Computer History

Computer History – B.C. – A.D. 1000

Year	Event
50,000 B.C.	The first evidence of counting is dated back around 50,000 B.C.
30,000 B.C.	Paleolithic peoples in Europe record numbers by notching tallies on bones, ivory, and stone.
4000 B.C.	Metals begin being created and used.
3500 B.C.	The first evidence of writing is dated back to around 3,500 B.C.
3400 B.C.	Egyptians develop a symbol for the number 10, making counting larger numbers easier.
3300 B.C.	The Bronze Age begins.
3000 B.C.	Hieroglyphic numerals are first used in Egypt.
2600 B.C.	Chinese introduce the abacus.
1350 B.C.	Chinese use the first decimal.
1350 B.C.	Iron begins being developed.
300 B.C.	Mathematician Euclid releases Euclid’s Elements, 13 books that summarize all mathematical knowledge of the Greeks.
300 B.C.	The Salamis Tablet, Roman Calculi, and hand-abacus, much like today’s abacus.
260 B.C.	The Maya develop base-20 system of mathematics, which introduce zero.
1000 A.D.	A churchman by the name of Gerbert d’Aurillac, who later becomes Pope Sylvester II, introduces the abacus and Hindu-Arabic math to Europe.

Computer History – 1400’s

Year	Event
1440	Johannes Gutenberg completes his development of the Gutenberg press, the first printing press.
1492	Leonardo da Vinci makes drawing of 13-digit cog-wheeled adder.

Computer History – 1500’s

Year	Event
1500	Leonardo da Vinci invents the mechanical calculator.
1502	Peter Henlein, a craftsman from Nuremberg Germany, creates the first watch.

Computer history – 1600’s

Year	Event
1600	William Gilbert coins the term electricity from the Greek word elecktra.
1613	The word “computer” was first recorded as being used in 1613 and was originally was used to describe a person who performed calculations or computations. The definition of a computer remained the same until the end of the 19th century when it began referring to a machine that performed calculations.
1617	John Napier introduced a system called “Napiers Bones,” made from horn, bone or ivory the device allowed the capability of multiplying by adding numbers and dividing by subtracting.
1621	The circular slide rule is invented by William Oughtred.
1623	Blaise Pascal is born June 19, 1623.
1623	The first known workable mechanical calculating machine is invented by Germanys Wilhelm Schickard. The machine is based on the idea of Napier’s Bones, mentioned earlier.
1632	William Oughtred of Cambridge combines two Gunter rules to make a device that resembles today’s slide rule.
1642	Frances Blaise Pascal invents a machine, called the Pascaline, that can add, subtract, and carry between digits.
1646	Gottfried Leibniz is born July 1, 1646.
1662	Blaise Pascal passes away August 19, 1662.
1671	Gottfried Leibniz introduces the Step Reckoner, a device that can multiply, divide, and evaluate square roots.
1679	Gottfried Leibniz demonstrates binary arithmetic, a discovery that shows every number can be represented by 0 and 1 only.

Computer history – 1700’s

Year	Event
1706	Benjamin Franklin is born January 17, 1706.
1724	Gabriel Fahrenheit purposes the Fahrenheit standard.
1725	An early form of punch cards begin to be used in textile looms.
1752	On June 10, 1752 Benjamin Franklin flies a kite that collects a charge after being struck by lightning.
1753	Charles Stanhope is born August 3, 1753.
1765	Joseph Niépce is born March 7, 1765.
1774	The first telegraph is built.
1785	Charles Thomas is born May 5, 1785.
1785	Georg Scheutz is born September 23, 1785.
1789	Georg Ohm is born March 16, 1789.
1790	Benjamin Franklin passes away April 17, 1790.
1790	Samuel Hopkins receives the first United States patent July 31, 1790.
1791	Samuel Morse is born April 27, 1791.
1791	Charles Babbage is born December 26, 1791.

Computer History – 1800’s

Year Event 1804 Frances Joseph-Marie Jacquard completes his fully automated loom that is programmed by punched cards. 1811 Alexander Bain is born in 1811. 1814 Izrael Staffel is born in 1814. 1815 Giovanni Caselli is born April 25, 1815. 1815 George Boole is born November 2, 1815. 1815 Ada Lovelace is born December 15, 1815. 1816 Charles Stanhope passes away December 15, 1816. 1819 Christopher Sholes is born February 14, 1819. 1820 Charles Xavier Thomas de Colmar creates the “arithometer”, the first reliable, useful, and commercially successful calculating machine. 1822 In the early 1822 Charles Babbage purposed and begins developing the Difference Engine. 1823 Baron Jons Jackob Berzelius silicon (Si), which today is the basic component of IC’s. 1825 The earliest known surviving photograph is taken by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce in 1825 of a view of a courtyard from his window. 1827 George Simon Ohm introduces Ohm‘s law in the book Die galvanische Kette, mathematisch bearbeitet. 1831 Joseph Henry of Princeton invents the first working telegraph. 1832 Semen Korsakov uses punch cards for the first time to store and search for information. 1833 Joseph Niépce passes away July 5, 1833 (age 68) 1835 Elisha Gray is born August 2, 1835. 1837 Charles Babbage purposes the Analytical Engine. 1838 Samuel Morse invents a code (later called Morse code) that used different numbers to represent the letters of the English alphabet and the then digits. 1844 Samuel Morse dispatches the first telegraphic message over a line from Washington, D.C. to Baltimore on May 24, 1844. 1845 In 1845, Izrael Staffel demonstrated the Staffel’s calculator at the industrial exhibition in Warsaw. 1847 Thomas Edison is born February 11, 1847. 1847 Alexander Graham Bell is born March 3, 1847. 1847 Siemens is founded. 1849 John Ambrose Fleming is born November 29, 1849. 1850 Charles Flint is born January 24, 1850. 1851 Western Union was founded. 1852 Ada Lovelace passes away November 27, 1852. 1854 Augustus DeMorgan and George Boole formalize a set of logical operations now known as DeMorgan transformations. 1854 Georg Ohm passes away July 6, 1854 (Age: 65) 1856 Nikola Tesla is born July 10, 1856. 1857 The phonautograph (phonograph) is patented March 25, 1857 by Frenchman Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville. The device was capable of transcribing sound to a medium. 1859 The Elevator is patented on August 9, 1959. 1860 Herman Hollerith is born February 29, 1860. 1861 The first known permanent color photograph is taken of a Tartan Ribbon by the photographer Thomas Sutton. To achieve a color image he took a photo of the ribbon three times, each time with a different color, a method developed by James Clerk Maxwell. 1862 Dorr Felt is born March 18, 1862. 1864 George Boole passes away December 8, 1864. 1866 The first successful Trans-Atlantic cable is laid from Ireland to Newfoundland. 1868 Christopher Sholes is issued a patent on July 14, 1868 for a typewriter utilizing the QWERTY layout keyboard still used today. 1870 Charles Thomas passes away March 12, 1870. 1871 Charles Babbage passes away October 18, 1871. 1872 Samuel Morse passes away April 2, 1872. 1873 Georg Scheutz passes away May 22, 1873. 1874 Thomas Watson is born February 17, 1874. 1875 Tanaka Seizo-sho is established in Japan and later merges with another company called shibaura Seisaku-sho to form Tokyo Shibarura Denki. Later this companies name is shortened to the company that we know today, Toshiba. 1875 The company American Telephone and Telegraph Company that later became AT&T is founded. 1876 Scottish-Canadian-American Alexander Graham Bell is often credited as inventing the telephone makes the first call March 10, 1876. 1877 Alexander Bain passes away January 2, 1877. 1877 The microphone is invented in the United States by Emile Berliner. 1877 Thomas Edison invents and announces on November 21, 1877 the first phonograph capable of recording and replaying sounds. 1878 Eadweard Muybridge’s “The Horse In Motion” becomes the first motion picture. 1879 Albert Einstein is born March 14, 1879. 1879 Thomas Edison demos incandescent electric light bulb that lasts 13 1/2 hours October 21, 1879. 1879 James Jacob Ritty patents the worlds first cash register November 4, 1879. 1879 President Rutherford B. Hayes becomes the first president with a phone in the White House and gets the phone number “1.” 1880 ASME is founded. 1881 Emanuel Goldberg is born on August 31, 1881. 1882 The first commercial electric power station becomes operation September 4, 1882. 1882 Fredrik Bull is born December 25, 1882. 1883 Edith Clarke is born February 10, 1883. 1883 American Thomas Edison discovers the Edison effect, where an electric current flows through a vacuum. 1884 Izrael Staffel passes away in 1884. 1885 American Telegraph and Telephone company (AT&T) is incorporated March 3,1885. 1886 Heinrich Rudolf Hertz proves that electricity is transmitted at the speed of light. 1888 Clair Lake is born in 1888. 1888 National Geographic Society is established on January 27, 1888. 1888 Nikola Tesla patents the rotating field motor May 1, 1888 and later sells the rights to George Westinghouse. This invention helps create and transmit AC power and today is still a method for generating and distributing AC power. 1888 William S. Burroughs patents a printing adding machine. 1888 Eastman Kodak is founded. 1888 John Loud gets patent for the ballpoint pen October 30, 1888. 1888 Friedrich Reintzer discovers liquid crystal. 1890 Christopher Sholes passes away February 17, 1890. 1891 Phillips is founded. 1895 Wilhelm Röntgen discovers X-rays November 8, 1895. 1896 Herman Hollerith starts the Tabulating Machine Company, the company later becomes the well-known computer company IBM (International Business machines). 1897 Emil Post is born February 11, 1897. 1897 German scientist Karl Ferdinand Braun invents the Cathode-Ray Oscilloscope. 1897 Thomas Edison patents the Kinetoscope, a motion picture viewer on August 31, 1897. 1898 Alcatel is founded. 1898 Nikola Tesla invents the remote control November 8, 1898. 1890 Vannevar Bush is born March 11, 1890. 1890 Herman Hollerith developed a method for machines to to record and store information onto punch cards to be used for the US census. He later formed the company we know as IBM today. 1891 Giovanni Caselli passes away June 8, 1891. 1899 AT&T acquires assets of American Bell, and becomes the parent company of Bell System. 1899 On September 13, 1899 Henry Bliss becomes the first North American pedestrian to be killed by an automobile. 1899 William D. Middlebrook patents the paper clip on November 9, 1899.

