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
2%
