For its 25th anniversary, the Computing Technology Industry Association polled its 22,000 member companies on the most influential product of the IT industry in the last quarter century. The No. 1 most-named product was Internet Explorer. No. 2 was Microsoft Word followed by Microsoft Windows 95 with the Apple iPod tied for fourth place with Microsoft Excel. Rounding out the top ten we have the BlackBerry, Adobe Photoshop, McAfee VirusScan, Netscape Navigator and the Palm Pilot.
Interesting that IE was named as the most influential by more people than Netscape Navigator, considering Netscape was the browser innovator of the day. Microsoft introduced Explorer in 1995 and by 1995 it became the most popular browser where it has remained ever since. However, those of us who were there at the time, and remember our microcomputer history, know that IE gained its lead because 1) Microsoft gave it away for free and 2) Microsoft embedded it into its operating systems generating for itself anti-trust problems that will only be fully resolved this year, and, if Google has anything to say about it , maybe not even then.
There’s a similar story behind Excel. Lotus 1-2-3 notes was the dominant spreadsheet. When Microsoft bundled Excel with its popular word processing program (which was not dominant during the day – WordPerfect held that spot), it was a bargain many people found irresistible.
What’s so interesting about all of this is that the most influential products were not ground breaking for their day. They were marketed well. Just goes to show that this is an industry that doesn’t necessarily reward great ideas – it rewards great sales tactics.