Computer History – 1900 – 1940

Year	Event
1900	Howard H. Aiken is born March 8, 1900.
1900	Nikola Tesla develops frequency hopping, now known as spread spectrum.
1901	The first radio message is sent across the Atlantic Ocean in Morse code.
1901	Arthur Samuel is born in 1901.
1901	Elisha Gray passes away on January 21, 1901 (age 66)
1901	Hubert Cecil Booth receives a patent for the first powered vacuum cleaner August 30, 1901.
1902	Walter Brattain is born February 10, 1902.
1902	3M is founded.
1903	Nikola Tesla patents electrical logic circuits called “gates” or “switches”.
1903	Wilbur and Orville Wright both take the first flight December 17, 1903.
1903	John von Neumann is born December 28, 1903.
1903	John Vincent Atanasoff is born October 4, 1903.
1904	John Ambrose Fleming experiments with Edison’s diode vacuum tubes and creates the first commercial diode vacuum tube.
1905	Derrick Lehmer is born February 23, 1905.
1906	The IEC is founded in London England.
1906	Arnold I. Dumey is born in 1906.
1906	Reynold Johnson is born July 16, 1906.
1906	Philo Farnsworth is born August 19, 1906.
1906	Grace Hopper is born December 9, 1906.
1907	Lee De Frost files patent #879,532 on Jan 29, 1907 for the vacuum tube triode. This is later used as an electronic switch in the first electronic computer.
1907	IBM files for its first U.S. patent, #998,631 October 11, 1907.
1908	John Bardeen is born May 23, 1908.
1908	The film “A Visit To The Seaside” becomes the first film commercially produced in natural color in December of 1908.
1909	Edmund Berkeley is born February 22, 1909.
1909	Geoffrey Dummer is born February 25, 1909.
1909	Antoni Kilinski is born October 20, 1909.
1910	William Shockley is born February 13, 1910.
1910	Konrad Zuse is born June 22, 1910.
1910	Henry Babbage, Charles Babbage‘s youngest son completes a portion of the Analytical Engine and was able to perform basic calculations.
1911	Alexey Andreevich Lyapunov is born in 1911.
1911	Cuthbert Hurd is born April 5, 1911.
1911	Company now known as IBM on is founded June 16, 1911 in the state of New York as the Computing – Tabulating – Recording Company (C-T-R), a consolidation of the Computing Scale Company, and The International Time Recording Company.
1911	Frederic Williams is born June 26, 1911.
1911	IBM is granted its first patent #998,631 July 25, 1911.
1911	Allen Coombs is born October 23, 1911.
1912	Alan Turing is born June 23, 1912.
1912	David Packard is born September 7, 1912.
1912	G. N. Lewis begins work on the lithium battery.
1913	William Hewlett is born May 20, 1913.
1913	Maurice Wilkes is born June 26, 1913.
1914	Cyril Cleverdon is born September 9, 1914.
1914	George Dantzig is born November 8, 1914.
1915	The first telephone call is made across the continent.
1915	Borje Langefors is born May 21, 1915.
1915	Arthur Walter Burks is born October 13, 1915.
1916	Herbert Simon is born June 15, 1916.
1916	Claude Shannon is born April 30, 1916.
1916	Christopher Strachey is born November 16, 1916.
1917	On September 9, 1917 one of the earliest records of OMG (Oh! My God!) is used by British Admiral John Arbuthnot Fisher when writing to Winston Churchill in a 1917 correspondence.
1917	Arthur C. Clark is born December 16, 1917.
1918	Alexander L’vovich Brudno is born January 10, 1918.
1918	Andrew Booth is born February 11, 1918.
1918	Panasonic is founded March 18, 1918.
1918	William Eccles and F.W. Jordan build the world’s first flip-flop.
1918	Bashir Rameyev is born May 1, 1918.
1918	Jay Forrester is born July 14, 1918.
1919	Nathan Rochester is born January 14, 1919.
1919	Andrew F. Kay is born March 22, 1919.
1919	John Adam Presper “Pres” Eckert, Jr. is born April 9, 1919.
1919	Olympus is established on October 12, 1919 by Takeshi Yamashita.
1920	An Wang is born February 7, 1920.
1920	Bob Bemer is born February 8, 1920.
1920	First radio broadcasting begins in United States, Pittsburgh, PA.
1921	Alexander (Sandy) Shafto Douglas is born May 21, 1921.
1921	Forrest Parry is born July 4, 1921.
1921	Czech playwright Karel Capek coins the term “robot” in the 1921 play RUR (Rossum’s Universal Robots).
1921	The first Radio Shack store is open.
1922	MPAA is established.
1922	Charles Hamblin is born in 1922.
1922	Georgy Adelson-Velsky is born January 8, 1922.
1922	Alan Perlis is born April 1, 1922.
1922	Keith Uncapher is born April 1, 1922.
1922	Alexander Graham Bell passes away August 2, 1922 (age 75)
1923	Corrado Böhm is born in 1923.
1923	Eugene Kleiner is born May 12, 1923.
1923	Edgar Codd is born August 23, 1923.
1923	Jack St. Clair Kilby, Nobel Prize winner and inventor of the Integrated Circuit, handheld calculator, and thermal printer is born November 8, 1923.
1923	Donald Michie is born November 11, 1923.
1924	The Computing – Tabulating – Recording (C-T-R) company is renamed to IBM on February 14, 1924.
1924	David Evans is born February 24, 1924.
1924	Enid Mumford is born March 6, 1924.
1924	Donald Davies is born June 7, 1924.
1924	CATV and cable broadcasting begins being used in some European cities.
1924	Friedrich Bauer is born June 10, 1924.
1924	John Backus is born December 3, 1924.
1924	Charles Bachman is born December 11, 1924.
1924	Jean Bartik is born December 27, 1924.
1925	Douglas Engelbart is born January 30, 1925.
