| Unix | Apple | Microsoft | Processors | Hardware | Software | Networking | Games | Culture | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1968 |
July: Intel formed by Robert Noyce, Gordon Moore, & Andy Grove ## |
June: US Patent 3,387,286 awarded to Dr. Robert Dennard, of IBM Research Center, for Dynamic RAM # Dec.: Douglas Engelbart drives the "Mother of All Demos", demonstrating the wooden mouse (see movie), cutting & pasting (see movie), hypertext, dynamic file linking, & shared-screen collaboration # |
June: FCC compels AT&T to allow customers to connect non-Western Electric equipment to the telephone network # Hot Wheels introduced # |
1968 | ||||||
| 1969 |
Apr.: AT&T's Bell Telephone Labs withdraws from the Multics project # Aug.: Unix created at AT&T's Bell Telephone Labs for DEC PDP-7 by Ken Thompson & Dennis Ritchie; Thompson's wife vacations to California for a month, & he spends 1 week each on kernel, shell, editor (ed, "most user-hostile editor ever created"), & assembler ## December 28: Linus Torvalds born in Helsinki, Finland # |
May: Advanced Micro Dynamics (AMD) founded # |
Jan.: BBN begins creating the ARPAnet, forerunner of the Internet # |
Jan.: US Justice Dept. files antitrust suit against IBM # Aug.: Humans walk on the moon # Woodstock 1st successful open-heart transplant surgery |
1969 | |||||
| 1970 |
Intel creates 1103 chip, 1st available DRAM chip # DEC begins shipping the PDP-11 (250,000 sell over its lifetime) # |
Nutting Associates releases Computer Space, 1st commercial coin-op (25¢) video game; only 1500 machines are made # |
June: Xerox opens Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) # Nerf balls introduced # |
1970 | ||||||
| 1971 |
Nov.: Unix version 1 written in B; 10,000 lines of code & 60+ commands # Nov.: UNIX Programmer's Manual \1ritten by Thompson & Ritchie # While a freshman at Harvard, Richard Stallman (RMS) begins working at MIT Artificial Intelligence Lab # |
Jan.: Intel correctly manufacturers 1st microprocessor, the 4004 (4-bit, 108 KHz, 60k operations/sec., 2300 transistors) # |
IBM intro's 8" floppy disk, but read-only # |
Pascal programming language invented # |
15 nodes on the ARPAnet Email invented by Ray Tomlinson |
10 pound Phonemate Model 400 introduced for $300; could save 20 30-second messages on reel-to-reel tape, & could listen using headphones # |
1971 | |||
| 1972 | June: 10 Unix installations in world (all at AT&T in New Jersey) # |
Bill Gates & Paul Allen form their 1st company, Traf-O-Data, which records automobile traffic flow using Intel 8008# |
Apr.: Intel 8008 (200 KHz, 8-bit, 16 kb memory access, 3500 transistors) # |
5.25" floppy disks appear |
C programming language created at AT&T Labs by Dennis Ritchie & Brian Kernighan ## Gary Kildall writes PL/M, 1st programming language for Intel processor # |
Sept.: Magnavox releases Odyssey 100 home video game system, connecting to TVs, for $100; comes with tennis, hockey, roulette & 9 other games # Syzygy founded & renamed Atari; & ships Pong (November), the 1st successful commercial video game (10,000 sold) # |
Texas Instruments introduces its 1st line of electronic calculators Hewlett-Packard releases HP-35, 1st scientific hand-held calculator # Hamilton Watch Co. introduces the Pulsar, 1st LED digital wristwatch, in gold ($2100) & steel ($275); only displays time when button pushed!# 7"x4"Polaroid SX-70 Land Camera, 1st to auto-eject finished image, without having to peel off wrapper & wait # |
1972 | ||
| 1973 |
Jan.: Unix version 3 introduces pipes # Feb.: 16 Unix installations in world # Aug.: UNIX kernel rewritten by Ritchie in C, making it portable # Oct.: 1st Unix paper delivered by Ritchie & Thompson at IBM's Symposium on Operating System Principles # |
IBM intro's readable & writable 8" floppy disk, storing 400 kb # IBM intro's 3340 hard disk, using 4 8-inch platters, stores 70 MB # Nov.: Xerox Palo Alto Research Center creates the Alto, which uses mouse, GUI, Ethernet # IBM develops the hard disk |
Gary Kildall writes CP/M (Control Program/Monitor) OS using PL/M # |
May: Ethernet invented by Bob Metcalfe# |
1973 | |||||
| 1974 |
Jan.: Unix installed at Berkeley on a PDP-11/45# May: ~20 UNIX users meet in New York # July: Ritchie & Thompson's paper on UNIX appears in Communications of the ACM, vastly publicizing the OS # |
Apr.: Intel 8080 (2 MHz, 8-bit, 64 kb memory access, 6000 transistors) # |
Sept.: Ed Roberts borrows $35k though he's $300k in debt, & develops the MITS Altair kit computer # |
Sept.: Bravo, 1st WYSIWYG word processor, developed for Xerox Alto # Gary Kildall writes CP/M (Control Program/Monitor), 1st operating system for microcomputers, & founds Intergalactic Digital Research, later just Digital Research # |
40 nodes on ARPAnet # Bob Kahn & Vint Cerf publish 1st paper describing TCP/IP # |
Atari releases Gran Trak arcade video game, 1st car-racing game controlled by steering wheel # Atari hires 40th employee: Steve Jobs # Sept.: 100,000 coin-op video games in US # |
Dungeons & Dragons introduced # |
1974 | ||
| 1975 |
May: RFC 681, "Network UNIX", appears; Unix now part of the ARPAnet # May: Unix V6 released; under 10k lines of code!# |
June: Steve Wozniak types a character on a keyboard & sees it appear on a TV screen, the 1st time in history this has happened # |
Jan.: In 8 weeks, Gates & Allen develop BASIC for Altair 8800, 1st language for PCs # Apr.: Micro-Soft founded # July: Micro-Soft licenses BASIC to MITS # |
Jan.: Popular Electronics features MITS Altair 8800 on cover ## Apr.: Ed Roberts sells the MITS Altair 8800 assemble-it-yourself kit for $397 (1 kb RAM), coining "Personal Computer"; within 1 month, 250 orders per day ## Apr.: At 4th meeting of Homebrew Computer Club, Steve Dompier plays "Fool on the Hill" using Altair & radio # IBM tries to enter "small machine" market with 5100 (50 lb. "portable", $9k-$20k), but it fails # |
60 nodes on ARPAnet # |
Dec.: $250 million in video game systems sold for year # |
Mar.: 1st meeting of what will become Homebrew Computer Club, with Wozniak there # July: Arrow Head Computer Company opens in Los Angeles, selling Altairs, boards, peripherals, & magazines: 1st independent US computer store # Sept.: BYTE magazine, issue 1# Sony Betamax, 1st stand-alone VCR |
1975 | ||
| 1976 |
Sept.: Unix licensed by 138 organizations # Bill Joy creates vi & Richard Stallman creates Emacs # Original BSD Daemon logo (the "beastie") created # |
