eWeek - February 1, 2010

8. Bluetooth

It can be easy to think of Bluetooth as a failure, especially if one looks at its early promises. But then consider all of the wires and cables you aren’t using anymore, and you come to appreciate the accomplishments of Bluetooth.

9. Firefox

Just a few years ago, the future of the Web and the browser looked bleak. Internet Explorer dominated the market, and Microsoft wasn’t interested in browser innovation. But when Mozilla released Firefox, we finally got real browser choice and innovation. Firefox reignited the browser wars,

and today we have more competition and choice in browsers than ever before.

10. Gmail/Google
Apps

Sure, Web-based mail and appli
cations existed before Gmail and
Google Apps. But none offered
the features, convenience and reli-
ability that Google did. Now, entire
businesses are running using
only Google’s Web-based e-mail
and productivity
applications.

11. iPhone/
iPod

It was called
the Jesus Phone.
And while that
moniker was
definitely hyper-
bolic, it’s not
hype to say that
Apple’s iPhone completely changed
the smartphone market. And many
of these changes probably wouldn’t
have come about if the iPod hadn’t
set the stage for the iPhone’s usabil-
ity and design.

12. Mac OS X

While the first iMac got lots of
attention, it wasn’t until Apple
totally revamped its core operating
system that the Mac revolution
really took off. Mac OS X was a full
rewrite built on a Unix core, and
since its release the OS has pretty
the BlackBerry certainly boosted
productivity (and probably ruined
more than a few vacations).

7. Blade servers

Blade servers have become so commonplace that it’s easy to forget how stunning it was to see an entire server room of systems reduced to a single rack.

The BlackBerry quickly became a must-have device.

- Small, light and cheap, netbooks gave the users what they want.

Firefox reignited the browser wars.

much set the bar for operating system usability and innovation.

13. Multicore
processors

People who have moved from a PC based on a single-core processor to one based on a multicore processor are typically blown away. There in your system—which most likely costs less than $1,000—is a processor that would smoke the most powerful servers and workstations of the 1990s.