1925	Fredrik Bull passes away June 7, 1925 (Age: 43)
1925	David Huffman is born August 9, 1925.
1925	Seymour Cray is born September 28, 1925.
1926	John Kemeny is born May 31, 1926.
1926	Fernando Corbató is born July 1, 1926.
1926	Carl Petri is born July 12, 1926.
1926	The first patent for the semiconductor transistor is created.
1926	Arthur Rock is born August 19, 1926.
1927	David Wheeler is born February 9, 1927.
1927	Allen Newell is born March 19, 1927.
1927	Dudley Buck is born April 25, 1927.
1927	Theodore Maiman is born July 11, 1927.
1927	Marvin Minsky is born August 9, 1927.
1927	Bob Evans is born August 19, 1927.
1927	John McCarthy is born September 4, 1927.
1927	Philo Taylor Farnsworth becomes the first person to successfully transmit a TV signal on September 7, 1927.
1927	Robert Noyce is born December 12, 1927.
1928	Thomas Kurtz is born February 22, 1928.
1928	The Galvin Manufacturing Corporation begins on September 25, 1928, the company will later be known as Motorola.
1928	Bernard Galler is born October 3, 1928.
1928	Noam Chomsky is born December 7, 1928
1928	Jack Tramiel is born December 13, 1928
1928	Martin Cooper is born December 26, 1928.
1929	Gordon Moore is born January 3, 1929.
1929	Herman Hollerith passes away November 17, 1929.
1929	Douglas Ross is born December 21, 1929.
1930	Einar Stefferud is born January 11, 1930.
1930	Edsger Dijkstra is born May 11, 1930.
1930	Daniel McCracken is born July 23, 1930.
1930	Galvin Manufacturing Corporation Auto radios begin to be sold as an accessory for the automobile. Paul Galvin coins the name Motorola for the company’s new products, linking the ideas of motion and radio.
1930	Dorr Felt passes away August 7, 1930.
1930	Alan F. Shugart is born September 27, 1930.
1930	Citizen is founded.
1931	Fletcher Jones is born January 22, 1931.
1931	Eiichi Goto is born January 26, 1931.
1931	Anthony (Tony) Edgar Sale is born January 30, 1931.
1931	Andrei Ershov is born April 19, 1931.
1931	Frederick Brooks is born April 19, 1931.
1931	Thomas Edison passes away October 18, 1931.
1932	Jay Glenn Miner is born May 31, 1932.
1932	Frances Allen is born August 4, 1932.
1932	ROM-type storage media is introduced.
1932	Robert H. Dennard is born September 5, 1932.
1932	Dana Scott is born October 11, 1932.
1933	Canon is established.
1933	Boris Babayan is born December 20, 1933.
1934	Edward Fredkin is born January 1, 1934.
1934	Charles Hoare is born January 11, 1934
1934	Charles Flint passes away February 26, 1934.
1934	Robert Moog is born May 23, 1934.
1934	Leonard Kleinrock is born June 13, 1934.
1934	Gordon Bell is born August 19, 1934.
1934	The FCC is established.
1934	The US Communication Act goes into place.
1934	Carl Sagen is born November 9, 1934.
1935	Barry Boehm is born in 1935.
1935	The Polygraph machine aka lie detector is used for the first time.
1935	Roger Needham is born February 9, 1935.
1935	Charles Molnar is born March 14, 1935.
1936	Edward Feigenbaum is born January 20, 1936.
1936	Germanys Konrad Zuse creates the Z1, one of the first binary digital computers and a machine that could be controlled through a punch tape.
1936	While working on a radio, Paul Eisler invents the Printed Circuit Board (PCB).
1936	Abraham Lempel is born February 10, 1936.
1936	Dvorak receives a patent for the Dvorak keyboard May 12, 1936.
1936	Henry F. Phillips receives patent for the Phillips screw and screwdriver July 7, 1936.
1936	Andrew Grove is born September 2, 1936.
1936	Jerry Sanders is born September 12, 1936.
1936	Alan Turing develops the Turing Machine.
1937	Charles Peddle is born in 1937.
1937	Iowa State Colleges John Vincent Atanasoff and Clifford Berry begin work on creating the binary-based ABC (Atanasoft-Berry Computer). Considered by most to be the first electronic digital computer.
1937	Dabbala Reddy is born June 13, 1937.
1937	Alec Reeves develops PCM.
1937	Ted Nelson, who coined the term HTTP is born in 1937.
1937	Marcian Hoff is born October 28, 1937.
1938	Charles Moore is born in 1938.
1938	Gary Starkweather is born in 1938.
1938	Donald Knuth is born January 10, 1938.
1938	Lynn Conway is born January 10, 1938.
1938	The company now known as Hewlett Packard creates its first product the HP 200A.
1938	Chester Carlson produces first electrophotographic image October 22, 1938, which later becomes the Xerox machine.
1938	Orson Welles and Houseman broadcast H.G. Welles War of the Worlds on the airways October 30th as a Halloween spoof.
1938	BBC creates the first science fiction television program.
1938	Bob Kahn is born December 23, 1938.
1939	Adam Osborne is born March 6, 1939.
1939	John Scully is born April 6, 1939.
1939	George Stibitz completes the Complex Number Calculator capable of adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing complex numbers. This device provides a foundation for digital computers.
1939	The first Radio Shack catalog is published.
1939	Craig Barrett is born August 29, 1939
1939	Charles Geschke is born September 11, 1939.
1939	Iowa State Colleges John Vincent Atanasoff and Clifford Berry create a prototype of the binary-based ABC (Atanasoft-Berry Computer).
1939	Hewlett Packard is found by William Hewlett and David Packard. The name is decided on the flip of a coin toss.
1939	Barbara Liskov is born November 7, 1939.