Mar.: Steve Wozniak finishes the Apple I (1 MHz MOStek 6502 CPU, 4 kb RAM, BASIC on ROM) ## Apr.: Steve Wozniak & Steve Jobs found Apple Computer & start putting together the Apple I in Jobs' family garage ## Apr: Ron Wayne sells his 10% stake in Apple for $800# Steve Wozniak proposes HP create a PC but it's rejected; Steve Jobs proposes Atari create a PC but it's rejected # |
Feb.: Gates publishes his "Open Letter to Hobbyists" excoriating the sharing of programs # Nov.: Micro-Soft changed to Microsoft # Dec.: Gates drops out of Harvard # |
July: Zilog Z-80 (1 billion made, & still going!) released by Frederico Faggin # AMD & Intel sign patent cross-license agreement # |
8" floppy drive available for $1200 5.25" floppy drive available for $390 |
Dec.: Electric Pencil, 1st popular word-processing program for microcomputers # |
63 nodes on ARPAnet # |
Atari releases Breakout coin-op video game (15,000 sold over lifetime) # Warner Communications buys Atari for $28 million # Fairchild Camera and Instrument's Channel F home video game system, 1st one to use plug-in cartridges, with color & sound; $150 for system & $20 per cartridge # 3 million video games sold # |
Jan.: 1st issue of Dr. Dobb's Journal of Computer Calisthenics and Orthodontia# Mar.: 1st Annual World Altair Computer Convention, in Albuquerque # Sept.: Computer Shack, later ComputerLand, incorporated # |
1976 |
| 1977 |
Mar.: John Lions' book on UNIX, Code and Commentary, available # BSD Unix created at U. of California—Berkeley |
Apr.: Apple ][, the 1st PC with plastic case, color graphics, keyboard, & display, released for $1300: 4kb RAM, 1 MHz CPU, keyboard, sound, game paddles, BASIC in ROM ## |
June: Commodore PET released for $600 (6502 CPU, 4 kb RAM, keyboard, display, cassette tape drive) # Aug.: Radio Shack TRS-80 released for $399 (4 kb RAM, keyboard, B&W screen, tape cassette) # Dec.: 48,000 PCs shipped in 1977# |
Atari 2600 home video system introduced, with plug-in cartridges, color graphics, sound, & joysticks ($190) ## |
Apr.: 12,750 attend 1st Annual West Coast Computer Faire in San Francisco # June: Camp Retupmoc, 1st week-long computer camp, in Terre Haute, IN # |
1977 | ||||
| 1978 |
Mar.: Bill Joy begins producing BSD, sending out 30 copies of BSD1 & 75 copies of BSD2# 1st non-DEC Unix port to Interdata 832# 2nd BSD, including Pascal, vi, mail, more, csh, ex # |
5.25" floppy drive available for $495 1st DOS for Apple (v. 3.1) released (no relation to MS-DOS) |
Dec.: Sales reach $1 million # |
Intel 8086 (16-bit, 29k transistors, 1 MB memory access, 5MHz) |
DEC VAX (Virtual Address eXtension), a 32-bit machine, goes on sale # Altair production ends Epson dot matrix printer announced |
Sept: MicroPro's WordStar word processor released, for CP/M systems |
Oct.: Space Invaders video arcade game; 350,000 sold over lifetime # Magnavox's Odyssey2 cartridge-based video game system # Dec.: $50 million spent to buy coin-op video arcade games, with Atari getting 70% of that # Milton Bradley's Simon debuts, asking players to remember a sequence of colors & sounds # |
Rubik's Cube (~4.3 x 1019, or 43 quintillion, possible configurations, but only 1 solution!) introduced # Texas Instruments Speak & Spell ($50) speech synthesizer helps children learn to spell 200+ common words # Magnavox Magnavision Model 8000 DiscoVision Videodisc Player, 1st laserdisc player ($750); discs played 25 minutes of a movie on each side # |
1978 | |
| 1979 |
Jan.: Unix version 7 released, "the 1st portable Unix"; manual is now 400 pgs, with 2 400-page supplements (with Bourne shell, awk, sed, tar, touch make, uucp, find, cpio, unlimited users … & kernel is just 40 kb!) ## June: AT&T announces new license for Unix V7: more expensive, & academic license ($20k) no longer permits automatic classroom use # Dec.: BSD3 appears # Santa Cruz Operation (SCO) founded to create Unix ports # |
Jobs & other Apple employees see demo of Xerox Alto's GUI (which impresses them mightily) & Object-Oriented Programming & networking (which they don't "get") |
Move Albuquerque HQ to Bellevue, WA |
Motorola 68000 released (16-bit, 68k transistors) # |
VisiCalc, 1st spreadsheet program, released; sales eventually rise to 12k/mo. by 1981 |
USENET invented CompuServe offers MicroNET (bulletin boards, databases, & games) |
Atari's Asteroids video arcade game (100,000 sold over lifetime) # $930,000 spent by users on coin-op video arcade games # $400 million of video game systems & cartridges sold # |
July: Sony introduces the Walkman TPS-L2 (originally called the Soundabout, Stowaway, & Freestyle) & world's 1st lightweight headphones ($200); 186 million cassette-based Walkmans are sold over its lifetime ## Strawberry Shortcake dolls introduced # |
1979 | |
| Unix | Apple | Microsoft | Processors | Hardware | Software | Networking | Games | Culture | ||
| 1980 |
Oct.: BSD4 released (job control, sendmail) # |
Apple IIIintroduced for $4500-$8000 (2 MHz CPU, 128 kb RAM, built-in 5.25" floppy) & fails—in 4 years, only 65,000 are sold Dec: Apple IPO (APPL); Woz sells shares to employees (2000 for $5) # |
Aug.: Xenix, a version of Unix built mostly by SCO, announced ## Steve Ballmer joins Asked by IBM to develop BASIC for upcoming IBM PC Convinces IBM it has an operating system IBM can license; after IBM agrees, buys QDOS from SCP for $100k |
RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) coined by Prof. David Patterson of U of C—Berkeley # |
Jan.: Z8000 ONYX, 1st Unix workstation, demoed (8 serial ports [users], $25k) # 1st 5.25" hard drive from Seagate |
Seattle Computer Products (SCP) creates QDOS (Quick & Dirty Operating System) for their machines |
300 bps modem avail. for $195 (invented in 1962) # 1200 bps modem avail. Jan.: Ellis & Truscott announce Netnews design (later Usenet) # |
Mattel releases Intellivision home video game system for $300# Oct.: Midway releases Pac-Man arcade video game; within 1 year, 100,000 machines sold & $1 billion in quarters spent # Nov.: Atari's 1st National Space Invaders Competition; Bill Heineman wins with 165,200# Nov.: Atari releases Battle Zone video arcade game # Mattel ships 200,000 Intellivision units # $500 million in video games systems & cartridges sold in US # $500 million worth of coin-op arcade video games sold in US; $3.8 billion in quarters spent # |
1980 | |
| 1981 |
June: BSD 4.1 released # Oct.: AT&T released Unix System III (commercial V7), 1st version of Unix provided without source code # |
