On August 12th 1981, IBM announced the launch of the IBM Personal Computer (PC). Although not the first PC on the market, the involvement of IBM heralded the beginning of the 'PC revolution'. Now, 25 years later, more than 1 billion PCs have been sold and, according to forecasts, this number could double, to >2 billion, in the next 5 years.

For many of us the PC is now an integral part of life, not only at home but also at work. Of course, much of this success is attributable to the world wide web, which is also celebrating its 15th anniversary this month. The internet has had a huge impact on scientific research. Microbiology is no exception to this, particularly given the huge success of the various microbial genome sequencing initiatives; as of the beginning of August 2006, >350 complete bacterial and archaeal genome sequences are available on NCBI, and almost 600 more are in progress. So it is hardly surprising that in every issue we have published to date, at least one article — in addition to our popular Genome Watch column — draws on genome sequence data. This month, the article that relies most heavily on genome data is the Perspective on page 697 by Fidelma Boyd and colleagues, which looks at what genome sequence data can tell us about the niche specialization of the Vibrionaceae.

Finally, with this month's issue we take our collaboration with the UNICEF/UNDP/World Bank/WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR) forward, with the publication of a supplement on malaria diagnostics. This is the first of a series of user-friendly guides to diagnostic evaluations, and can be accessed free online at http://www.nature.com/nrmicro/supplements/index.html