Computer history – 1940 – 1960

Year	Event
1940	The first handheld two-way radio called the “Handy Talkie” is created by Motorola for the U.S. Army Signal Control.
1940	Alan Kay is born May 17, 1940.
1940	Clive Sinclair is born July 3, 1940
1940	John Warnock is born October 6, 1940.
1941	David Parnas is born February 10, 1941.
1941	Amir Pnueli is born April 22, 1941.
1941	August-Wilhelm Scheer is born July 27, 1941.
1941	German Konrad Zuse finishes the Z3, a fully program-operational calculating machine. The computer is publically introduced in Berlin May 12, 1941.
1941	Dennis Ritchie is born September 9, 1941.
1941	Henry Edward Roberts is born September 13, 1941.
1941	Chester Carlson gets patent for electric photography more commonly known today as photocopying October 6, 1941.
1941	Alan Kotok is born November 9, 1941.
1941	Federico Faggin is born December 1, 1941.
1942	Brian Kernighan is born in 1942.
1942	Edward Tufte is born in 1942.
1942	Steven Hawking is born January 8, 1942.
1942	Armas Markkula is born February 11, 1942.
1942	David Cutler is born March 13, 1942.
1942	Gary Kildall is born May 19, 1942.
1942	Enrico Fermi designs and creates the world’s first Nuclear Reactor December 2, 1942.
1943	John Draper is born in 1943.
1943	Nikola Tesla passes away January 7, 1943.
1943	Charles Thacker is born February 26, 1943.
1943	David S. Morse is born April 15, 1943.
1943	Vint Cerf is born June 23, 1943.
1943	The Colossus, the first eclectic programmable computer developed by Tommy Flowers is first demonstrated in December 1943.
1943	Butler Lampson is born December 23, 1943.
1943	ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer), the first general-purpose electronic digital calculator begins to be constructed. This computer by most is considered to be the first electronic computer.
1943	Dan Noble with Motorola designs a “Walkie Talkie” the first portable FM two-way radio that a backpack version that weighed 35 pounds.
1944	Donald Chamberlin is born in 1944.
1944	Andrew Tanenbaum is born March 16, 1944.
1944	David Clark is born April 7, 1944.
1944	Edward Yourdon is born April 30, 1944.
1944	Bailey Diffie is born June 5, 1944.
1944	The Harvard Mark I computer is officially presented at Harvard University on August 7, 1944. The relay-based Harvard-IBM MARK I a large programmable-controlled calculating machine provides vital calculations for the U.S. Navy. Grace Hopper becomes its programmer.
1944	Larry Ellison is born August 17, 1944.
1944	The first binary, and partially programmable computer, Colossus, was created at Bletchley Park.
1944	Steve Crocker is born October 15, 1944.
1944	Abhay Bhushan is born November 23, 1944.
1945	Lee Felsenstein is born in 1945.
1945	Patent is filed for the Harvard Mark I digital computer on February 8, 1945.
1945	John Ambrose Fleming passes away April 18, 1945.
1945	Adele Goldberg is born July 7, 1945.
1945	Edmund Clarke is born July 27, 1945.
1945	The Von Neumann Architecture and a description of a general purpose electronic digital computer with a stored programs is introduced in John von Neumann’s report of the EDVAC.
1945	The term bug as computer bug was termed by Grace Hopper when programming the MARK II.
1945	The first ballpoint pen goes on sale in New York for $12.50 on October 30, 1945.
1946	Freddie Williams applies for a patent on his cathode-ray tube (CRT) storing device in December. The device that later became known as the Williams tube is capable of storing between 512 and 1024 bits of data.
1946	Konrad Zuse writes the first algorithmic programming language called ‘Plankalkül’.
1946	ENIAC computer completed.
1946	Brooklyn New York’s Flatbush National Bank becomes the first bank to issue a credit card in 1946.
1946	Robert Metcalfe is born April 7, 1946.
1946	The Selectron tube capable of storing 256 bits of information begins development.
1946	Andrew Chi-Chih Yao is born December 24, 1946.
1947	1947 Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann. file patent #2,455,992 describing one of the first computer games played on a CRT January 25, 1947.
1947	Robert Cailliau is born January 26, 1947.
1947	Freddie Williams memory system known as the Williams tube is now in working order.
1947	Kenneth Arnold makes the first widely reported UFO sighting on June 24, 1947.
1947	Ben Shneiderman is born August 21, 1947.
1947	Edward Shortliffe is born August 28, 1947.
1947	Jay Forrester extends the life of a vacuum tube from 500 to 500,000 hours.
1947	ISO is founded.
1947	The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is established September 18, 1947.
1947	David Patterson is born November 16, 1947.
1947	John Bardeen, Walter Brattain and William Shockley invent the first transistor at the Bell Laboratories on December 23, 1947.
1948	IBM builds the SSEC (Selective Sequence Electronic Calculator). The computer contains 12,000 tubes.
1948	John Bardeen, Walter Brattain and William Shockley patent the first transistor.
1948	Andrew Donald Booth creates magnetic drum memory, which is two inches long and two inches wide and capable of holding 10 bits per inch.
1948	William Gibson is born March 17, 1948.
1948	Scott Fahlman is born March 21, 1948.
1948	The 604 multiplying punch, based upon the vacuum tube technology, is produced by IBM.
1948	Carol Bartz is born August 29, 1948.
1948	Charles Simonyi is born in September 10, 1948
1948	The television begins to divert radio audiences.
1949	David Bradley is born in 1949.
1949	Claude Shannon builds the first machine that plays chess at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
1949	The concept of a computer program capable of reproducing itself was first mentioned by John von Neumann in his 1949 “Theory of self-reproducing automata” essay.
1949	The Harvard-MARK III, the first of the MARK machines to use an internally stored program and indirect addressing, goes into operations again under the direction of Howard Aiken.
1949	The first computer company, Electronic Controls Company is founded by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly, the same individuals who helped create the ENIAC computer.
1949	The EDSAC performs its first calculation on May 6, 1949.
1949	Alain Glavieux is born July 4, 1949.
1949	John Chambers is born August 23, 1949.
1949	Popular Mechanics predicts: “Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons.”
1949	The small-scale electronic machine (SSEM) is fully operational at Manchester University.
1949	The Australian computer CSIRAC is first ran.
1950	Bertrand Meyer is born in 1950.
1950	Dave Boggs is born in 1950.
1950	Douglas Lenat is born in 1950.
1950	The United States Government receives the UNIVAC 1101 or ERA 1101 in 1950. This computer is considered to be the first computer that was capable of storing and running a program from memory.
1950	The first electronic computer is created in Japan by Hideo Yamachito.
1950	Konrad Zuse completes and sells the Z4 on July 12, 1950, becoming the first commercial computer.
1950	Steve Wozniak is born August 11, 1950.
1950	Alan Turing publishes his paper Computing Machinery and Intelligence in October. This paper helps create the Turing Test.
1950	The NICAD battery begins its commercial use.
1950	Mitchell Kapor is born November 1, 1950.
1950	Bjarne Stroustrup is born December 30, 1950.
1951	Radia Perlman is born in 1951.
1951	The first business computer, the Lyons Electronic Office (LEO) is completed by T. Raymond Thompson, John Simmons and their team at Lyons Co.
1951	The first commercial computer, the “First Ferranti MARK I” is now functional at Manchester University.
1951	The first ISO is published with the title, “Standard reference temperature for industrial length measurement.”
1951	UNIVAC I was introduced.
1951	The EDVAC begins performing basic tasks.
1951	Dean Kamen is born April 5, 1951.
