People's Choice Awards and Shareware Industry Awards Winners

On Saturday July 16th, 2005, the annual SIAF People's Choice Awards and Shareware Industry Awards were presented at a gala banquet. The banquet took place during the annual Shareware Industry Conference and this year the conference was held at the Hyatt Regency Tech Center in Denver, Colorado.

These awards are something that are very near and dear to my heart. I created the Shareware Industry Awards in 1992 and the People's Choice Awards in 1993. I've been pleased to see these award grow and mature over the past 14 years. The Shareware Industry Awards, for example, now span 19 categories. At the same time, the SIAF People's Choice Awards receive votes from tens of thousands of users just like you!

In my Dr. File Finder's Picks the next several weeks I'll be reviewing just some of the winners of both the People's Choice Awards and the Shareware Industry Awards, but I'd like to give you a head start. So, here are the winners of the 2005 SIAF People's Choice Awards. Take some time, download them, and find out why they won. Just click on the links I've provided to go to the programs preview page. ALL of these programs are excellent and it's only fitting that they appear in the "Shareware Spotlight!"

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Best Overall UtilityWinZipby WinZip by WinZip Computing, Inc. Best ApplicationNoteTab Proby Fookes SoftwareBest Graphics Program or UtilityPaint Shop Proby Corel CorporationBest Sound Program or UtilityBlaze Media Proby Mystik MediaBest Vertical Market Program or UtilityMacro Expressby Insight Software Solutions, Inc. Best Business Application or UtilityMicrosoft Office 2003by Microsoft CorporationBest Educational Program or GameAceReaderby StepWare, Inc. Best Hobby or Personal InterestPicasaby Google, Inc. Best Internet EnhancementAd-Aware SEby Lavasoft Sweden Best Internet CommunicationICUIIby Cybration, Inc. Best Web EnhancementMozilla Firefoxby The Mozilla FoundationBest Non-Action Game Pretty Good Solitaireby Goodsol Development, Inc. Best Action/Arcade GameUnReal Tournamentby Epic Games Best Program for PDA'sPocket Informant 2005by Web Information Solutions, Inc.

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And now for the winners of the Shareware Industry Awards. Once again, ALL of these programs, and the ones that were nominated, are worth your time and investment. I hope you check them out. Best Overall UtilityTuneUp Utilities 2004by TuneUp Software GmbHBest ApplicationUltraEdit 32by IDM SoftwareBest Graphics Program or UtilitySnagItby Techsmith CorporationBest Desktop Enhancement Microangelo Creationby Eclipsit CorporationBest Photo Program or Utility Images: In Context!by Liquid Mirror SoftwareBest Application Using .NetGuitar and Drum Trainer 2by Renegade MindsBest Utility Using .NetFILEhand Searchby Filehand LLC. Best Sound Program or UtilityMicrosoft Media Playerby Microsoft CorporationBest Vertical Market Program or UtilityHelp And Manualby EC Software Best Bussiness Application or UtilityBlack Hole Organizerby Lincoln Beach Software, Inc. Best Educational Program or GameCherokee Trailsby Pharos GamesBest Hobby or Personal InterestPhotoMixby fCoder Group, Inc. Best Internet EnhancementFTP Voyagerby RhinoSoft.ComBest Internet CommunicationFeedForAllby NotePage, Inc. Best Web EnhancementHTML Matchby Salty Brine SoftwareBest Server Program or UtilityServers Aliveby bvba WoodstoneBest Non-Action Game NoLimits Roller Coasterby Mad DataBest Action/Arcade GameAstrogeddonby ORT SoftwareBest Program for PDA'sGoogle Mobileby Google, Inc.