Intel 8088 (4.7 MHz) AT&T Bell Labs' BELLMAC-32A, world's 1st single-chip 32-bit microprocessor |
Aug.: IBM PC released (4.7 MHz Intel 8088, 16 kb RAM [expandable to 256 kb], DOS 1.0) for $1565, legitimizing the PC & beginning the WinTel (Windows-Intel) monopoly ## Adam Osborne introduces Osborne I, the 1st portable, for $1795 (64kb RAM, 4 MHz Zilog Z-80A CPU, CP/M OS, modem, 2 5.25" floppy drives, 5" display—and 24 pounds!) & inaugurates software bundling with hardware (WordStar, SuperCalc, & BASIC) # |
Xerox 8010 STAR introduced for $16,595, with a Desktop, clickable icons for documents and folders, windows with scrollbars, contextual menus, & visual interfaces for options |
200 nodes on Internet # |
July: Atari releases Asteroids for home video games # PacMan fever Steve Juraszek plays arcade game Defender for 16 1/2 hours on 25¢, scoring 15,963,100# Video arcade games introduced: Nintendo's Donkey Kong, introducing Mario; Midway's Ms. Pac-Man; Sega's Frogger; Namco's Galaga; Atari's Centipede & Tempest, the 1st color vector graphics game # US Army modifies Atari's Battle Zone to enable crews to practice against Soviet tanks # Video arcades takes in over $5 billion as 4.5 million arcade machines are sold # $1 billion in sales of home video game systems & cartridges; 9% of US homes have video game system; 80% are Atari # |
Aug.: MTV debuts # | 1981 | ||
| 1982 |
Feb.: SUN founded by Scott McNealy, Bill Joy, Andreas Bechtolsheim, & Vinod Khosla; SunOS based on BSD 4.1c ## |
Apple is 1st personal computer company to reach $1 billion in annual sales 1st computer virus to escape into the wild, Elk Cloner, runs through Apple ][ systems ## |
Intel 80286 (16-bit, 134k transistors, 16 MB memory) # |
Commodore 64, best selling computer of all time (22 million sold), released for $600 (64kb RAM, 16-colorgraphics, & 1st with integrated sound) Compaq founded & introduces 1st IBM clone for $3000 (4.7 MHz 8088, 128 kb RAM) |
Adobe founded |
Aug.: 235 nodes on Internet # Sept.: 1st smiley used :-) # TCP/IP declared standard for DOD |
Atari 5200 video game system, for $269# Atari releases E.T. the Extraterrestrial game for 2600 after only a 5-week development timespan; a terrible game, it fails ## |
Sept.: Steve Wozniak's 1st US Festival, 1st time Diamond Vision displays used at US concert (3 days, 20 bands, 34 hours of music, 400,000 in attendance, 105°F weather, 36 arrests, 12 drug overdoses, $12.5 million lost) ## US Dept. of Justice throws out antitrust lawsuit against IBM Compact Disc announced Trivial Pursuit introduced # |
1982 | |
| 1983 |
Jan.: AT&T announces UNIX System V, the 1st supported release # Sept.: Richard Stallman announces GNU Project to create a free operating system # 45,000 UNIX installations in world |
Apple Lisa, with the 1st PC GUI (but with a document-centric approach), a full suite of bundled programs (LisaWrite, LisaCalc, LisaList, LisaProject, LisaDraw, LisaPaint, & LisaTerminal), & first Apple mouse, released for $10,000 & fails (1 MB RAM, 5 MB hard drive) Apple ][ the 1st company to sell 1 million units # PCs outsell Macs for the 1st time # |
Word introduced: $375 1st Microsoft mouse: $200 Begins developing OS/2 with IBM Nov.: Announces Windows 1.0 will be out in early 1984# |
4.25 lb. Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 100, 1st popular laptop, with internal 300 bits per second modem ($799) # |
Lotus 1-2-3, a spreadsheet program, inspires people to buy the IBM PC C++ designed WordPerfect 3.0 ships for $500 |
Aug.: 562 nodes on Internet # |
Cinematronics' Dragon's Lair arcade game, 1st laserdisc-based coin-op game; 50¢ per play # |
May.: Steve Wozniak's 2nd US Festival (3 days, 34 bands, 670,000 in attendance, $7-8 million lost) ## Dec.: Michael Jackson's Thriller video appears on MTV # PC named 1982Machine of the Year by TIME Motorola introduces 1st commercial cell phone, the DynaTAC 8000X (1 foot+ long, 28 oz's., 30 min's. talk time, 30 number storage), for $3995# Sony CDP-101, world's first consumer CD player, released for $900# Cabbage Patch Kids, Care Bears, & My Little Pony introduced #; |
1983 | |
| 1984 |
Jan.: Richard Stallman resigns from MIT AI Lab, but he is still allowed to have office & lab space there # Sept.: Richard Stallman (RMS) begins work on GNU Emacs # SUN introduces NFS (Network File System) for network file sharing Vendors unite to form X/Open consortium to sponsor standards & "Open Systems"# U. of California—Berkeley releases version 4.2 of BSD, with TCP/IP & more 100,000 UNIX installations in world, incl. 750 universities # |
The "1984" ad runs once, during the Super Bowl, introducing the Macintosh The original Macintosh, with its simple GUI (System 1, with intuitive icons & useful fonts on a 400 KB, 3.5" disk), & bundled software (MacWrite, MacPaint), released for $2500 (8 MHz, 32-bit Motorola 68000 CPU, 128 kb RAM, built-in 9" B&W screen at 512x342, 3.5" floppy, mouse) # 100,000 Macs sell in 6 months 2,000,000th Apple II sold AppleWorks released: word processing, database, & spreadsheet |
MS-DOS 3.1 released Demos Windows to IBM for 3rd time, but IBM is not interested |
June: Motorola 68020 (32-bit) # |
Hewlett-Packard ships LaserJet, 1st laser printer, for $3600 Michael Dell begins selling custom-built PCs from his college dorm room # IBM announces monitors with 640x350 resolution |
Oct.: 1024 nodes on Internet # DNS introduced 2400 bps modems avail. for $900 |
AT&T monopoly broken up William Gibson's Neuromancer intros term "cyberspace" Transformers introduced # |
1984 | ||
| 1985 |
HP's Unix, HP-UX 1.0, released # |
Feb: Steve Wozniak ends his full-time employment at Apple to create world's first universal remote control # May: Steve Jobs forced out of Apple # Sept.: Steve Jobs founds NeXT ## Nov.: Apple's Unix, A/UX, announced # Macintosh Plus for $2600 (1 MB RAM, support for hard drives, improved GUI) |
Excel released—for Mac Mar.: MS-DOS 3.1 released # Nov.: Windows 1.0 ships for $100 (~$177 in 2005 money) & sells poorly because there are no programs for it & it's too intensive for common hardware; includes MS-DOS file manager, calendar, clock, notepad, & calculator in a tile interface### Dec.: Windows 1.0.1 ships two weeks after Windows 1.0, fixing several bugs # Gates turns 30, & Microsoft has 910 employees & $140 M in revenue # |
Oct.: Intel 80386 (32-bit, 275k transistors, 4 GB memory access) # |
