The 2005 Engadget Awards: Nominate the Blunder of the Year
By Ryan Block 
posted January 12th 2006 11:53PM
posted January 12th 2006 11:53PM
Nominating is easy. Just leave a comment as you normally would with what you're nominating for this category (remember, comments must be validated!). You don’t have to include your reasons for nominating it or any of that stuff, just leaving the name is fine.
Limit your nominations only to corporate, device-related, or otherwise, that occurred in 2005.
Also, these blunders only need to be nominated once to be in the running, so if you’re planning on suggesting something, please make a quick scan to see if someone’s already beat you to it (i.e., please don't nominate anything more than once!). Thanks!
Sony DRM/Rootkit
Yup that rootkit sure stunk
Cingular/Motorola ROKR E1
Xbox 360
2 SKUs for the XBox 360
PSP
xbox360 launch.... can anything even compare to this SNAFU?
Sony PSP advertising.
From the fake graffiti, to the yapping squirrels, to that commercial where people throw the PSP. Actually that commercial is how I feel, "get it away from me."
Sony DRM Rootkit, nothing comes even close.
Amp'd mobile's ad campaign! Everyone hate's the company and they haven't even had the chance to show how crappy their products and service are.
No question, Sony DRM/rootkit.
Gizmondo
the xbox 360's crashing
Sony DRM/rootkit
Cingular/Motorola ROKR iTunes Phone =/
Sony DRM rootkit, PSP, UMD, Bluray just Sony
Steve Jobs' presentation skills.
Sony DRM/Rootkit Fiasco
Sony DRM/rootkit
Since I don't buy Sony CDs anyways, and I use Symantec SystemWorks, I would say the rootkit from NProtect by Symantec (the antivirus company-->Ironic)
The Xbox release in Japan.
ROKR E1
the name MACBOOK PRO i mean what were they thinking??
'Connect' the software used with the new Sony Walkmans.
X BOX 360
What a shameless act of marketing hoopla only to realize that it needs more time in the oven!
Sony in general.
Oakley Thump 2
Not sure if that came out in 05, but that thing is just...beyond words.
ok this is a bit of a strech in terms of tech relation but non of these previous posts cost a company $251 mill.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8382753/
bahahahahaha
definately blunder of the year.
Sony DRM
Need we say more?
are you guys kidding? there are only two real options, IMHO. The first would be the sorely overlooked Hot Coffee fiasco. This was a blunder to the nth degree, by nearly everyone involved. The second is obviously the Sony rootkit. Both blunders were so awful that local and state governments are involved, and possibly higher.
I personally believe that Sony should get the prize, for two reasons. First, the rootkit fiasco is more of a gadget-based issue, which is really the reason we're all here (at Engadget). Hot Coffee was a major issue for a lot of people, but not really a gadget issue, per se. Second, Sony intentionally hurt their own customers. They obviously care more about the bottom line than helping or satisfing their own customer base, and it shows. The rootkit wasn't an example of a company leaving a little code in a program (then pretending they didn't do it,) it was a malicious act by a corporation against its own supporters - music fans everywhere.
The winner of Engadget's Blunder of the Year Award could only go to Sony. No other mishap was big enough to get sued by multiple governments, as well as pissing off an entire community of users and music lovers.
Sony Rootkit
the sony rootkit!
Did sony think that they could get away with this unpunished?
Sony DRM/Rootkit
Gizmondo
3-way tie in Software:
SONY rootkit
Symantec rootkit
iTunes spying on users
Hardware: Motorola iTunes "phone"
"Most people, I think, don't even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it?"
---Thomas Hesse
President of Sony BMG global digital business division
Novemeber 2005
I think that statement should win Blunder of the Year
The unveiling of the PS3 and it's boomerang controller.
gizmondo
Sony DRM/Rootkit and pretty much everything else Sony all year
definitely SONY DRM
evil, evil, evil...................
Xbox 360 Launch.
(I still haven't got one!!!!)
:(
Ms. Merkel's squandering the CDU's lead in German Elections?
Sony's rootkit debacle
Motorola Rokr
Sony BMG (AKA..Rootkit)
I'm not sure if this happened in 05, but Bill Gates boxing ability
The XBOX360 Launch
Sony DRM
- Sony DRM/rootkit
- Intel's overpriced desktop cpu's which don't even bench CLOSE to ANY AMD.
Xbox 360 in Japan