1951	Jay Forrester applies for a patent for magnetic core memory, the first random access memory (RAM) May 11, 1951.
1951	The Nixie tube is first introduced.
1951	Grace Hopper develops A-0, the first Arithmetic language.
1951	Dan Bricklin is born July 16, 1951.
1951	Bill Atkinson is born in 1951.
1952	Fred Baker is born in 1952.
1952	Complaint is filed against IBM for Monopolistic practices on January 1952.
1952	Alan Cooper is born June 3, 1952.
1952	Adi Shamir is born July 6, 1952.
1952	Geoffrey Dummer a British radar engineer introduces the concept of the integrated circuit at a tech conference in the United States.
1952	Fairly reliable working magnetic drum memories for use in computers begin to be sold by Andrew Donald Booth and his father.
1952	RIAA is established.
1952	The first ASR device was used to recognize single digits spoken by a user (it was not computer driven).
1952	Alexander Sandy Douglas created the first graphical computer game of Tic-Tac-Toe on an EDSAC known as “OXO.”
1952	The National Security Agency (NSA) is formed November 4, 1952.
1952	Craig Newmark is born December 6, 1952
1953	David Deutsch is born in 1953.
1953	James Martin is born in 1953.
1953	IBM introduces the 701 to the public April 7, 1953. The 701 is IBM’s first electric computer and first mass produced computer.
1953	The UNIVAC predicts the presidential election during a televised news broadcast.
1953	A magnetic memory smaller and faster than existing vacuum tube memories is built at MIT.
1953	Paul Allen is born January 21, 1953.
1953	Craig Reynolds is born March 15, 1953.
1953	Richard Stallman is born March 16, 1953.
1953	Andy Hertzfeld is born April 6, 1953.
1953	The IBM 701 becomes available to the scientific community. A total of 19 are produced and sold.
1953	Florian Brody is born October 31, 1953.
1953	The Colgate Comedy Hour on N.B.C. becomes the first TV show to broadcast in color on November 22, 1953.
1954	IBM produces and markets the IBM 650. More than 1,800 of these computers are sold in an eight-year span, with 120 installations in the first year.
1954	Daniel Kottke is born April 4, 1954.
1954	Tim O’Reilly is born June 6, 1954.
1954	Alan Turing passes away June 7, 1954.
1954	The USSR’s Obninsk Nuclear Power Plant opens June 27, 1954 and becomes the first Nuclear power plant to generate electricity.
1954	The first version of FORTRAN (formula translator) is published by IBM.
1954	Texas Instruments announces the start of commercial production of silicon transistors.
1954	IBM becomes the first company to translate Russian into English using a computer.
1954	Larry Wall is born September 27, 1954.
1954	CERN is established on September 29, 1954.
1954	IBM introduces its first calculating machine that uses solid-state transistors instead of vacuum tubes October 7, 1954.
1954	The first commercially produced transistor radio, the Regency TR-1 is announced October 18, 1954.
1954	Ken Williams is born October 30, 1954,
1954	William Joy is born November 8, 1954.
1955	Steve Jobs is born February 24, 1955.
1955	Grady Booch is born February 27, 1955.
1955	MIT introduces the Whirlwind machine March 8, 1955, a revolutionary computer that was the first digital computer with magnetic core RAM and real-time graphics.
1955	Tom Watson, IBM’s president is featured on the front of Time Magazine March 28, 1955.
1955	Albert Einstein passes away on April 18, 1955.
1955	Eric Schmidt is born April 27, 1955.
1955	John McCarthy coins the term Artificial Intelligence (AI) in 1955 at Dartmouth University.
1955	Dartmouth Colleges John McCarthy coins the term “artificial intelligence.”
1955	Dave Winer is born May 2, 1955.
1955	Tim Bernes-Lee is born June 8, 1955.
1955	Donna Dubinsky is born July 4, 1955.
1955	Andreas (Andy) von Bechtolsheim is born September 30, 1955.
1955	William (Bill) H. Gates is born October 28, 1955.
1955	IBM introduces the first IBM 702.
1955	Bell Labs introduces its first transistor computer. Transistors are faster, smaller and create less heat than traditional vacuum tubs, making these computers more reliable and efficient.
1955	The ENIAC is turned off for the last time. Its estimated to have done more arithmetic than the entire human race had done prior to 1945.
1956	John von Neumann is presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Dwight Eisenhower on February 15, 1956.
1956	Alexey Leonidovich Pajitnov is born on March 14, 1956.
1956	Steve Ballmer is born March 24, 1956.
1956	The TX-O (Transistorized Experimental computer) and first transistorized computer is demonstrated at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
1956	Tim Paterson is born June 1, 1956.
1956	Thomas Watson passes away June 19, 1956.
1956	Dr. Robert Adler of Zenith invents the first cordless TV remote control in 1956.
1956	John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and William Shockley are awarded the Nobel Prize in physics for their work on the transistor.
1956	On September 13, 1956 the IBM 305 RAMAC is the first computer to be shipped with a hard drive that contained 50 24-inch platters and was capable of storing 5 million characters and weighed a ton.
1956	Wen Tsing Chow develops PROM.
1956	The programming language FORTRAN is introduced to the public October 15, 1956.
1956	Leo Laporte is born November 29, 1956.
1957	Carl Sassenrath is born in 1957.
1957	IBM announces it will no longer be using vacuum tubes and releases its first computer that had 2000 transistors.
1957	Fred Cohen is born in 1957.
1957	Barry Leiba is born in 1957.
1957	John von Neumann passes away February 8, 1957 (age of 53)
1957	Mark Dean is born March 2, 1957.
1957	Emil Post passes away on April 21, 1954 (age 57)
1957	Jeff Hawkins is born June 1, 1957.
1957	Bruce Eckel is born July 8, 1957.
1957	Fairchild Semiconductor is founded by Andy Grove, Eugene Kleiner, Gordon Moore, Jerry Sanders, Robert Noyce.
1957	Digital Equipment Corporation is founded by Kenneth Olsen. The company will later become a major network computer manufacturer.
1957	Russia launches the first artificial satellite, named Sputnik on October 4, 1957.
1957	In response to Sputnik the United States creates the new agency ARPA.
1957	Casio is established.
1957	Eric Raymond is born December 4, 1957.
1958	Shafi Goldwasser is born in 1958.
1958	Clair Lake passes away in 1958.
1958	The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics is renamed to National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
1958	Control Data Corporation introduces Seymour Cray’s 1604 for $1.5 Million, half the cost of the IBM computer.
1958	NEC builds its first computer the NEAC 1101.
1958	William Higinbotham created the first video game called: Tennis for Two.
1958	The programming language FORTRAN II is created. Later FORTRAN III is created but never released to the public.
1958	President Eisenhowers Christmas address is the first voice transmission from a satellite.
1958	Steve Case is born August 21, 1958.
1958	The first integrated circuit is first developed by Robert Noyce of Fairchild Semiconductor and Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments. The first IC was demonstrated on September 12, 1958.
1959	Feng-hsiung Hsu is born in 1959.
1959	Danese Cooper is born January 19, 1959.
1959	Hitachi is founded.
1959	The Harvard-MARK I is turned off for the last time.
1959	Dudley Buck passes away May 21, 1959 (Age: 32).
1959	Robert Noyce creates an integrated circuit with component connections made of aluminum lines on silicon.
1959	The Luna 2 becomes the first human made object to land on the moon on September 14, 1959.
1959	Edith Clarke passes away on October 29, 1959 (age 76)
1959	Leonard Kleinrock starts to developing packetization.
1959	Motorola produces the two-way, fully transistorized mobile radio.
1959	Panasonic is founded.
1959	David Culler is born November 12, 1959.

