1994 BYTE Awards

The biggest stars of 1994 were enabling technologies. Many of last year's best products were the ones that will lead to this year's biggest hits.

Compiled by Dennis Barker

Nineteen-ninety-four was a prelude of sorts. It set the scene for a dramatic act in which story strands entwine, mistakes are repaired, villains are vanquished, heroes are redeemed, truth is revealed, love is triumphant, and justice prevails.

The most significant developments of 1994 were enabling technologies--hardware and software that serve the needs of developers or that give users the kind of performance they require for the late 1990s. This includes such products as the Power Macs, which offer high performance at a good price. (We had expected to be voting on PowerPC-based computers from other companies, but that will be next year's story. )

General Magic's Telescript is another good example. This year we voted on the language itself; we expect to be voting next year on Telescript-based products.

In some ways, the past year was most notable for things we couldn't give awards to--things we thought we'd be voting on but couldn't, because they never came to market: namely, Microsoft's Chicago (aka Windows 95) and IBM's Power Personal PCs. We worked with beta versions of Chicago, and we had a preproduction PowerPC-based system from IBM, but we give awards only to products that are shipping.

We expect to be voting next year on a boatload of new RISC products. IBM will bring out its Power Personal systems, and other companies--including members of Taiwan's NewPC Consortium--will introduce their own PowerPC designs. The new chips and software that arrived this year point toward a big upswing in RISC products next year. Analysts at Dataquest predict that sales of RISC PCs will generate revenues of $7 billion in 1995.

Power Macs and Pentiums

Far and away, the biggest vote-getter among the BYTE staff was Apple's line of Power Macs. Our enthusiasm for these new models was shared by the buying public: Apple has sold more than a million Power Macs since their rollout in March, thereby becoming the leading vendor of RISC systems. Analysts predict even higher sales in 1995, when owners of older Macs, new users, and some RISC converts snatch up Power Macs.

Our voting results also reflect the kind of year it was for x86-style desktop systems. You'll note that there are few of these machines in our list of winners. While many of the PCs that came out in 1994 were variations on the theme of faster and less expensive--a great theme--none of them broke new technical ground.

Killer Apps?

What was the piece of software you heard about most often last year? Chicago, probably. But what about shipping software? Chances are it was Doom, the grizzly game Jerry Pournelle d escribes as "heroinware." That's an indication of the kind of year it was in the world of popular software. In other words, there was no killer application.

Instead, we found the most excellent software to be outside the realm of mainstream and professional applications: The very best work was deeper down, in the world of development tools and operating systems. Our highest awards for 1994 go to platforms and software technologies that will enable the development of ground-breaking new products and capabilities.

Perhaps the most significant software arrival of the year--or at least the one that received the most votes from our staff--is General Magic's Telescript. So far, commercial use of Telescript has been limited to AT&T's PersonaLink service, Sony's Magic Link personal communicator, and the maybe-it's-arrived-by-now Envoy from Motorola. But some major communications companies, such as French Telecom and Nippon Telephone and Telegraph, say they'll use this language and its intelligent agents as the core of new, smart networks.

Another important enabling software that stood out on last year's timescape is Microsoft's OLE Controls. (We voted it the "most significant technology" as part of BYTE's Best of Comdex awards last spring.) OLE Controls, which combines OLE 2.0 with Visual Basic custom controls, will give developers tools for building a new generation of innovative programs.

Ninety-Five Will Be Smokin'

In some ways, the industry was in a holding pattern during 1994, waiting to see what would happen with new operating systems, such as Windows 95, and new processors, such as the PowerPC. The number of products that really knocked us out last year was down from the year before. But the things we liked, we really liked. They are significant technologies and products that are going to change the way we use computers.

Amidst all the spark and sputter of 1994, there were signs of a radical shift toward new processors, new operating systems, and n ew prototypes in software development. The components for major changes in computing are now in place. Ninety-five is going to be awesome.