July: Commodore unveils Amiga 1000 for $1300 (Motorola 68000 processor, 256 kb RAM, multitasking & windowing OS) # IBM has 40% market share for PCs # Gateway Computer founded # |
PageMaker for Mac, 1st page layout software, released |
Quantum Computer Services founded (see October 1991) symbolics.com is 1st commercial domain name FCC allows certain bands of wireless spectrum—at 900 MHz, 2.4 GHz, & 5.8 GHz—to be used without a government license |
Nintendo Entertainment System released in US, along with Super Mario Bros., the best-selling game of all time (40.24 million) # |
Mar.: "We Are The World" released; raises $63+M # Peak of Cabbage Patch Kids craze: $600 million sold # |
1985 |
| 1986 |
Jan.: SUN goes public # 250,000 UNIX installations in world |
Lisa discontinued after rapidly-declining sales Jan.: System 3.0 ships # |
Jan.: (c)Brain, 1st virus for IBM-compatible PCs, written by Pakistani brothers & spreads around world # Mar.: MSFT (1100 employees, $200 million in revenue) goes public at $21/share & Gates (who owns 43% of company) is world's youngest billionaire at 30# |
Motorola's 68040 (32-bit, 25 MHz) |
Compaq releases 1st IBM-compatible PC # Dec.: 30 million PCs in US # |
Larry Walls starts developing Perl # |
Feb.: 2308 nodes on Internet # |
Jan: Space Shuttle Challenger \1isaster |
1986 | |
| 1987 |
Nov.: NeXTStep released # 750,000 UNIX installations in world Unix fragments into competing open systems Andrew Tanenbaum releases Minix, a micro-kernel Unix clone with source code for teaching, in Operating Systems: Design and Implementation## |
HyperCard, a graphical hypermedia database tool, released with System 6, introducing the pointing-finger cursor (discontinu in 2004) # |
Dec.: Windows 2.0 released, with icons, overlapping windows, & hot-key shortcuts ### Dec.: Millionth copy of Windows sold # Buys Forethought, makers of PowerPoint for Mac Transfers ownership of Xenix to SCO for 25% of the company # |
Feb.: GNU C compiler (gcc) starts circulating; 110,000 lines of code ## Apr.: IBM releases OS/2 1.0, a "modern" operating system with improved graphics# |
Mar.: UUNET, 1st commercial ISP providing email & Usenet access, founded; 50 customers by June # Dec.: 28,174 nodes on Internet # 9600 bps modem avail. for $995 |
Oct.: Stock market crash, when Dow-Jones drops 22.6% & lost $500 million, largest decline since the Depression # Koosh Ball & Pictionary introduced # |
1987 | |||
| 1988 |
Jan.: IBM's Unix, AIX 1.0, released # RMS writes the GNU (later General) Public License, or GPL POSIX 1 published May: 7 co's, incl. IBM, DEC, & HP, form Open Software Foundation to create UNIX standard ## |
Oct.: NeXT releases the NeXTcube for $6500 (25 MHz 68030, 8 MB RAM, 17" monitor, NeXTstep OS) # A/UX 1.0 released # |
Buggy MS-DOS 4.0 released # Bill Gates on the NeXT: "Develop for it? I'll piss on it."# |
Hewlett-Packard introduces the DeskJet Inkjet printer for $1000 Compaq's 1st laptop with VGA graphics for $5800 (12 MHz 286, 640kb RAM, 20-40 MB hard drive, 10" grayscale VGA screen) Dec.: 45 million PCs in US # |
June: Digital Research released DR-DOS # |
Feb.: IEEE creates the 802.11 committee to set up a standard for wireless networking Nov.: Morris Worm, 1st to spread using Internet, infects DEC VAX machines all over the world (~1/10 of 60,000 machines connected to Net), leading to creation of CERT # |
Tetris introduced |
Aug.: Yo! MTV Raps premieres # |
1988 | |
| 1989 |
Feb.: GNU General Public License 1.0# 1.2 million UNIX installations in world, & 4-5 million Unix users # UNIX System V Release 4 ships, unifying System V, BSD, & Xenix Cygnus Solutions, 1st business created around open source, formed # |
Sept.: Mac Portable (16 MHz 68000 CPU, 1 MB RAM [up to 9 MB], 9.8" 640x400 B&W active matrix screen, 5-10 hr lead-acid battery, side trackball, 16 lbs) for $6,500 ($7,300 with 40 MB hard drive) # |
Microsoft endorses Windows for low-end PCs & OS/2 for high-end PCs Word for Windows ships # |
Apr.: Intel 80486 (1.2 million transistors, level 1 cache) # |
Dec.: 50 million PCs in US # |
World Wide Web invented by Tim Berners-Lee 100,000 computers on Internet |
Nintendo's hand-held Game Boy, with 2.5 inch monochrome screen # Sega Genesis for $189 (Motorola 68000 processor, 512 colors) # |
Super Soaker introduced # Nov.: Berlin Wall falls |
1989 | |
| Unix | Apple | Microsoft | Processors | Hardware | Software | Networking | Games | Culture | ||
| 1990 |
July: AT&T's Bell Labs announces Plan 9, an "improved" successor to Unix # Oct.: Sun moves from SunOS to Solaris 1# |
1st software company to reach $1 billion in sales May: Windows 3.0 released for $150, with support for more than 640kb of RAM, a better GUI, 16-color graphics, program & file managers, print manager, & 1st Windows SDK ("Software Development Kit") ## Sept.: Ends OS/2 partnership with IBM # |
Motorola 68040 (32-bit, 25 MHz, 1.2 million transistors) AMD clones Intel's 386 |
486-based computers available for $6000: 25 MHz, 4MB RAM, 150 MB hard drive, floppy, 14-inch monitor PCMCIA spec released Dec.: 92 million PCs in US # |
Dec.: Sun announces compiler now a separate purchase, leading developers to move to gcc # |
1990 | ||||
| 1991 |
Jan.: Linus Torvalds buys 33MHz 386 PC with 40MB hard drive to play "Prince of Persia"## June: GNU General Public License 2.0 released ## Aug.: Linus Torvalds invites world to help develop Linux ### Sept.: Linux 0.01 (64 kb) released ## SUN Solaris 1 released Dec.: 1.2 million Unix licenses shipped this year # |
System 7 released: auto-ran multiple apps at same time, 256 color icons, aliases, separate folders for control panels & extensions, personal file sharing, virtual memory, & 32-bit addressing QuickTime media software announced Nov.: PowerBook 100 (16 MHz 68000 CPU, 20 MB hard drive, 2 MB RAM [up to 8 MB], 9' 640x400 passive matrix B&W screen, 2.5" thick, 5.1 lbs, SCSI Disk Mode allowed desktops to use it as external hard drive, $2500), PowerBook 140, & PowerBook 170 (25 MHz 68030 CPU, 20 MB hard drive, 2 MB RAM [up to 8 MB], 9.8" 640 x 400 active matrix B&W screen, 2.25" thick, 6.8 lbs, $4600) released with innovations such as CPU clocked back when on batteries & trackball in front center of keyboard; $1 billion sold in 1 year |
June: DOS 5.0 released # Oct.: Windows 3.0a released, with multimedia support ## US FTC begins investigation for monopolistic practices |
AMD introduces clone of Intel's i386DX |
CD-ROM available for $400 |
PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) released as freeware by Phil Zimmerman |
