The first time we heard about the Fiasco Awards, we immediately did a double-take. Who? The small Spanish survey is worth noting for their Vista hating; the
same feeling we've held for the last two years.
In Barcelona, where the Fiasco Awards are based, the love for Microsoft is critical. Some would call it a 'Fiasco' and that's exactly what this new set of awards has undertaken to achieve.
In hoping to find the world's worst performing I.T products, the awards appear to have found their mark with an array of software programs, including some big hitters such as Vista and Google's under-loved 'Lively' product, which is now defunct.
Voting took place online through the Fiasco Awards website, where just over 6400 people gave their opinions. Not surprisingly, Microsoft's dead-in-the-water operating system (Vista), was voted the world's worst I.T product, gaining 81% or 5222 of the overall votes.
The not-for-profit private initiative aimed to find the "funny" side amongst the usual tech sector criticism and part of the judging criteria reflected this approach. The Fiasco awards list two of their main objectives: "To share what we have learned from our mistakes" and "to have fun".
Some of the other products on the list may seem a bit far-fetched. We'd hardly call the One Laptop per child initiative awful, but then again, it had its fair share of detractors and according to multiple news reports - failed to reach the millions of people that really needed the product.
The Top 6 worst performing I.T products, according to the Fiasco Awards:
- 1) Windows Vista
- 2) OLPC
- 3) Second life
- 4) Google Lively
- 5) Mobuzz
- 6) Autonomix