100
GREATEST OF ALL TIME24 MAXIMUMPC DECEMBER 2007
91
MICROSOFT FLIGHT
SIMULATOR (1982) Pac-Man?
Mario? Newbs. Versions of this classic
simulator date back to 1977 (Microsoft
got it in ’82), making it arguably the
longest continuously developed game
series of all time.90
ZONE LABS ZONEALARM
(2000) In the sketchy early
’00s, security exploits were rampant, and
Microsoft offered no help. A good fi rewall
was usually all that stood between you
and the bad guys. ZoneAlarm was the
best of the lot—and it was free!89
M-SYSTEMS DISKONKEY
(2000) The fi rst widely success-
ful thumb drive worked without an onerous
driver installation, plus it had a great nick-
name, the Donkey!88
DSL (1998) Cable modems (see
#23) seem to have beaten DSL
in the broadband wars, but DSL was fi rst
on the scene, teaching us
there was
life beyond
56k.87
A3D (1996) A surround sound
experience with only two speak-
ers? Aureal’s A3D tricks the human ear
into hearing more than is really there, and
for that, we’re duly impressed.86
AMERICA
ONLINE
(1985) Go
ahead and laugh.
AOL may be a
joke today (did
you hear the one
about the guy who tried to cancel his
account?), but it got millions of people
turned on to interconnectivity in the early
Internet days.85
SATA
(2003)
Finally, a suc-
cessor to the
fat-boy ATA/
IDE cable
(see #80).
SATA allows
for better cable
management,
better air fl ow, and,
of course, far faster transfer speeds. It’s
even available in external form.84
IOMEGA ZIP DRIVE (1994) A
stopgap between the fl oppy drive
and ubiquitous CD-R availability,
the 100MB Zip
disk was
heavily used
in the graphics
industry to cart
multi-mega-
byte fi les from
one computer to another.83
APPLE POWERBOOK 100
(1991) Despite some shortcom-
ings, the PowerBook 100 revolutionized
laptop design by moving the keyboard to
the back of the unit, making it much easier
to type on.and ubiquitous CD-R availability,A surround sound
experience with only two speak-into hearing more than is really there, andaccount?), but it got millions of people
turned on to interconnectivity in the earlyto type on.