Ban on business use of the Internet lifted Gopher released Quantum Computer Services renames itself to America OnLine # |
Jan.: Gulf War begins |
1991 | |
| 1992 |
Jan.: Andy Tanenbaum attacks Linux, & Linus responds # Jan.: 1st Linux FAQ & Usenet newsgroup alt.os.linux # May: Linux 0.96 (174 kb) can run X Windows ## 1000 users of Linux Dec.: Novell buys UNIX System Labs from AT&T for $150 million # Dec.: Yggdrasil, 1st Linux distro, released for $50# SuSE formed # |
Jan.: CEO John Sculley coins "Personal Digital Assistant"# Apple partners with IBM to create Taligent, a company designed to create Apple's next-generation OS |
Apr.: Windows 3.1 introduced, with TrueType fonts, OLE (Object Linking and Embedding), WYSIWYG printing, & File Manager; 3 million sold in 2 months ## Oct.: Windows for Workgroups 3.1 integrates networking, peer-to-peer file & printer sharing, Mail, & Schedule+## |
Creative Labs introduces the Sound Blaster Pro, the 1st stereo PC sound card # |
Jan.: 727,000 nodes on Internet # |
May: The Real World premieres on MTV # Michaelangelo virus # |
1992 | |||
| 1993 |
Jan.: 1st mention of Linux Documentation Project # Mar.: Courts rule (USL v. BSDI) that BSD isn't protected as a trade secret # Mar.: Red Hat incorporated (as ACC Corp.) # May: NetBSD makes 1st official release: 0.8# July: Slackware released (oldest distro still in existence) # Aug.: Debian Linux distro founded ## Sept.: 75 companies agree to adopt Spec 1170 def. of UNIX API calls # Oct.: Novell transfers UNIX trademark to Internation X/Open standards org # Dec.: FreeBSD 1.0# |
Feb.: After 50,000 machines, NeXT announces it's dropping hardware to focus on software # Aug.: Newton MessagePad 100 PDA launched (640 kb RAM, 3 MB ROM stores apps & Newton OS, 20 MHz 32-bit ARM 610 CPU, 240x336 resolution, 2.8 x 4-inch LCD screen, 1 PCMCIA slot, 9600bps data transfer); only 80,000 sold over lifetime # Discontinues Apple II after 17 years & 5,000,000 sold |
Apr.: 25 million Windows users # Aug.: Windows NT 3.1, a newly-created operating system for business & 1st to be full 32-bit, released (Also see NT 3.1 pic 2); 6 million lines of code ## Dec.: MS-DOS 6.0 released # Encarta, 1st multimedia encyclopedia for PC 25 million licensed Windows users # |
Motorola PowerPC 601 introduced Mar.: Intel Pentium (60 MHz, 32-bit, 3.2 million transistors) # Pentium-based PCs available for $5000: 66 MHz, 16 MB RAM, 340 MB hard drive, floppy, 15-inch monitor |
Mar.: NCSA's Mosaic, the 1st popular graphical browser for the Web, released Apr.: CERN announces that the World Wide Web is free, forever # Network Solutions established to register domain names Whitehouse.gov email addresses set up |
1993 | ||||
| 1994 |
Mar.: Linux 1.0 kernel released ### Mar.: Linux Journal \1ounded # Apr.: SuSE Linux released in beta # Red Hat Linux introduced # |
Power Mac 6100, using the new PowerPC processor, introduced System 7.5 released Apple licenses Mac OS to clone makers QuickTake 100, 1st consumer color digital camera under $1000 Announces Copland, the next generation OS |
July: Settlement with FTC reached # Dept. of Justice begins antitrust investigation Sept.: Windows NT 3.5 released; 9 million lines of code ## DOS 6.22 released At 38, Gates is richest man in America with $9.35 B # |
1 in 3 US households has PC # Iomega Zip Drive with 100MB storage media, for Macs (SCSI) & PCs (Parallel) # $99Connectix QuickCam, black-and-white digital video camera at 320x240, for Macs |
Mosaic, renamed Netscape, founded Oct.: Netscape Navigator 1.0 released (introducing cookies & ) #Oct.: 1st web ads (468x60 pixel banners) introduced on HotWired, for Zima, Club Med, & AT&T # Netscape releases spec for SSL, the Secure Sockets Layer David Filo & Jerry Yang create Yahoo! to organize their bookmarks 28.8 modem avail. for $330 1st widespread spam by Canter & Siegel Radio stations begin broadcasting online First Virtual, world's 1st cyberbank 1st secure e-commerce transaction: Sting's "Ten Summoner's Tales" for $12.48 + shipping Dec.: 3000 web sites in world # |
Entertainment Software Ratings Board created # |
1994 | |||
| 1995 |
Sept.: SCO buys UNIX Systems from Novell ## Oct.: 1st release of OpenBSD # |
DOS Compatibility Card released so Macs can run Windows Apple sells its interest in Taligent to IBM (see 1992), abandoning that direction for it's next OS Last release of A/UX (3.1.1) # Last release of NeXTSTEP (3.3) # |
Mar.: Microsoft Bob released & quickly fails # August 24: Windows 95 released, a 32-bit operating system with a new interface, a new start menu, built-in inter-networking, & forced Internet Explorer 1.0 on users; DOS included; 1 million copies sell in 4 days, 7 million in 1 month ### Aug.: Internet Explorer 1.0 web browser released # Office 95 released, combining Word, Excel, PowerPoint, & Access Signs "consent decree" with Dept. of Justice to end antitrust investigation Company sales reach $6 B # Gates becomes richest man in world with $12.9 B # |
Intel Pentium at 120 MHz Nov.: Intel Pentium Pro (150-200 MHz, 5.5 million transistors), 1st Intel processor specifically for servers # |
IBM has 7.3% market share for PCs # Iomega Jaz (1 GB cartridges) |
IBM released OS/2 Warp 3 May: SUN announces Java programming language # |
33.6 modems avail. Web responsible for most traffic on Internet Amazon.com launches from a 2-bedroom house eBay hosts its 1st auction |
Sony PlayStation introduced for $300 (32-bit processor, CD-ROM based, 640x480 resolution, 24-bit color) # |
Aug.: Netscape's IPO begins dot-com stock frenzy as stock goes from $28 to $72 on opening day # DVD announced Sony Handycam DCR-VX1000 ($4000), 1st camcorder to capture digital video & 1st with FireWire port for transferring digital video to PC # |
1995 |
| 1996 |
May: Linus Torvalds suggests Tux the penguin as Linux mascot # June: Linux 2.0 kernel released # June: Debian's 1st real release, 1.1 (Buzz), with 474 packages # Oct.: KDE project announced # Dec.: Debian releases 1.2 (Rex), with 848 packages # Open Software Foundation merges with X/Open to become The Open Group, which owns the Unix trademark & manages Motif & CDE (Common Desktop Environment) # |
Dec.: Steve Jobs returns as "Interim CEO" of Apple Copland (see 1994) canceled |
Aug.: Windows NT 4.0 released, with an interface based on Windows 95; 20 million lines of code ## Nov.: Windows CE 1.0 released for handhelds, with a PIM, PocketWord, & PocketExcel ### Office 97 released |
