PC World's 20 Most Innovative Products of 2006

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."

gah

[Red Flayer]

Can this article please be re-labeled as an advertorial?

I'd like to see advertising revenue figures from 2006 for the featured items' companies on PCWorlds financials... I wonder how closely they'd tie in to the rank of the products.

I'm sure it's part of their sales strategy (I work in print publishing... you can bet advertisers get preferential treatment in editorial content).

Re:Print view

[AZScotsman]

Gotta make room for all those ads somehow.... I stopped paying attention to PC World and PC Week over 8 years ago. It's pretty clear that their "reviews" have lapsed into the Puff-Piece Zone, and the rating they give software/hardware is relative to the number of full-page ads the subject has bought over the last twelve issues. Years ago, I wrote for a "subscription-only" print mag that reviewed game software and published hints and walkthrus (Yeah, it was a cushy job, but somebody had to do it...). We didn't take a penny for advertising and the staff was encouraged to "call it like you see it". Unfortunately, the lack of adspace also meant a low income for the company. Long story short - no more magazine.

Google Sketchup?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm surprised this made the "Innovative" list, and not the "Vaporware" list.

Since Google bought them, all they've done to the actual app is stamp "BETA" on it. They brag that it works on Macs, but the last upgrade was over 18 months ago, before Apple announced the Intel transition, and they still have no Universal binary for Macs. The PPC binary works, mostly, if you're willing to put up with workarounds. Oh, and random crashes.

It's a sad state of affairs when "making no forward progress" counts as "innovative" these days.

Please perfect the innovations we already have.

[gelfling]

Frankly I'm disappointed that the gadgets we already have really don't work so hot. Like Cell Phones. Why can't I get usable USB or Bluetooth drivers and sync software for my Samsung A640, even from Samsung? Oh yeah I forgot, Sprint wants me to pay for a service to email them to myself. Ditto my Sanyo 3100, Samsung A840, Samsung A900 or Sanyo 8400?

Why does my Xbox360 still require bizarre router settings to connect wirelessly to my router? Oh yeah I forgot, Microsoft does not care. Why did I have to return 3 different routers until I found one that worked with all my clients and VPN tunnels? Oh yeah I forgot, they're lazy. Why did the wireless print server I picked up naturally assume that it had to have the same IP address as my router and afforded absolutely no options to switch it? Oh yeah I forgot, the vendor bought the product instead of developing themselves. Plus the quality of their firmware is shit. Why am I still shopping for an affordable NAS that actually does what it's supposed to do without bugs and the feature set is actually what they say it is instead of vague promises and bullshit? Oh yeah I forgot, all the goodness is in the next version of their $700 unit. Sorry.

See I'm not a big fan of best new gadgets because next year either they will be abandoned as the shit they probably are, or, they will be shit anyway and still be around bolstered by hype, consumer indifference and marketing.

Re:Here are the top 10.

[wootest]

I wish MS [and other developers] spent more time copying the UI idea's of Apple, which generally have fewer of the more arcane options that people rarely if ever change from their default values. Focus on what people WILL use, not what they COULD use.

First: You're right. Fixing the interface is not innovative. But if this was a 20 Best Ideas list or 20 Best Things To Have Happened list, damn straight the Ribbon in Office 2007 would have placed on it, and that's a line I didn't think I'd write about this time last year.

Per the Office team's own research, most of the stuff people were asking to be able to do was already in Office. This means two things: that there's not a lot left to add - except for the way they keep hanging out at Standards station, neglecting the 10:30 to compatibilityville in favor of the semiannual Microsoft MysteryMeat Express (Enterprise Edition) - and that what's there is probably used by a lot of people. It's likely that no piece of actual office software is being used by more people than Word and Excel, and they can't just rip out features.

It's true that you probably don't use more than 20% of the features, but with everyone using a *different* 20% and with so many millions of people using it, you can imagine that there's a fairly good cover on features that are used. You can also imagine the flak they'd take for this. It is insanely hard to remove stuff and save face. I am not saying that "just pile it on" is a good development strategy or makes the best product for me personally (I totally agree with the paragraph I quoted), but what they currently do have is a pile. (Add "of shit" here if it makes you feel better.)

Normally I'd be with you regarding the interface: simpler is better. But the features that are in Office need to stay, and the interface sucks. The Ribbon has proven itself as a very good replacement for the mess that we used to have. It may not be *innovative* as such, but "Microsoft finally does *something* about the Office interface" is a good thing - bullet-on-cardboard-box-worthy, too - that will have a large positive impact, and for that, at least, they are worthy of recognition.

(And for what it's worth, Excel does have some real honest-to-goodness new features. Excel is probably the best, most focused and most interoperable app Microsoft puts out these days. Although I'm nowadays using Apple's bundled Mail app, I am also still a fan of Outlook's general reading interface layout (the look of the email pane), but I'm glad to get rid of most of the rest of that app, including the Options panels (with all those windows and buttons and hidden options it's like one of those Russian dolls), the winmail.dat bullshit or why not the way all those exploits can get in.)