Reg Tech Panel Microsoft, Google, Apple, Dell and Adobe systems are ruling the roost when it comes to mindshare amongst the readers of The Register, according to the latest findings from our industry Buzz Report. But not everyone gathers such glowing reports. NetApp, Nortel, Avaya, Salesforce.com and HDS are positively languishing in the mindshare rankings – with HDS propping up the entire mindshare list.

The obvious question though is how did we figure out mind share? We applied the principles of the late great Oscar Wilde: "There’s only one thing worse than being talked about, and that’s not being talked about." So the company’s with low mindshare rankings are the ones that received the fewest mentions from the 598 readers who responded to the questionnaire.

When it comes to leadership in the marketplace, we went all scientific and asked the readers to consider whether a vendor was a ‘leader,’ ‘follower’, ‘laggard,’ or ‘has been.’ Google tops the list, which is a sorry indictment of our times if you ask me, with Apple, VMware, Adobe and Cisco following respectively.

Those that sit firmly in the backwaters of technology innovation, in the minds of Reg readers, include HDS, CA, Motorola, Nortel and Borland, which was languishing in 31st place.

We also asked respondents to nominate three IT or comms suppliers that they had been particularly impressed or unimpressed with. This was an open, unprompted question so people could tell us whatever they wanted – and it’s worth keeping in mind that people have a tendency to use this opportunity to harp on about bad experiences. Still, some interesting results altogether.

Microsoft for instance was cited for its ease of use, while the haters did the classic, ‘Greedy money grabbers.’ Yeah we know, another ‘company’s making money’ gripe shocker from the kids. HP on the other hand was lauded for the quality of its hardware and beaten for its after sales support. Dell, on the other hand, was right up there with Marmite – people either love it or hate it with equal passion.

Anyway, IT buyers views of technology vendors are shaped by a myriad of different inputs, which together create a ‘buzz’ of sentiment around each player. It’s not just about quality products anymore, there’s reputation to consider, financial stability, the credibility of its leadership and of course the less tangible measures like culture and ethos – which is what we, in conjunction with industry analysts Freeform Dynamics, have attempted to capture. You can read the entire report here, for free.