Jan.: 3Com's Palm Pilot 1000 PDA released; 350,000 ship during the year ## July: ESCOM AG, owners of Amiga, files for bankruptcy # |
10,000,000 computers on Internet 56Kbps modem invented # Mar.: Netscape 2.0 (supporting frames & JavaScript) released # Netscape 3.0 released Dec.: 500,000 web sites in world # |
Dec.: Alan Greenspan warns of "irrational exuberance"# Beanie Babies & Tickle-Me Elmo introduced ;# Motorola StarTAC, 1st stylish cell phone, introduced, with 2nd battery, vibrate mode, & clamshell design# |
1996 | |||
| 1997 |
Jan.: Greylock & August Capital invest $6.25M in Cygnus Solutions, 1st VCs to invest in open source business # Miguel de Icaza starts GNOME project # May: Eric Raymond presents "The Cathedral and the Bazaar" talk # June: Debian releases 1.3 (Bo), with 974 packages # |
Apple buys NeXT July: Mac OS 8 released, introducing a multi-threaded Finder, contextual menus, & support for USB & FireWire; PowerPC only starting with 8.5# |
Internet Explorer 4.0 released Invests $150 million in Apple in return for IE being default Web browser on Macs Buys WebTV Oct.: Justice Dep't. files antitrust suit for bundling IE with Windows ## Nov.: Windows CE 2.0 released (32-bit color, TrueType fonts, Ethernet) ### |
Intel Pentium II (7.5 million transistors, 233-300 MHz, 0.35 microns) # Intel Pentium MMX released with multimedia extensions |
Computer with Pentium II available for $4000: 233 MHz, 64 MB RAM, 4GB hard drive, floppy, CD-ROM, 17-inch monitor Mar.: Gateway 2000 buys Amiga # Sony Mavica MVC-FD5, 1st digital camera to save onto floppy disk, with 640x480 resolution (0.3 megapixel) & 2.5" LCD, for $600# |
June: Netscape Communicator 4.0 released # Dec.: 1 million web sites in world # Dec.: Slashdot opens # |
May: IBM's supercomputer Deep Blue beats Garry Kasparov at chess # Patents on business methods recognized # |
1997 | ||
| 1998 |
"Open Source" coined July: Debian 2.0 (Hamm, with 1500+ packages) & KDE 1.0 released ## July: Mandrake created # Aug.: Linus Torvalds on cover of Forbes# Oct.: FreeBSD 3.0# |
iMac rolled out for $1299 (PowerPC 233 MHz, 32 MB RAM, 4 GB hard drive, & no floppy) System 8.5 introduced, with Sherlock search utility & 32-bit icons, running on PowerPC only # |
May 18: Antitrust lawsuit filed by 20 states Attorneys General & DC ## June: Windows 98 released, supporting DVDs & USB, & integrating Internet Explorer Web browser into operating system & even the desktop## June: CIH, a highly destructive virus, 1st appears; it's been used again & again by other viruses # August & Sept.: Videotapes of Bill Gates' deposition in the antitrust suit make Microsoft look very bad # MSFT ends year at $35, up 140%, while sales hit $15.2 billion # |
Intel Celeron Intel Xeon |
Research in Motion intros the RIM Blackberry 850 Wireless Handheld, with wireless delivery of email & a QWERTY keyboard ## Diamond Multimedia Rio PMP300, 1st portable MP3 player, with 32 MB of storage (1/2 hr of music!) # |
Mar.: BeOS released # Feb.: Netscape open sources its Web browser as the Mozilla Project # Apr.: Netscape releases Navigator 5.0 source code # Nov.: AOL buys Netscape for $4.3 billion # |
Sept.: Google Inc. founded # |
Nintendo's Game Boy Color hand-held video game system, with 56 simultaneous colors # Lego Mindstorms Robotics Invention System 1.0, do-it-yourself robotics # |
Furby introduced # |
1998 |
| 1999 |
IBM declares support for Linux, legitimizing it LinuxWorld 1 conference opens Jan.: Linux kernel 2.2 released # Aug.: Red Hap IPO, 8th largest 1st day gain in Wall Street history ## |
Oct.: Mac OS 9 released, 1st Mac OS that could be updated over the Net # iMac available in 5 colors Mac OS X Server 1.0 released, 1st Apple server in 5 years, includes WebObjects, QuickTime server, developer tools, Apache web server, and network administration tools Announces 802.11b Wi-Fi wireless networking—AirPort—on all new iBook laptops |
Mar.: Melissa, 1st destructive mass-mailing virus, spreads rapidly using Word & Outlook ## May: Windows 98 SE ("Second Edition") released, with IE 5## July: Windows NT 5.0 misses ship date, so renamed Windows 2000# November 5: Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson issues findings of fact in antitrust suit, stating that Microsoft is a predatory monopoly # Dec.: MSFT's all-time highest market cap # |
Feb.: Intel Pentium III (450-500 MHz, 9.5 million transistors, 0.25 microns) # |
Dec.: Gateway 2000 sells Amiga to Amino Development # Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer, 1st mainstream optical mouse # |
business.com sold for $7.5 million |
Sony Aibo ERS-110 ($1500), a cute robotic dog with AI # |
Y2K bug fears Dec.: Amazon.com's Jeff Bezos is TIME's Person of the Year # TiVo released # |
1999 | |
| Unix | Apple | Microsoft | Processors | Hardware | Software | Networking | Games | Culture | ||
| 2000 |
Aug.: Debian releases 2.2 (Potato), with 3900+ packages # Sun releases Solaris 8 OS Konqueror 1.0 web browser released |
G4 Cube rolled out (8" x 8 " x 8 ") |
Feb.: Windows 2000 released (Professional, Server, Advanced Server, & Datacenter Server) ### May: ILOVEYOU virus uses social engineering to get people to open infected attachment in Outlook that steals passwords & launches DDOS attack on White House web site; costs >$10 billion to clean up ## June: Windows ME (Millenium Edition) released, last of the DOS-based operating systems from Microsoft ## June: Windows CE 3.0 released # June: Judge Jackson order breakup of company into one for OS & one for apps, but later overturned ## Ballmer becomes President & CEO, while Gates becomes Chairman & Chief Software Architect .NET unveiled, but no one is sure what it is C#, a Java-like programming language, announced |
AMD Athlon hits 1 GHz before Intel Oct.: Pentium 4 introduced (1.4 & 1.5 GHz) # Transmeta Crusoe, 1st smart processor |
Nov.: M-Systems DiskOnKey, 1st USB flash drive available from 8-32 MB # Dec.: 168 million PCs in US; 60% of homes # |
OpenOffice.org formed |
Mar.: Sony PlayStation 2 for $300### |
Mar.: NASDAQ peaks at 5132.52# Apr.: Internet stock bubble bursts # |
2000 | |
| 2001 |
Linux kernel 2.4 released # |
Jan.: Apple introduces iTunes, which organizes digital music, rips CDs into digital music, & plays streaming audio # Mar.: Mac OS X (Cheetah) rolled out, combining Unix under the hood & the ease of use of the Mac GUI, including iMovie & iTunes # Nov.: The iPod, a portable digital music player, released for $400 (5 GB storage capacity, Mac only, & requiring iTunes); 125,000 sold by the end of the year # |
