Download - Voted: The Best and Worst in Technology
the Best & Worst in Technology
A Word from the Host Welcome! Thank you for downloading the results of the first annual Golden Paw Awards, sponsored by SmartBear, where we reveal the year’s best and worst in software quality. Software professionals from around the world voted for the favorites and failures of 2012. If you were one of the hundreds of participants, thank you for voting! If, like me, you believe that quality of software is indicative of quality of life, then I think you’ll enjoy these awards. May we applaud those who exceeded expectations and learn from those who did not. Warmest regards, Eugene T. Bear
Award Categories “Best Thing Since Sliced Bread” Award Most Overrated Product
“Spork” Award Most Underrated
Product
“Luke, I am your Father” Award Most Impactful News Event
“Titanic” Award Most Epic Tech Fail
“Great Pyramid – How in the Blazes Did They Do
it?!” Award Biggest Tech Success
“Up-Up-Down-Down-Left- Right-Left-Right-B-A” Award Game-Changer of the Year
“Hulk Smash” Award Breakthrough of the Year
Most Impac+ul News Event
“Luke, I Am Your Father” Award
Every once in a while, there's a defining moment that alters the world we live in forever. Out with the old, in with the new -‐ we can look back on 2012 as the turning point in some respects.
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YouTube’s Coverage of the Space Jump Daredevil Felix Baumgartner broke the sound barrier with a jump 24 miles above the earth and YouTube flexed their load capacity muscles with a record-breaking 8 million live viewers of the event.
Facebook Buys Instagram
Just before filing for an IPO, Facebook purchased the photo filter sharing company for $1 billion.
Facebook Files IPO
Facebook’s first day of trading closed at $38.23 and, despite technical glitches and controversy, raised about $16 billion, making it the third largest IPO in U.S. history.
When Samsung won the initial patent lawsuit against Apple, every Android lover in the world breathed, “Finally!” For some, the Samsung victory marked a huge step toward the decline of the Apple Empire. Last summer, Apple sued Samsung for $2.5 billion, accusing Samsung of copying the design of the iPhone and iPad. Samsung denied any wrongdoing and counter-sued Apple for $519 million, also for patent infringement.
The Empire Strikes Back…and gets counter-sued for $508 million
APPLE vs SAMSUNG The “Luke, I am Your Father” Award for Most Impactful Event
Biggest Tech Success
“Great Pyramid – How in the Blazes Did They Do It?” Award
Some products blew us away in 2012 -‐ this is for them.
YouTube’s Coverage of the Space Jump Daredevil Felix Baumgartner broke the sound barrier with a jump 24 miles above the earth and YouTube flexed their load capacity muscles with a record-breaking 8 million live viewers of the event.
Kickstarter
Kickstarter fundraisers broke the record three times over in 2012 for most money raised, with Pebble E-Paper Watch eventually becoming the most funded project in Kickstarter history with $10,266,845.
Cell Phone Networks Hurricane Resilience
As the largest Atlantic hurricane on record tore through the Northeast, cell service was relatively available during and after Hurricane Sandy – so much so that people we able to text for help in non-emergencies rather than use 911.
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The first license for a self-driven car was issued in May 2012 for a Toyota Prius and was later accompanied by about nine more vehicles. The vehicles operated with amazing precision, completing over 300,000 miles without an accident. As of September, Nevada, Florida, and California had passed laws permitting driverless cars on public roadways.
Extraterrestrial help? We think so.
GOOGLE DRIVERLESS CARS The “Great Pyramid – How in the Blazes did They Do It?” Award for Biggest Tech Success Story
Most Epic Tech Flop
“Titanic” Award
You can't always see the iceberg ahead. This award goes to the products that set sail with high expectaJons but crashed and burned in the real world.
Nokia Lumia 900 Despite being awarded the “Best Smartphone” by CES in January 2012, the Lumia 900 was criticized for the usability of the Windows operating system and poor screen resolution.
Windows 8
After three years, the new Windows operating system was the hot topic of 2012, but many people were disappointed with the unintuitive user interface and “walled garden” app distribution model.
Between the eventual decline of Facebook’s stock, the technical glitches on opening day, and the continuing outrage over user privacy, Facebook just doesn’t seem cool anymore.
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This was such a landslide of a win (or loss) it almost needs no explanation. After severing a relationship with Google, Apple released their own version of a Maps application on the iOS 6 update. The geographic inaccuracies and lack of features were so conspicuous that Apple’s CEO Tim Cook wrote an apology for the release, fired the executive in charge of the software, and made Google Maps available on the iPhone app store two months later.
“ICEBERG AHEAD! Oh, wait… that’s Sacramento.”
