eWEEK’s Top 25 Technologies Of The Decade

6. BlackBerry

You have to admit that if a product gets compared with a highly addictive drug, it must be a huge success. The CrackBerry, er, BlackBerry quickly became a must-have mobile device, and it’s still pretty much the mobile device of choice for business users. By making it easy to stay connected anywhere, the BlackBerry certainly boosted productivity (and probably ruined more than a few holidays).

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.

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 other applications existed before Gmail and Google Apps. But none offered the features, convenience and reliability that Google did. Now, entire businesses are running using only Google’s web-based email and productivity applications.

11. iPhone/iPod

It was called the Jesus Phone. And while that moniker was definitely hyperbolic, 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 usability 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 has pretty 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 cost less than $1,000 (£640) – is a processor that would smoke the most powerful servers and workstations of the 1990s.

14. Netbooks

Vendors have pushed microlaptops on us before, but these systems have all failed due to being underpowered and overpriced. The current wave of netbooks fixes those problems, achieving small size along with decent capabilities and low prices. While hardware vendors may hate them, netbooks continue to be popular with consumers.