Feb.: Steve Ballmer says Linux is "a cancer" & "an intellectual property destroyer"# July: Code Red worm infects 10s of 1000s of Windows servers running IIS ## July: Sircam worm released, spreading through email & network shares # Sept.: Nimda worm appears, spreading via email, network shares, or visiting web sites (using IIS & IE) # Oct.: Windows XP introduced, with a new candy-colored interface, built-in Windows Messenger for IM, intrusive Passport registrations, & Product Activation, forcing customers to register or the computer stops working; 50 million lines of code ### Oct.: Internet Explorer 6.0 released Office XP, also with Product Activation Nov.: Settles antitrust suit with US government # Code Red worm & SirCam virus infect 10s of 1000s of computers |
Intel Pentium 4 (1.7 GHz, 2.4 billion cycles/sec., 42 million transistors) |
Dec.: 182 million PCs in US # |
100,000,000 computers on Internet |
Oct.: Grand Theft Auto III, allowing gamers to explore (& shootup) enormous Liberty City in 3D # Nov.: Microsoft releases Xbox game console for $300 (733 MHz Pentium III, 250 MHz nVidia graphics, 8 GB hard drive, broadband Internet connection, games on dual-layer DVDs) ## Nintendo's GameCube for $200 (405 MHz PowerPC processor) # |
AOL buys TimeWarner |
2001 | |
| 2002 |
July: Debian releases 3.0 (Woody), with 8500 packages # KDE 3.0, a GUI for Linux, released Red Hat 8.0 released |
New iMacs released, with a radical design & flat-panel monitors for $1300 (800 MHz PowerPC G4, SuperDrive for burning CDs & DVDs) Mac OS X 10.2 (Jaguar) hits the markets July: Apple announces iPods for Windows # |
Judge Kollar-Kotelly (US District Court—D.C.) approves the antitrust settlement Oct.: Windows XP Media Center Edition released, allowing users to view pictures, listen to music, & record TV# Nov.: Windows XP Tablet PC Edition released # Nov.: Microsoft & US Gov't settle antitrust suit # |
Intel Pentium 4 (2.4 GHz, 55 million transistors) |
Sept.: Phoenix 0.1 released (later Firefox) # |
June: Mozilla 1.0 released # |
14-inch wide iRobot Roomba Intelligent Floorvac, 1st commercially successful domestic robot # |
2002 | ||
| 2003 |
Red Hat 9.0 released Mar.: Caldera (DBA The SCO Group) sues IBM for copyright violations in Linux # Sept.: Red Hat announces the end of free Red Hat & the birth of Fedora, a community-oriented distribution of Linux # Nov.: Fedora Core 1 released (2.4 kernel, GNOME 2.4.0-1) # Novell buys SUSE Linux kernel 2.4 released |
Apr.: Apple unveils the iTunes online music store for Mac users only, at $0.99 per track or $9.99 per album, & a library of 200,000 songs # May: 1 week after launching, iTunes Music Store sells 1,000,000th song # June: 1,000,000th iPod sold # Oct.: iTunes & iTunes Music Store now works with Windows; 13,000,000th songs sold # Mac OS X 10.3 (Panther) released Apple releases Safari, its own Web browser |
Jan.: Slammer worm infects 75,000 machines running SQL Server or MSDE in 10 minutes ## Feb.: MSFT stock splits for 9th time; 1 1986 share now 288 shares # Mar.: Windows 2003 Server released (Standard, Datacenter, Enterprise, & Web), with far better security out of the box, particularly a locked down IIS## Aug.: Blaster worm # Aug.: Sobig worm sets record for number of emails it generates & installs Proxy Server for spammers' usage # IE 6 announced as last standalone version of Web browser; in future, you must upgrade the OS to get a new browser |
Sept.: AMD launches Athlon 64, 1st 64-bit desktop chip # Intel announces Centrino, specifically for laptops (fast, power savings, wireless) Pentium M (.13 microns, 77 million transistors, 600MHz—1.6GHz) based on PIII released, designed for low power & great performance |
Mozilla splits into Mozilla Firefox (browser) & Mozilla Thunderbird (email) AOL officially kills the Netscape Web browser Amazon ships 1 million copies of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, largest one-day distribution of an item sold through e-commerce |
2003 | ||||
| 2004 |
Jan.: XFree86 announces changes to license, leading to widespread abandonment of the software # May: Kenneth Brown & Alexis de Tocqueville Institute release "study" claiming that Linus Torvalds plagiarized Linux; they are widely mocked & rebuked # Governments change to Linux: Brazil (April #), City of Munich begins switching 14,000 city computers (June #) Linux 2.6 kernel released Major Linux distros released: Novell Linux Desktop 9 (November #), Gentoo Linux 2004.0, Mandrakelinux 10.0, SUSE Linux 9.1 & 9.2 Professional, OpenBSD 3.5, KNOPPIX 3.4—3.7, Fedora Core 2 (2.6 kernel) & 3 (Nov.: GNOME 2.8, 2.6.9 kernel, Firefox #), Slackware 10.0, Conectiva Linux 10, Ubuntu 4.10 (October), & Xandros Desktop 3 KDE 3.2 (February) & 3.3 (August), & GNOME 2.6 (March) & 2.8 (September) released Sun open sources Solaris 10 |
Jan.: iPod Mini, a much smaller, 4 GB version in 5 colors with a touch-sensitive click wheel, for $249# Jan.: 2,000,000th iPod sold # May: 3,000,000th iPod sold # July: iTunes Music Store sells 100,000,000th song # Aug.: 1,000,000 songs in the iTunes Music Store library # Aug.: iPod has 58% of US digital music player business # Sept.: Apple releases iMac G5, marketed as a computer "from the creators of iPod"# Oct.: iPods are 82% of all digital music players, with nearest hard drive competitor Creative at 3.7%# Oct.: 150,000,000 iTunes Music Store downloads # Oct.: iPod Photo, which displays digital photos & album art on a 2-inch color screen# Steve Jobs operated on for cancer |
Jan.: MyDoom becomes fastest-spreading email mass mailing worm ever, creating BotNets & launching DDOS attacks on Microsoft's web site # Feb.: Stolen Windows source code posted on Internet # Mar.: Witty worm exploits holes in Internet Security Systems' software & is 1st worm to carry destructive payload # May: Sasser worm hits Windows 2000 & XP machines, forcing shutdowns at Delta Air Lines, British Coast Guard, Goldman Sachs, the European Commission & Lund University Hospital's X-Ray department ## Aug.: Windows XP Service Pack 2 released, with new security settings & a Security Center# Aug.: Windows XP Starter Edition, a crippled version of Windows (max. 800x600 resolution, no home networking, only 1 user, only 3 programs or 3 windows open at a time) for $36, announced for Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia, with Russia & India following in September # MyDoom, the fastest-spreading virus ever, released Microsoft releases Desktop Search in response to Google Legal settlements (& payouts) reached with InterTrust, Novell, Sun, shareholders, & many others Company sales at $36.8 B; Gates worth $48 B # |