Computer History 1960 – 1980

Year	Event
1960	2,000 computers are in use in the United states.
1960	IBM develops the first automatic mass-production facility for transistors in New York.
1960	Will Wright is born January 20, 1960.
1960	IBMs 1400 series machines, aimed at the business market begin to be distributed.
1960	The first integrated circuits (IC’s) begin being sold for $120.00 and are chosen to be used on the Gemini spacecraft.
1960	The Common Business-Oriented Language (COBOL) programming language is invented.
1960	Psychologist Frank Rosenblatt creates the Mark I Perception, which has an “eye” that can learn to identify its ABCs.
1960	NASA launches TIROS, the first weather satellite into space.
1960	Bob Bemer introduced the backslash.
1960	Physicist Theodore Maiman creates the first laser May 16, 1960.
1960	AT&T introduces the dataphone and the first known MODEM.
1960	RS-232 is introduced by EIA.
1960	IFIP is founded.
1960	Digital introduces the PDP-1 the first minicomputer.
1960	Tim Cook is born November 1, 1960.
1960	Anders Hejlsberg is born in December of 1960.
1961	Brendan Eich is born in 1961.
1961	Hewlett-Packard stock is accepted by the New York Stock Exchange for national and international trading.
1961	Ed Colligan is born March 4, 1961.
1961	Leonard Kleinrock publishes his first paper entitled “Information Flow in Large Communication Nets” is published May 31, 1961.
1961	Fairchild Semiconductor introduces the first commercially available integrated circuits (IC’s).
1961	The first IBM Selectric typewriter is released July 27, 1961.
1961	General Motors puts the first industrial robot the 4,000 pound Unimate to work in a New Jersey factory.
1961	Accredited Standards Committee is founded, this committee later becomes the INCITS.
1961	P.Z. Ingerman develops a thunk.
1961	ECMA is established.
1961	The first transcontinental telegraph line began operation October 24, 1961.
1961	The programming language FORTRAN IV is created.
1962	Steve Russell creates “SpaceWar!” and releases it in February 1962. This game is considered the first game intended for computers.
1962	Philippe Kahn is born March 16, 1962.
1962	Leonard Kleinrock releases his paper talking about packetization.
1962	AT&T places first commercial communications Satellite, the Telstar I into orbit.
1962	Paul Baran suggests transmission of data using fixed size message blocks.
1962	J.C.R. Licklider becomes the first Director of IPTO and gives his vision of a galactic network.
1962	Philips invents the compact audio cassette tape.
1962	The NASA rocket, the Mariner II, is equipped with a Motorola transmitter on it’s trip to Venus.
1962	Sharp is founded.
1963	IEEE is founded.
1963	The American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) is developed to standardize data exchange among computers.
1963	Kevin Mitnick is born August 6, 1963.
1963	Bell Telephone introduces the push button telephone November 18, 1963.
1963	On December 7, 1963 during a Army-Navy football game on CBS the first instant replay is shown on TV.
1964	Jeff Bezos is born January 12, 1964.
1964	Dartmouth Universitys John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz develop Beginners All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Language (BASIC) and run it for the first time May 1, 1964.
1964	Baran publishes reports “On Distributed Communications.”
1964	AT&T starts the practice of monitoring telephone calls in the hopes of identifying phreakers.
1964	The TRANSIT system becomes operational on U.S. Polaris submarines. This system later becomes known as GPS.
1964	On April 7, 1964 IBM introduces its System/360, the first of its computers to use interchangeable software and peripheral equipment.
1964	Leonard Kleinrock publishes his first book on packet nets entitled Communication Nets: Stochastic Message Flow and Design.
1964	The first computerized encyclopedia is invented at the Systems Development Corporation.
1964	Marc Benioff is born September 25, 1964.
1964	Eric Bina is born in October 1964.
1964	Tsutomu Shimomura is born October 23, 1964.
1964	Alan Emtage is born November 27, 1964.
1965	Robert Scoble is born January 18, 1965.
1965	Ted Nelson coins the term “hypertext,” which refers to text that is not necessarily linear.
1965	Hypermedia is coined by Ted Nelson.
1965	Digital Equipment Company’s first successful minicomputer, the PDP-8 is introduced. The computer sold for $18,000 and over 50,000 are sold.
1965	Donald Davies coins the word “Packet.”
1965	Engineers at TRW Corporation develop a Generalized Information Retrieval Language and System that later develops to the Pick Database Management System used today on Unix and Windows systems.
1965	Michael Dell is born February 23, 1965.
1965	Millions watch for the first time a space probe crashing into the moon on March 24, 1965.
1965	Texas Instruments develops the transistor-transistor logic (TTL).
1965	Lawrence G. Roberts with MIT performs the first long distant dial-up connection between a TX-2 computer n Massachusetts and a Q-32 in California.
1965	Gordon Moore makes an observation in a April 19, 1965 paper that later becomes widely known as Moore’s Law.
1965	Robert Tappan Morris is born November 8, 1965.
1966	MITs Joseph Weizenbaum writes a program called Eliza, that makes the computer act as a psychotherapist.
1966	Lawrence G. Roberts and Tom Marill publish a paper about their earlier success at connecting over dial-up.
1966	David Filo is born April 20, 1966.
1966	Stephen Gray establishes the first personal computer club, the Amateur Computer Society.
1966	Robert Taylor joins ARPA and brings Larry Roberts there to develop ARPANET.
1966	The programming language BCPL is created.
1966	The original Star Trek is shown for the first time on United States NBC September 8, 1966.
1967	IBM creates the first floppy disk.
1967	The first CES is held in New York from the July 24 to 28, 1967.
1967	Donald Davies creates 1-node NPL packet net.
1967	Wes Clark suggests use of a minicomputer for network packet switch.
1967	The LOGO programming language is developed and is later known as “turtle graphics,” a simplified interface useful for teaching children computers.
1967	Donald Davies creates 1-node NPL packet net.
1967	Ralph Baer creates “Chase”, the first video game that was capable of being played on a television.
1967	HES is developed at the Brown University.
1967	Nokia is formed.
1967	GPS becomes available for commercial use.
1967	ISACA is established.
1968	Intel Corporation is founded by Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore.
1968	Hewlett Packard began marketing the first mass-marketed PC, the HP 9100A.
1968	The first Network Working Group (NWG) meeting is held.
1968	Bob Propst invents the office cubicle.
1968	Larry Roberts publishes ARPANET program plan on June 3, 1968.
1968	On June 4, 1968 Dr. Robert Dennard at the IBM T.J. Watson Research center is granted U.S. patent 3,387,286 describing a one-transistor DRAM cell.
1968	First RFP for a network goes out.
1968	Alan Cox is born July 22, 1968.
1968	UCLA is selected to be the first node on the Internet as we know it today and serve as the Network Msmnt Center.
1968	The movie “2001: A Space Odyssey” is released.
1968	SHRDLU is created.
1968	Seiko markets a miniature printer for use with calculators.
1968	Sony invents Trinitron.
1968	Jerry Yang is born November 6, 1968.
1968	Douglas Engelbart publicly demonstrates Hypertext on the NLS on December 9, 1968.
1969	Control Data Corporation led by Seymour Cray, release the CDC 7600, considered by most to be the first supercomputer.
1969	AT&T Bell Laboratories develop Unix.
