yet, even if I personally don't like it ;)

  6. Re:Here are the top 10. by seebs · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Innovative?

    Core 2 Duo: How is this anything but an incremental improvement over the Core Duo, which is in turn just improvements on techniques that have been out there for years? The first dual-core chip could have been innovative. The 39th or whatever this is isn't.

    MS Office 2007: I see. So, Office 6, Office 97, Office XP, Office 2003, none of those were innovative. But this one, the 10th or so in a series, really is. ...

    I just don't see any innovation here. A hard drive bigger than previous hard drives? Unheard of!

    --
    My blog: http://www.seebs.net/log/ --- My iPhone/iPad app: http://www.seebs.net/seebsfrac/
  7. Big flash drives by NineNine · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This is gonna be the next big thing in all kinds of PC's. Flash drives. We'll be able to say bye-bye to the last of the important moving parts in a PC, that happens to be the most defect prone (because of moving parts), and also the most important (assuming your data is worth more than your hardware). I've been wanting these for years for reliability reasons at work. I can't wait until these things get shoved in a vanilla IDE (or is it SATA these days?) format. Hard drives with platters will be completely extinct in 5 years.