APPLE iOS MAPS The “Titanic” Award for Most Epic Tech Flop
Most Underrated Product
“Spork” Award
This honor goes to the product, team or company that slipped under our radar this year. In the shadow of the giant releases and big names that swamped the blogosphere, the winner of the Spork award deserves a nod.
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Cubify Cube 3D Printer There’s no doubt that this is a high-tech product that may have gone unnoticed in 2012, allowing users to create 3-D objects from recyclable PLA and ABS plastics.
Windows 8
Clearly this release received mixed reviews, with advocates applauding the improved performance and dual functionality with tablets and PCs.
Microsoft Surface Competing directly with the iPad, the Microsoft Surface received rave reviews for design and usability that is often unbecoming of Microsoft products.
Mark this down as the first time since 2005 that Google has avoided the spotlight in any capacity. The Chromebook runs only Web-based applications and became known for its comparatively low cost. The biggest praise for Google’s hardware, however, was in its surprisingly fast startup time.
Sporks. Think about it. Why aren’t these things more popular?!
GOOGLE CHROMEBOOK The “Spork” Award for Most Underrated Product
Most Overrated Product
“Best Thing Since Sliced Bread” Award
This is the eye-‐rolling, exasperated sigh inducing, "please stop talking about it, let's move on" award for the undeserving buzz generator. Yes, we're talking about it again. But we swear, this is the last Jme.
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Google Chromebook ChromeBook haters are disappointed that it won the “Spork” award aQer ciJng its lack of storage space and RAM capacity.
Microsoft Surface
PosiJoned in direct compeJJon with the iPad 3, many were unimpressed with the Surface’s keyboard usability and frustrated with the UI given how much MicrosoQ invested into the product.
Windows 8
AQer three years, the new Windows operaJng system was the hot topic of 2012, but many people were disappointed with the unintuiJve user interface and “walled garden” app distribuJon model.
Every time Apple makes a move, the world holds its breath. To be fair, it’s difficult to not be overrated when everything you do is hyped to the extreme. With people waiting in line for days and analysts debating the features of the iPhone 48 already, this release was almost guaranteed to be underwhelming. No pancake flipper? No mute button for my kids? What a rip off!
“We put the headphones on the bottom – what more do you want from us?”
iPHONE 5 The “Best Thing Since Sliced Bread” Award for Most Overrated Product
Breakthrough Technology of the Year
“Hulk Smash” Award
The new kid on the block. This award is for the one that broke out in 2012 and impressed us with their new moves.
Big Data 2012 saw a significant increase in the limits on the size of data sets that are feasible to process in a reasonable amount of time, which is especially surprising given that about 2.5 quintillion (2.5×1018) bytes of data are created every day.
HTML5
This attempt at a single markup language for the various specifications of the Word Wide Web, especially in the mobile space, is changing the way testers and developers write and run applications.
3D Printing
This is like bringing CIA technologies into your living room, making it possible to create actual objects from a digital model.
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Excuse the overused metaphor, but software and hardware is so much lighter now that cloud computing has become so widely used. We are more agile, more reactive and more efficient in software deployment. According to a Gartner study, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) revenue totaled $12.3 billion in 2011 and was expected to rise to $14.5 billion last year. This new model, promoting shared space and fair usage, is really changing the way we work in the software world.
Ironically, just about the only thing Hulk can’t smash is a cloud.
CLOUD SERVICES The “Hulk Smash” Award for Breakthrough of the Year
Biggest Game-‐Changer
“Up-Up-Down-Down-Left- Right-Left-Right-B-A” Award
Every once in a while, there's an idea, a company, or a product that sets a new standard in the industry. The winner of the game changer award is deserving because they forever altered the technology world in 2012.
Amazon In 2012, Amazon launched a “green” products line, Amazon Game Studios, online storage services, and grew its customer base to around 30 million people.
Dropbox
This cloud-based file hosting service reached over 100 million users, integrated with Facebook Groups, and launched automatic upload in 2012.
Microsoft With the release of Windows 8 OS, the Surface tablet, and a series of smartphones, 2012 was no doubt a breakout year for Bill Gates and company.
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What’s the cheat for billion-dollar success?
GOOGLE The “Up-Up-Down-Down-Left-Right-Left-Right-B-A” Award for Biggest Game-Changer
Between the legalization of driverless cars, the vastly underrated Chromebook computer, and a smirking “we-told-you-so” to Apple Maps, 2012 was a defining year for Google. In May, Chrome surpassed Internet Explorer as the most used Web browser with just over 33% market share. Google+, although some would argue is a bit of a ghost town, reached over 500 million registered users in December. It ain't easy being one of the most powerful companies in the world. It comes with ridiculously high expectations and oftentimes more chance to fail than to succeed, but somehow Google managed to deliver on expectations with confidence and flying colors.
CongratulaJons to our winners, and for our losers -‐ beXer luck next year! Here’s to another year honoring soQware quality.