1969	The first totally artificial heart is placed into Haskell Carp on April 4, 1969 for 64 hours until a donor heart became available.
1969	Steve Crocker releases RFC #1 on April 7, 1979 introducing the Host-to-Host and talking about the IMP software.
1969	Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) is founded on May 1, 1969.
1969	Adrian Carmack is born May 5, 1969.
1969	Gary Starkweather, while working with Xerox invents the laser printer.
1969	UCLA puts out a press release introducing the public to the Internet on July 3, 1969.
1969	At 4:17 Eastern Time the Apollo 11 space craft lands on the moon and Neil Armstrong becomes the first human to walk on the moon.
1969	Intel sells its first commercial product, the 3101 Schottky bipolar 64-bit SRAM chip.
1969	Ralph Baer files for a US Patent on August 21, 1969 that describes playing games on a television and would later be a part of the Magnavox Odyssey.
1969	On August 29, 1969 the first network switch and the first piece of network equipment (called “IMP”, which is short for Interface Message Processor) is sent to UCLA.
1969	The first U.S. bank ATM went into service at 9:00am on September 2, 1969.
1969	On September 2, 1969 the first data moves from UCLA host to the IMP switch.
1969	Charley Kline a UCLA student tries to send “login”, the first message over ARPANET at 10:30 p.m on October 29, 1969. The system transmitted “l” and then “o” but then crashed making today the first day a message was sent over the Internet and the first network crash.
1969	CompuServe, the first commercial online service, is established.
1969	Linus Torvalds is born December 28, 1969.
1970	Western Digital is founded.
1970	Steve Crocker and UCLA team releases NCP.
1970	Intel announces the 1103, a new DRAM memory chip containing more than 1,000 bits of information. This chip is classified as random-access memory (RAM).
1970	The Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) is established to perform basic computing and electronic research.
1970	The Forth programming language is created by Charles H. Moore.
1970	Henry Edward Roberts establishes Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS) in 1970.
1970	U.S. Department of Defense develops ada a computer programming language capable of designing missile guidance systems.
1970	The Sealed Lead Acid battery begins being used for commercial use.
1970	Jack Kilby is awarded the National Medal of Science.
1970	Patrick Norton is born June 26, 1970.
1970	Tom Merritt is born June 28, 1970.
1970	Philips introduces the VCR.
1970	Centronics introduces the first dot matrix printer.
1970	Emanuel Goldberg passes away on September 13, 1970 (age 89)
1970	Tom Anderson is born on November 8, 1970.
1970	Douglas Engelbart gets a patent for the first computer mouse on November 17, 1970.
1970	IBM introduces the System/370, which included the use of Virtual Memory and utilized memory chips instead of magnetic core technology.
1971	Philo Farnsworth passes away.
1971	The first 8″ floppy diskette drive was introduced.
1971	Ray Tomlinson sends the first e-mail, the first messaging system to send messages across a network to other users.
1971	The computer gets a voice, as the first computer is demonstrated with a synthesized voice.
1971	Bob Bemer publishes world’s first warning on Year 2000 problem in 1971.
1971	The first laser printer is developed at Xerox PARC.
1971	FTP is first purposed April 16, 2012 by Abhay Bhushan of MIT in RFC 114.
1971	IBM introduces its first speech recognition program capable of recognizing about 5,000 words.
1971	Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney create the first arcade game called “Computer Space.”
1971	SMC is founded.
1971	Marc Andreessen is born July 9, 1971.
1971	Steve Wozniak and Bill Fernandez develop a computer called the Cream Soda Computer.
1971	Schadt and Helfrich develop twisted nematic.
1971	Niklaus Wirth invents the Pascal programming language.
1971	Intel with the help of Ted Hoff introduces the first microprocessor, the Intel 4004 on November 15, 1971. The 4004 had 2,300 transistors, performed 60,000 operations per second (OPS), addressed 640 bytes of memory, and cost $200.00.
1971	First edition of Unix released November 03, 1971. The first edition of the “Unix PROGRAMMER’S MANUAL [by] K. Thompson [and] D. M. Ritchie.” It includes over 60 commands like: b (compile B program); boot (reboot system); cat (concatenate files); chdir (change working directory); chmod (change access mode); chown (change owner); cp (copy file); ls (list directory contents); mv (move or rename file); roff (run off text); wc (get word count); who (who is one the system). The main thing missing was pipes.
1972	Erik Selberg is born in 1972.
1972	Evan Williams is born March 31, 1972.
1972	Intel introduces the 8008 processor on April 1, 1972.
1972	The first video game console called the Magnavox Odyssey is demonstrated May 24, 1972 and later released by Magnavox and sold for $100.00 USD.
1972	ARPA is renamed to DARPA.
1972	The programming language FORTRAN 66 is created.
1972	Dennis Ritchie at Bell Labs invents the C programming language.
1972	Edsger Dijkstra is awarded the ACM Turning Award.
1972	The compact disc is invented in the United States.
1972	Cray Research Inc. is founded.
1972	Atari releases Pong, the first commercial video game on November 29, 1972.
1972	First public demo of ARPANET.
1972	Whetstone is first released in November 1972.
1972	Fletcher Jones passes away November 7, 1972 (Age: 41)
1972	Norm Abramson’ Alohanet connected to ARPANET: packet radio nets.
1973	The architecture used with the CP/M operating system becomes the standard for the next eight years until MS-DOS is introduced.
1973	Vinton Cerf and Robert Kahn design TCP during 1973 and later publish it with the help of Yogen Dalal and Carl Sunshine in December of 1974 in RFC 675.
1973	Howard H. Aiken passes away march 14, 1973.
1973	Larry page is born March 26, 1973.
1973	ARPA deploys SATNET the first international connection.
1973	Alexey Andreevich Lyapunov passes away in 1973.
1973	Dr. Martin Cooper makes the first handheld cellular phone call to Dr. Joel S. Engel April 3, 1973.
1973	Robert Metcalfe creates the Ethernet at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) on May 22, 1973.
1973	The first VoIP call is made.
1973	IBM introduces its 3660 Supermarket System, which uses a laser to read grocery prices and UPC bar codes.
1973	Interactive laser discs make their debut.
1973	The first Landsat satellite is launched July 23, 1973.
1973	Chris Pirillo is born July 26, 1973.
1973	The ICCP is founded.
1973	Sergey Brin is born August 21, 1973.
1973	U.S. Patent 3,906,166 is filed October 17, 1973 for a radio telephone system, which helps paves the way for what we know today as a cell phone.
1973	Judge awards John Vincent Atanasoff as the inventor of the first electronic digital computer on October 19, 1973.
1974	Jeri Ellsworth is born in 1974.
1974	Christopher Stone is born March 10, 1974.
1974	Intel’s improved microprocessor chip is introduced April 1, 1974, the 8080 becomes a standard in the computer industry.
1974	The U.S. government starts its antitrust suit against AT&T and doesn’t end until 1982 when AT&T agrees to divest itself of the wholly owned Bell operating companies that provided local exchange service.
1974	John Draper aka Captain Crunch discovers a breakfast cereal children’s whistle creates a 2600 hertz tone. Using this whistle and a blue box he’s able to successfully get into AT&T‘s phone network and make free calls anywhere in the world.
