CRN through the years...

With less than a month to go before the 20th-ever CRN Awards, we take a look back over the past two decades in the channel

In less than three weeks' time, the CRN Channel Awards will kick off and this year, it's extra special. The first-ever CRN Awards hit the channel back in 1994, meaning this year, the event is turning 20.

But in the meantime, we are embarking on a journey back through time...

Over the coming days, up to the Awards day on 14 November, CRN will be revisiting some of the more seminal news stories of the last two decades as well as some of the most zany analyst predictions. You might even recognise a few familiar faces from over the years too.

There may be a few red faces in the channel over the coming weeks as we wheel out some examples of the 90s ties and ‘taches you'd sooner forget, but we're not ashamed to get involved either.

Here is what the current CRN team looked like back in 1994 when the CRN Awards was first born...

Sara Yirrell Doug Woodburn

Sam Trendall

Hannah Breeze

Fleur Doidge

So without further ado, let's take a look at our first blast from the past.

1997 - Clouded judgment

The Internet of Things is a hot topic today, with billions of devices expected to be internet enabled in the coming years. The idea of having a cow connected to the internet might still seem like an alien concept to some, so we will forgive one PC Dealer writer who really did not foresee the trend back in 1998.

"Having a microwave with a touch-sensitive screen for net access, home accounting, shopping lists and recipes sounds like one of those spoof nearly-good ideas that Viz used to print - like taking your dustbin to the supermarket to know what you've run out of....

"Would you come home to find hackers heating up pies in your kitchen? Would kids tell their teachers ‘I couldn't do my homework because mum was baking a potato'?"

2000 - Millennium bug

The dawn of the new millennium came as a huge disappointment for some tech firms which had invested heavily in combating the much-feared millennium bug. When it passed without a trace, the bug proved nothing but a costly burden for some.

"The computer industry is facing accusations of scaremongering over the millennium bug, which so far has failed to materialise in any serious form," said CRN in the first issue of the new millennium.

"But industry gurus have hit back by saying that money and time spent fixing systems has averted serious problems. While an estimated £20bn was spent in the UK to prepare computer systems for the date change, questions are now being asked about whether this was a waste. Resellers have expressed irritation with media coverage suggesting the bug was a hoax."