10 Best IT Products Of 2006

digihome writes "CRN.com chooses the ten best new products of 2006, including the best development tools, server, notebook and storage device. Some of the choices may surprise you ... such as their choice for operating system of the year." From the article: "With Windows Vista, Microsoft has refreshed the user desktop experience. While debate rages over whether the five-year wait was worth it, the truth is Vista is pretty much the only game in town. One may question whether Vista should be bestowed with Product of the Year recognition in the operating system category. But the product unquestionably brings new features and capabilities to solution providers that in turn promise new revenue generation dialogues with end users."

Hate these lists.

[WED Fan]

Generally, I hate these lists. The usual response is, "But X isn't on it." Well, first thing on the list was a schnazzy little tool that I started using this year. Fantastic, awesome, Stylus Studio 2007. Rock on.

Re:2006?

[WED Fan]

I have to agree with that.

I've disliked the betas of Vista, and hate the marketing. But, I generally like MS. My personal thought is that Vista will be tepid, like Windows ME. I'm sticking with my XP Media Center, and won't upgrade my hardware for awhile, maybe the next OS will have something that will make me want to upgrade.

That said, to have a product on the list that is not even in public use is a little bit of a stretch.

wow what a spammy website

[Anonymous Coward]

Adblock Plus blocked 44 out of 90 objects on each page (not including referrer links or sponsor links!)

so >50% of each page is adverts and then the "article" (if i can call it that) is spread over 10 pages, i guess there is no dignity on that site

adding content must be so inconvenient them, at what point does a site go from providing a quality service to becoming a spam linkfarm ?

thank goodness for adblock and a hostsfile, good example of how to piss off a visitor

CRN drives sales!

[mangu]

Also note the amazing lack of Open Source products on that list

Amazing? Why should the lack of Open Source products in a site whose mission is to "drive sales by empowering VARs and technology integrators with the vital news and technology information they need to generate demand and grow revenue" [crn.com] be amazing?

Open Source is "Best of Breed" when it comes to generate advantages for the users, not to "drive sales".

Re:Consider the source

[RobertCorsaro]

I can't wait to buy all those non-Vista compatible machines for cheap!! If people really do adopt, it will be great fun for me. Cluster anyone?

Re:CRN drives sales!

[aegl]

"Also note the amazing lack of Open Source products on that list"

Two of the products on the list run Linux ... isn't that open source?

They didn't have an OS category last year

[SwedishPenguin]

or the year before that.
So it seems to me that this new "best operating system" category was tailor-made for Vista. Add to that the fact that Vista is being named product of the year for a year where it's been available for companies for less than a month, hardly enough time for companies to migrate, and it looks to me like a marketing puff piece written, or funded, by Microsoft.

Re:Consider the source

[rudeboy1]

Post non-AC next time. Believe it or not, you have something valid to say.

    I would be willing to lay down money, matter of fact, I might, if they're taking bets on such a thing in Vegas, that Apple is just waiting for the not-quite-as-technical-as /. public gets a hold of Vista and cries out a collective WTF. I would be sitting on the king of all ad campaigns. This, to me, seems like the first time MS has shown it's underbelly, and Apple is sitting in a strong enough position to grab a MUCH larger market share, (maybe not majority, but a lot closer) if they are smart about it. Something to the effect of "here is what sucks about Vista. We have addressed all that with the latest OSX. Come buy a Mac... You'll find that after you've spent $500 on Vista, you're no longer saving money buying a PC over a Mac." But, you know, with some parketing pizzaz. Get that Justin kid back on camera and drive the point home like your life depended on it.

My opinion? Screw em both. SUSE strikes me as OSX without the pricetag. That's what I'll be sticking to. I'll be keeping XP around to run WoW. That's pretty much my OS lineup for the next 5 years...

this is one really disturbing organization...

[owlnation]

This CMP lot are part of the United Business Media Group [unitedbusinessmedia.com]. This is a very well connected little organization. The Directors' biographies read like a who's who of British Industry. Fingers into AOL, fingers into banks and big insurance companies, fingers into major Indian outsourcing companies etc etc etc.

Of course their reviews may be neutral and may uphold journalistic principles.

Adjust your tinfoil hats to maximum shield strength folks this publication looks like the Illuminati UK Branch IT Monthly.

Re:Impressive!

[Anonymous Coward]

But Vista isn't officially launched until January 30, 2007

That's not THIS year!

Re:Consider the source

[Omnifarious]

Yes that was my thought after reading a few of the blurbs. The thing I was most amused by though is the percentage of their top-ten products that are basically special purpose Linux boxes. Which OS is really making more money for VARs? :-)

Funniest Stealth Ad of the Year

[Anonymous Coward]

Seriously, why wasn't my company offered a chance to be on this list? We could pay, and we have lots of ad copy to use for "reviews."

I can't say I've never heard of any of the products on the list (Exchange, Vista, and HP, a couple of other company names), but the fact that 2 of the three are conspicuously bad (assuming the HP notebook is as worthless as every other HP computer I've ever seen) and Vista is an unknown that has, well, since it's the enterprise version, kind of shipped in 2006 (though it's hard to imagine a serious enterprise shop touching it even in 2007) tends to make the whole thing look pretty silly. These guys make Gartner look credible.

Re:Best server a generic 1u box?

[businessnerd]

Agreed. Reading the server pick was insulting to my intelligence. I see the picture, and it's not too impressive. Looks like a 1U standard server from a company I've never heard of. I start reading the overview and they state why it's so great: "It's small! Only 1U but has dual processors!" This is where I step back and say, but that's nothing new, and what about blades. If you want to talk small, you better be talking blades. Oh but they have an answer for that. "Blades are expensive and you can fit five of these in the space of one bladecenter for less money." To which I reply, but the IBM bladecenter has 14 blades in that same space. 14 is greater than 5. So unless you compare 14 of these things to the price of a bladecenter with 14 blades, don't talk to me about price and space.

Seriously though, I know it's been said, but this list just smells funny. I mean set aside the whole Vista pick, the Notebook pick was based completely on the fact that you could customize it. So why not Dell, Lenovo, or any other laptop for that matter? What was it about the HP that made it so much better than the others? Nothing, no comparison data at all. Not even any evidence that the notebook was even tried out. The rest of the list was made up of stuff I had never even heard of. You'd think that a best of the year that is about to end list would include things that created a lot of buzz during said year. This seems to be more of a list of clearance items. Top Ten items we couldn't sell and need to get rid of because they are taking up space of 2006!