Cliff Saran’s FUD blog

There's been a buzz in Computer Weekly's office today. What is the 10 most
significant e-commerce developments in the last 10 years? According to the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) Google is Number One , folllowed by broadband penetration in the US, eBay, Amazon and Google Adwords.

How about technological advancements? Would you vote for Windows 2000 or Web Services, Java, Ajax, virtualisation or multi-core processors? How about Google?

Were I a cynic, I would argue that the Melissa Worm or Y2K - the biggest non-event ever - should be up there in the top 10. Both raised awareness of the fragile nature of IT and how easy it could impact our lives. While I use Google at least 20 times a day, it just can't be that important . One could argue that Google has captured the combined knowledge of the human race via the Internet - except if you happen to live in China, where Google's search results delist key events in China's recent history like Tiannerman Square and the Tank Man.

Personally, I think the mapping of the human genome represents the single biggest technological advancement in the area of bioinformatics. It required a huge amount of IT and in my opinion we are only starting to see the first fruits of the benefits it will be able to deliver to mankind.