Intel released Prescott, a smaller P4 (.09 microns, 125 million transistors, 2.8-3.4GHz) with poor benchmarks & huge power requirements |
Dec.: 223 million PCs in US # IBM sells PC division to Chinese-owned Lenovo |
Games released: Doom3 (August) #, Half-Life 2 (October) #, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, giving gamers a whole state & 3 cities to explore (October) #, Halo 2 (November) # Other major open source software released: GIMP 2.0, X.Org X11R6.7, GCC 3.4, Mono 1.0, PHP 5.0, SpamAssassin, & Python 2.4 3.0, Mozilla Thunderbird 1.0 |
US Congress passes CAN-SPAM, but by end of year, spam has increased to at least 75% (& perhaps 90%) of all email # Apr.: 57 million US taxpayers file electronically Nov.: Mozilla Firefox 1.0 released; 10 million copies are downloaded in a month & IE loses 5% of market share # Google opens Orkut (a social networking service), relaunches Blogger, announces Gmail (on 1 April) #, buys & frees image editing tool Picasa, goes public in a popular IPO (GOOG), releases Desktop Search, acquires satellite imaging co. Keyhole, announces Google Print, launches Google Scholar—& indexes 8 billion pages Amazon launches A9 search engine (a very enhanced Google) Blogging gets noticed by the media & the public Dec.: 70 million web sites in world # |
Sony's PlayStation Portable # |
Jan.: Mars Rover lands # DJ Danger Mouse releases an unauthorized mix of Jay Z & the Beatles: The Grey Album MPAA begins suing 'net users swapping movies Creative Commons releases version 2.0 of licenses Motorola Razr V3 ($500): incredibly stylish, with 2.2" color LCD, 640x480 camera with 4X digital zoom, MPEG-4 video playback, & Bluetooth-enabled # |
2004 |
| 2005 |
Major Linux distros released: SUSE 9.3 Professional, Libranet 3.0, Knoppix 3.8, Ubuntu 5.04 (April) & 5.10 (October) KDE 3.4 & GNOME 2.10 released Major software releases: OpenOffice.org 2.0 (October) Apr.: Mandrake purchases Connectiva & announces new name: Mandriva # June: Sun releases the newly open source Solaris # June: Fedora 4 (1st distro compiled with GCC4) # June: Debian releases 3.1 (Sarge), with 15,400 packages # |
Jan: iPod Shuffle released, a tiny, cheap iPod without a screen # Apr.: Mac OS X 10.4 ("Tiger") released, featuring Spotlight search # June: Apple announces switch from PowerPC processors to Intel # Sept.: iPod Nano announced, a 4 GB flash-based player with an easily-scratched screen # |
Nov.: SQL Server 2005 & Visual Studio 2005 released # Windows XP x64 Professional released # |
June: AMD sues Intel for unfair competition # |
January 1: Wal-Mart & Dept. of Defense mandates that suppliers implement RFID go into effect # |
Sept.: Massachusetts state government standardizes on Open Document Format instead of Word # |
"Hot Coffee" mod discovered in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, which allows character to have sex; controversy erupts # |
May: CardSystems' security lapse exposes 40 million credit card numbers to hackers # |
2005 | |
| 2006 |
April: Scott McNealy steps down as Sun's CEO; Jonathan Schwartz takes his place # June: Libranet Linux shuts down # October: Portland 1.0, common interfaces for KDE & GNOME, released # November: Sun announces it is releasing Java under the GPL # June: Ubuntu 6.06 "Dapper Drake"# October: Ubuntu 6.10 "Edgy Eft"# Operating systems released: Gentoo 2006.0 (Feb), Fedora Core 5 (Mar), Mandriva One (Mar), Open BSD 3.9 (May), PC-BSD 1.0 (May), SUSE Linux 10.1 (May), SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 (July), Freespire 1.0 (Aug), Mandriva Linux 2007 (Sept), Slackware 11 (Oct), Fedora Core 6 (Oct), gNewSense 1 (Nov), OpenSUSE 10.2 (Dec) # Notable software released: SeaMonkey 1.0 (Jan), GCC 4.1 (Feb), GnuCash 2.0 (July) # |
Jan. 10: Intel-based iMac ships (17" LCD at 1440x900 resolution, 1.83 GHz Intel Core Duo, 512 MB RAM, 160 GB hard drive, 128 MB ATI Radeon video card) for $1299## Feb. 14: Intel-based MacBook Pro ships (15.4" display at 1440x900 resolution, 2.0 GHz Intel Core Duo, 512 MB RAM, 80 GB hard drive, 128 MB ATI Radeon video card + extras) for $1999## Feb. 28: Intel-based Mac Mini ships (1.5 GHz Intel Core Solo, 512 MB RAM, 60 GB hard drive, 128 MB ATI Radeon video card) for $599## April 5: Boot Camp released, allowing dual-booting of Mac OS & Windows (& Linux!) on Apple hardware May 16: Intel-based MacBook ships (13.3" display at 1280x800 resolution, 1.83 GHz Intel Core Duo, 512 MB RAM, 60 GB hard drive, 64 MB Intel 950 video card + extras) for $1099## Aug.: Intel-based Xserve & Mac Pro rolled out, a little over a year after announcing the Intel transition # Sept.: Apple offer movies from Disney, Pixar, Touchstone, & Miramax through the iTunes Store ($9.99-$14.99), with 125,000 sold in 1 week # Sept.: 2nd-generation iPod Shuffle announced, a tiny iPod with 1 GB of storage & its own clip # |
June: Gates announces his intentions to step down by 2008; still richest man in world with $51 B # November: Microsoft announces a cross-licensing & promotion deal with Novell Linux, including a sketchy patent agreement # |
August: AMD announces that it's buying video card maker ATI # |
May: OpenDocument format becomes an ISO standard # June: Ethereal changes name to Wireshark # |
Oct: Firefox 2.0 released # |
March: Wikipedia reaches 1,000,000 articles # |
2006 | ||
| 2007 |
June: iPhone released # iPod Touch announced, with multitouch, WiFi, and much more—basically, an iPhone without the phone # |
Microsoft releases Vista to mostly ho-hum acceptance # |
Michael Dell returns as CEO after his company loses marksetshare to HP # Acer buys Gateway for $710 million # |
Google buys DoubleClick # Google releases Android, its software for smart phones # |
Sept.: Skype's telephony network goes down after a Microsoft update # |
Jan.: TJX systems (protected with WEP) are hacked & 100 million credit cards are exposed ## Viacom sues YouTube for $1 billion, alleging copyright violations # |
2007 | |||
| 2008 | 2008 | |||||||||
| 2009 | 2009 | |||||||||
| Unix | Apple | Microsoft | Processors | Hardware | Software | Networking | Games | Culture | ||
|
Sources:
|
||||||||||
![Apple ][](http://images.granneman.com/tech-history/apple.jpg){kind=link}
