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Poll: And the most over-hyped event of 2007 was...

Clue: It failed to "Wow" silicon.com readers...

Tags: 2007, poll, hype

By Natasha Lomas

Published: 3 January 2008 12:15 GMT

Microsoft seems to have overreached itself with its 'the "Wow" starts now' tag-line for Windows Vista.

silicon.com readers were distinctly unwowed by the long delayed launch of the OS, which finally limped into view last year - so unwowed they voted Vista the most over-hyped tech event of 2007.

An impressive 43 per cent of respondents to the reader poll fingered Vista as the biggest load of hot air to make a noise in 2007. Previous silicon.com reader polls have also been less than kind to the shiny new Windows OS.

In a poll last month, two-thirds of respondents vowed never to migrate to Vista. And back in November readers ranked it below Windows XP, Mac OS X and Linux as their OS of choice.

But if the folks in Redmond are looking a little red-faced after blowing up all those unwanted 'Wow' balloons, silicon.com readers are also convinced Cupertino is guilty of over-cranking the hype machine. Only just behind Vista, 42 per cent of poll respondents voted the Apple iPhone launch as the most over-hyped event of last year.

While the iPhone may arguably offer users something new - which, some people would say, sets it apart from Windows Vista - its cost is a sticking point.

Back in September, silicon.com's CIO Jury said the smart phone is simply too expensive to become a corporate mobile device. And a survey of consumers also found many were being put off by its hefty price-tag.

Both Vista and the iPhone eclipsed 2007's other high-profile tech tales - such as Second Life, which gained nine per cent of the over-hyped vote, and Facebook, which notched up just six per cent.

Facebook's founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, gained the top spot in silicon.com's 2007 Agenda Setters list - proof, if proof were needed, that the social networking website made a real impact last year.

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Agenda Setters 2009
Welcome to the ninth annual Agenda Setters poll – silicon.com's list of the top 50 most influential individuals in the technology and IT industries, from techies and CIOs to entrepreneurs and business leaders. Find out more in our latest special report.





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