R.I.P.

1. Dearly Departed: Companies and Products That Didn't Deserve to Die

In July we published our most popular story of the year: a collection of our favorite products that met their demise thanks in large part to unfortunate business decisions. Finding their way onto our list were several innovations-from minicomputers to software utilities-and more than a few of you added suggestions of your own. The topic was so popular, in fact, that we did a follow-up itemizing readers' most mourned products.

Extreme IT

2. Seven Wonders of the IT World

The fastest supercomputer. The most intriguing data center. The constantly changing core at the heart of Linux. We gave you a tour of the most impressive and most unusual marvels of the IT world... and boy, did you love the ride.

Just Say No

3. Eight Sound Reasons Not to Use MySQL

It's always useful to set two authoritative speakers down on opposite sides of an issue; readers can listen to both opinions and make an informed decision. We asked one author to explain the reasons that IT departments might want to give a thumbs-down to the popular open-source MySQL database, and also asked a subject matter expert to explain the flip side, why MySQL is a great idea. Twice as many were interested in the reasons to say No as were interested in supporting the database. Go figure.

Crash Course

4. ABCs: An Introduction to ERP

Our ABCs — short introductions to key technology topics &mdash are our "backlist" of articles that often are found by Web searchers who need a leg-up today. The most popular is our ABC on Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), and if you're at all familiar with the topic, you'll surely realize why. The ABCs of Supply Chain Management has been mighty popular, too. We also have an inclusive list of all (well, most) of the ABCs on one handy page.

To Catch A Predator

5. How Online Criminals Make Themselves Tough to Find, Near Impossible to Nab

You might not have guessed that a security article would be so popular. But this one, about the rise of new, easy-to-use antiforensic tools threatening to render computer forensics investigations cost-prohibitive and digital evidence-gathering unreliable in court, is fascinating (in a "wow, how 'bout that!" manner) as well as important for IT departments to know.

The Great Debate

6. Eight Financial Reasons Why You Should Use Mac OS

We learned from that MySQL example: people like to listen to debates, and there's no subject that garners more passion than which OS is best. In late 2006, Meridith Levinson chronicled CIO John Halamka's evaluation of the desktop operating system contenders in his quest for the next-generation office computer.

This year, Halamka updated his research by evalutating both Ubuntu and SUSE, and the Linux advocates came out to share their opinions. But it's the Apple loyalists (and its detractors too) that brought two pro-Mac OS stories into the top 10. The first touted its cost-effectiveness, the second described how businesses breaking up with Windows can more easily integrate Mac OS X into the enterprise.