New Zealand PC World Readers' Choice Awards 2002
Your pick of the best hardware, software and internet services of the year.
The envelope, please. Here's how you called 'em. Our 13th annual PC World
Readers' Choice Awards proved lucky for some, including Macromedia, whose
Dreamweaver 4 stole the Best Web Design Software crown worn last year
by Microsoft's FrontPage. And in the Best Internet Security Software category,
a talented scrappy upstart — the freeware ZoneLabs ZoneAlarm — pushed
Symantec into second place. Another first-time winner was NZoom, which took
the Best New Zealand Website Award, won last year by Xtra's homepage.
In a more shocking upset, TL Systems won Best Home PC, a title claimed
by HP last year.
THE BUSINESS Best Operating System was, as ever, a Microsoft vs Microsoft
affair, but is notable this year for Windows 2000's victory — the first time the
business-focused NT line has beaten out the Soho-leaning 9.x family. And maybe
it won't be Microsoft vs Microsoft forever: Linux continued its modest
encroachment into the Best OS category, clocking up 9% of the vote.
THE FIGHT-BACKS Borland was another insurgent against the Microsoft
monolith, with Delphi 6 regaining the Best Development Tool trophy. Compaq,
meanwhile, took back the Best Corporate Desktop title lost to Dell last year.
HP was only third, but is looking to remedy this situation by buying Compaq.
THE NEWBIES There were several new categories this year. ClearNet
picked up the inaugural gong for Best e-business Solution Provider;
Nokia took
Best DSL Modem (beating off a strong challenge from Dynalink);
and the
crash-tastic Netscape 6 took Loser of the Year (readers, why didn't you dump
on those free ISPs?).
THE SCANDAL Dragon NaturallySpeaking kept its Best Speech Recognition
Software title, but the news will do
little to alleviate the gloom at its parent
company, Lernout and Hauspie. It filed for bankruptcy in October following the
arrest without bail of its Boston-based CEO, plus Belgium founders Jo Lernout
and Pol Hauspie, on the small matter of a missing $US100 million. What would
HAL say?
THE RULES As usual, voting was open to PC World subscribers only, so votes
could be cross-referenced against our circulation database to prevent duplicates
or vendor voting. Votes were counted by an independent third party, Information
Tools, and the random voter prize draw supervised by Hayes Knight. (Where votes
add up to less than 100%, votes for other products account for the balance.)
-- Chris Keall
Winner of the year
As voted by PC World readers.
AMD 51%
JetStream/JetStart 22%
Bill Gates 19%
XML 4%
Pocket PC OS 3%
Loser of the year
As voted by PC World readers.
Netscape 6 ("the crash machine") 27%
Napster 25%
the letter "e" 15%
Apple G4 Cube 12%
Clippy 11%
Judge Thomas Penfold Jackson 8%
Free ISPs 1%
Anyone who bought tech stocks 1%
Most promising newcomer
As chosen by PC World staff.
Microsoft DirectX 8
If you've followed 3D rendering
programs, games or web plug-ins over
the past few years, you've seen the realism of
computer-generated 3D objects grow by leaps and bounds.
With DirectX 8, 3D is poised for another giant leap forward.
Working with 3D software developers and hardware industry leaders
like NVidia, Microsoft completely rewrote the way 3D happens on computers,
giving developers flexibility to add new levels of realism to their creations.
Personal Computers
Best Corporate PC
Compaq Deskpro series 36%
Dell Optiplex series 24%
HP Vectra series 12%
Best Small-to-Medium Business PC
Compaq Deskpro series 21%
Dell Dimension series 18%
The PC Company Value series 14%
Best Value Notebook
Toshiba Satellite series 31%
Acer TravelMate series 24%
Dell Latitude C500 series 15%
IBM ThinkPad I series 11%
Compaq Armada E500 series 8%
Best PDA
Palm V series 30%
Compaq iPAQ series 27%
Palm m100 series 11%
HP Jornada 700 series 7%
Handspring Visor series 6%
Best Home PC
TL Systems Dream series 29%
Dell Dimension series 21%
Gateway Performance series 16%
Best Power Notebook
Toshiba Satellite Pro series 27%
Sony Vaio series 13%
Compaq Armada M700 series 11%
Toshiba Tecra series 9%
Toshiba Portégé series 8%
IBM ThinkPad T series 8%
Best NZ PC Manufacturer
The PC Company 41%
TL Systems 23%
PB Technologies 7%
Advantage Computers 5%
Arche 5%
Cyclone 4%
Internet
Best Internet Service Provider
Xtra 36%
paradise.net 23%
ihug 13%
Clear Net 13%
Voyager 4%
Best Broadband Internet Service
Telecom JetStream 49%
TelstraSaturn/paradise.net broadband cable 18%
ihug Ultra 17%
Telecom JetStart 16%
Best e-Business Solution Provider
Clear Net 44%
Xtra Business 39%
eSolutions 10%
Best New Zealand website
NZoom.com 15%
XtraMSN.co.nz 12%
Best Email Software
Microsoft Outlook 69%
Qualcomm Eudora Pro 10%
Netscape Mail 8%
David Harris Pegasus Mail 8%
Best Web Browser
Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 82%
Netscape Navigator 4.7 10%
Opera Software Opera 54%
Netscape 6 4%
Best Web Server
Microsoft Windows 2000 Server/IIS 45%
Apache Software Apache Server 39%
Macromedia Cold Fusion Server 16%
Best Web Authoring Tool
Macromedia Dreamweaver 4 53%
Microsoft FrontPage 2002 34%
Adobe GoLive 5 15%
Best Web Graphics Software
Macromedia Flash 5 63%
Macromedia Fireworks 4 25%
Adobe LiveMotion 1 11%
Best Internet Security Software
ZoneLabs ZoneAlarm 2.6 49%
Symantec Norton Internet Security 2001 18%
Network ICE BlackICE Defender 2.5 13%
Symantec Norton Personal Firewall 2001 11%
McAfee Personal Firewall 2.5 9%
Best Web Media Player
Microsoft Windows MediaPlayer 7 51%
RealNetworks RealPlayer 7 22%
Nullsoft Winamp 2 20%
Apple QuickTime 5 8%
Peripherals
Best Digital Camera
Sony DSC Cybershot series 33%
Kodak Cybershot series 16%
Canon PowerShot series 14%
Fuji FinePix series 13%
Best Web Cam
Logitech QuickCam USB 70%
Dynalink DSC-350 15%
Intel Pro PC 15%
Best Dial-up Modem Brand
Dynalink 59%
3Com/US Robotics 34%
Best DSL Modem
Nokia M11 series 38%
Dynalink ADSL series 36%
D-Link DSL 200 USB 8%
Best CRT Monitor Brand
Philips 42%
ViewSonic 25%
Sony 23%
Best LCD Monitor Brand
Philips 35%
Sony 30%
ViewSonic 15%
Best Graphics Card
Matrox Millennium G450 series 35%
Creative 3D Blaster GeForce series 31%
Ausus AGP-V7000 GeForce series 26%
Best Sound Card
Creative Sound Blaster Live! 95%
Best Removable Media
HP CD-Writer Plus CDRW series 70%
Iomega Zip 250 USB 15%
Plextor PlexWriter series 7%
Business Software
Best Operating System
Microsoft Windows 2000 43%
Microsoft Windows 98 36%
Microsoft Windows Me 12%
Red Hat Linux 7 9%
Best Office Suite
Microsoft Office 2000 71%
Microsoft Office XP 14%
Sun StarOffice 5 12%
Best Project Manager
Microsoft Project 84%
Best Personal Information Manager
Microsoft Outlook 2002 83%
Lotus Organizer 6 17%
Best Contact Manager
Interact Commerce ACT! 2000 70%
Maximizer Enterprise 2000 30%
Best Speech Recognition Software
Dragon NaturallySpeaking 5 79%
IBM ViaVoice Millennium 13%
Microsoft Office XP 7%
Best Personal Finance Software
Microsoft Money 2001 57%
Intuit Quicken Deluxe 7.5 43%
Best Small Business Accounting Software Company
MYOB 44%
Quicken 20%
NZA Gold 17%
Best New Zealand Software
David Harris Pegasus Mail 43%
Marshal Software MailMarshal 18%
Qbik WinGate 16%
RoboForge 14%
Exo-net 3000 4%
CommSoft NetMaster 3%
Picdata Time Disciple 1%
Hard Copy
Best Personal Monochrome Printer
HP LaserJet series 66%
Brother HL series 14%
Oki Okipage 8 series 7%
Best Personal Colour Printer
HP DeskJet series 47%
Epson Stylus Color series 30%
Canon BJC series 21%
Best Scanner
HP ScanJet series 43%
Microtek ScanMaker series 16%
Canon CanoScan series 15%
Mustek Paragon series 14%
Epson Perfection series 5%
Best Office Monochrome Printer
HP LaserJet series 71%
Brother HL series 9%
Kyocera FS series 9%
Best LCD Projector
Sony VPL series 65%
Epson EMP series 17%
Compaq MP series 16%
Best Office Colour Printer
HP Color LaserJet series 36%
HP DeskJet series 23%
Epson Stylus Color series 16%
Canon BJC series 14%
Networking
Best LAN Operating System
Microsoft Windows 2000 Server 61%
Novell NetWare 5.1 24%
Red Hat Linux 6.2 HA Server 15%
Best Workgroup Software
Microsoft Exchange 59%
Lotus Notes 24%
Novell GroupWise 17%
Best Network Server
Compaq ProLiant series 52%
HP NetServer series 26%
IBM Netfinity series 22%
Best Remote Access Software
Symantec PCAnywhere 10 81%
Microsoft Remote Access Server 19%
Graphics
Best DTP (Low-end)
Microsoft Publisher 2000 53%
Adobe PageMaker 6.5 40%
Corel Ventura 8 6%
Best DTP (Professional)
Adobe PageMaker 6.5 80%
QuarkXPress 5 10%
Adobe InDesign 1.5 10%
Best Draw Software
CorelDraw 10 47%
JASC Paint Shop Pro 7 22%
Adobe Illustrator 9 20%
Best Image Editor
Adobe Photoshop 6 42%
JASC PaintShop Pro 7 11%
Adobe Photoshop Elements 3%
Microsoft Picture It! 3%
Tools and Utilities
Best Antivirus Software
Symantec Norton AntiVirus 2002 74%
NAI-McAfee Virus Scan 17%
Computer Associates Vet 4%
Best Utility Suite
Symantec Norton System Works 2002 57%
Symantec Norton Utilites 2002 34%
McAfee Office 3 9%
Best Development Tool
Borland Delphi 6 38%
Microsoft Visual Basic 6 23%
Microsoft Visual Studio 19%
Best Fax Software
Symantec WinFax Pro 2002 57%
Cheyenne BitWare 23%
Microsoft Outlook 2002 20%
After Hours
Best Game
Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator 2 33%
Counter-Strike 20%
Black and White 15%
Service
Best Systems Integrator
Compaq 26%
Computerland 20%
HP 19%
IBM 16%
Best Service &
Support (Hardware)
Dell 8%
HP 7%
Compaq 7%
The PC Company 7%
Best Service &
Support (Software)
Microsoft 15%
Symantec 7%
Computerland 6%
Best Service &
Support (Internet)
Xtra 29%
Paradise.net 23%
Ihug 13%
Clear Net 12%
Voyager
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