Tech's most influential product over the past 25 years...

According to a poll by the Computing Technology Industry Association, it is...Microsoft's Internet Explorer.

Here is the release:

Internet Explorer Selected as Most Influential Tech Product of Past 25 Years in Computing Technology Industry Association Poll

Four Microsoft products, Apple iPod claim top five spots

Oakbrook Terrace, Ill., July 31, 2007 -– Microsoft's Internet Explorer, the most widely used Web browser on the market, is the most influential technology product of the past 25 years, according to a new survey by the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA).

Products developed by Microsoft claimed four of the top five spots in the poll of information technology (IT) industry professionals, conducted in conjunction with the 25th anniversary of CompTIA.

The Apple iPod, one of the most successful consumer electronics products in history, is the only non-Microsoft product to crack the top five.

Internet Explorer was selected as the most influential product of the past quarter century by 66 percent of the IT professionals surveyed. The first version of the browser launched in 1995, and by 1999 Internet Explorer had become the market's predominant Web browser, a position it still holds today.

Microsoft Word, the most widely used word processing application on the market, placed second in the poll. It was selected by 56 percent of survey respondents.

Microsoft Windows 95, the most widely used operating system for desktop and laptop computers, placed third in the poll. It was selected by 50 percent of respondents.

Tied for fourth place on the list of most influential products, applications or technologies of the past 25 years were the Apple iPod and Microsoft Excel, at 49 percent each.

More than 100 million iPods have been sold since the portable digital media player launched in 2001; and more than 1.5 billion songs have been purchased from the Apple's iTunes® online store.

Excel has captured some 90 percent of the spreadsheet market since its launch in the mid-1980s.

Rounding out the top ten in the CompTIA poll on the most influential products, applications or technologies of the past 25 years were:

* BlackBerry™ (39 percent) -– Launched in 1999 by Research In Motion, this all-in-one wireless data and voice device was the first wireless device to synchronize with company e-mail systems so users did not require a different e-mail address when traveling.

· Adobe Photoshop software (35 percent) -– The de facto standard in image editing was the first to bring affordable image editing down to the personal computer level in the late 1980s.

· McAfee VirusScan® (32 percent) -– Popular antivirus program.

· Netscape Navigator (31 percent) -– Introduced in 1994, Navigator quickly became the leading browser on the Web.

· PalmPilot (31 percent) -– The first personal digital assistant device manufactured by Palm, Inc., then a division of U.S. Robotics, and introduced in 1996. The following year, the device was named "High Tech Gizmo of the Year" by Newsweek.

A total of 471 individuals participated in the CompTIA survey, which was conducted in May and June.