1974	The first Toshiba floppy disk drive is introduced.
1974	Vannevar Bush passes away June 28, 1974.
1974	The IBM MVS operating system is introduced.
1974	A commercial version of ARPANET known as Telenet is introduced and considered by many to be the first Internet Service Provider (ISP).
1974	IBM develops SEQUEL, which today is known as SQL today.
1974	IBM introduces SNA.
1974	Charles Simonyi coins the term WYSIWYG.
1974	Altair 8800 kits start going on sale December 19, 1974.
1975	Bill Gates and Paul Allen Establish Microsoft April 4, 1975.
1975	Christopher Strachey passes away May 18, 1975.
1975	Bill Gates, Paul Allen, and Monte Davidoff announce Altair BASIC.
1975	MITS ships one of the first PCs, the Altair 8800 with one kilobyte (KB) of memory. The computer is ordered as a mail-order kit for $397.00.
1975	A flight simulator demo is first shown.
1975	Paul Allen and Bill Gates write the first computer language program for personal computers, which is a form of BASIC designed for the Altair. Gates later drops out of Harvard and founds Microsoft with Allen.
1975	Molly Wood is born May 23, 1975.
1975	Marissa Mayer is born May 30, 1975.
1975	Xerox exits the computer market on July 21, 1975.
1975	The Byte Shop, one of the first computer stores, open in California.
1975	The IBM 5100 becomes the first portable computer, which was released on September 1975. The computer weighed 55 pounds and had a five inch CRT display, tape drive, 1.9MHz PALM processor, and 64KB of RAM.
1975	EPSON enters the US market.
1975	Gina Trapani is born September 19, 1975.
1975	Bram Cohen is born October 12, 1975.
1975	IMS Associates begin shipping its IMSAI 8080 computer kits on December 16, 1975.
1976	On February 3, 1976 David Bunnell publishes an article by Bill Gates complaining about software piracy in his Computer Notes Altair newsletter.
1976	Intel introduces the 8085 processor on March 1976.
1976	Steve Wozniak designs the first Apple, the Apple I computer in 1976, later Wozniak and Steve Jobs co-found Apple Computers on April Fools day.
1976	The first 5.25-inch floppy disk is invented.
1976	Microsoft introduces an improved version of BASIC.
1976	The First Annual World Altair Computer convention and first convention of computer hobbyists is held in New Mexico on March 26, 1976.
1976	The term meme is first defined in the book The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins.
1976	The first Public Key Cryptography known as the Deffie-Hellman is developed by Whitfield Deffie and Martin Hellman.
1976	The Intel 8086 is introduced June 8, 1976.
1976	Amber MacArthur is born June 27, 1976.
1976	Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak demonstrate the first Apple computer at the Home Brew Computer Club.
1976	The NASA Viking 2 lands on Mars September 3, 1976 and transmits pictures and soil analysis.
1976	Professor at Bowling Green State University first uses the term ‘Computer Ethics‘.
1976	The original Apple computer company logo of Sir Isaac Newton sitting under an apple tree is replaced by the well known rainbow colored apple with a bite out of it.
1976	Matrox is founded.
1976	DES is approved as a federal standard in November 1976.
1976	Jack Dorsey is born November 19, 1976.
1976	Microsoft officially drops the hyphen in Micro-soft and trademarks the Microsoft name November 26, 1976.
1976	In December of 1976 Bill Gates drops out of Harvard to devote all his time to Microsoft.
1977	Apple Computer becomes Incorporated January 4, 1977
1977	Ward Christansen develops a popular modem transfer modem called Xmodem.
1977	Apple Computer Inc., Radio Shack, and Commodore all introduce mass-market computers.
1977	Kevin Rose is born February 21, 1977.
1977	Derek Gehl is born March 10, 1977.
1977	The First West Coast Computer Faire in San Francisco’s Brooks Civic Auditorium is held on April 15, 1977.
1977	Peter G. Neuman coins the term peopleware.
1977	Apple Computers Apple II, the first personal computer with color graphics is demonstrated.
1977	ARCNET the first commercially network is developed
1977	Zoom Telephonics is founded.
1977	Commodore announces that the PET (Personal Electronic Transactor) will be a self-contained unit, with a CPU, RAM, ROM, keyboard, monitor and tape recorder all for $495.00
1977	Microsoft sells the license for BASIC to Radio Shack and Apple and introduces the program in Japan.
1977	Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope is released May 25, 1977.
1977	Apple releases the Apple II series of computers June 10, 1977.
1977	Chad Hurley is born July 21, 1977.
1977	Tandy announces it will manufacture the TRS-80 Model 1, the first mass-produced computer on August 3, 1977. This computer is commonly referred to as the Trash 80.
1977	Frederic Williams passes away August 11, 1977 (Age: 66)
1977	NASA Voyager 1 is launched into space September 5, 1977. This spacecraft is the farthest man-made object in space.
1977	BSD is introduced.
1978	Dan Bricklin creates VisiCalc.
1978	The first BBS is put online February 16, 1978.
1978	TCP splits into TCP/IP driven by Danny Cohen, David Reed, and John Shoch to support real-time traffic. This allows the creation of UDP.
1978	Epson introduces the TX-80, which becomes the first successful dot matrix printer for personal computers.
1978	OSI is developed by ISO.
1978	Roy Trubshaw and Richard Bartle create the first MUD.
1978	The first spam e-mail was sent by Gary Thuerk in May 1, 1978 an employee at Digital who was advertising the new DECSYSTEM-2020, 2020T, 2060, AND 2060T on ARPAnet.
1978	Microsoft introduces a new version of COBOL.
1978	Peter Sunde is born September 13, 1978.
1978	Louise Joy Brown born July 25, 1978, becomes the first human baby born as a result of using in vitro fertilization (IVF).
1978	The 5.25-inch floppy disk becomes an industry standard.
1978	In June of 1978 Apple introduces Apple DOS 3.1, the first operating system for the Apple computers.
1978	Ward Christensen and Randy Seuss have the first major microcomputer bulletin board up and running in Chicago.
1978	ETA is founded.
1978	Steve Chen is born in 1978.
1978	John Shoch and Jon Hupp at Xerox PARC develop the first worm.
1979	Jawed Karim is born in 1979.
1979	Robert Williams of Michigan became the first human to be killed by a robot at the Ford Motors company on January 25, 1979. Resulting in a $10 million dollar lawsuit.
1979	Software Arts Incorporated VisiCalc becomes the first electronic spreadsheet and business program for PCs.
1979	Epson releases the MX-80 which soon becomes an industry standard for dot matrix printers.
1979	SCO is founded.
1979	Sierra is founded.
1979	The Intel 8088 is released on June 1, 1979.
1979	Markus Persson is born June 1, 1979.
1979	Bit 3 is founded.
1979	Texas Instruments enters the computer market with the TI 99/4 personal computer that sells for $1,500.
1979	Hayes markets its first modem that becomes the industry standard for modems.
1979	Atari introduces a coin-operated version of Asteroids.
1979	More than half a million computers are in use in the United States.
1979	3COM is founded by Robert Metcalfe.
1979	Oracle introduces the first commercial version of SQL.
1979	The programming language DoD-1 is officially changed to Ada.
1979	The Motorola 6800, an 8-bit processor is released and is later chosen as the processor for the Apple Macintosh.
1979	Phoenix is founded.
1979	VMS is introduced.
1979	CompuServe becomes the first commercial online service offering dial-up connection to anyone September 24, 1979.
1979	Usenet is first started.
1979	A technology consulting firm in Washington D.C. known as Network Solutions is established.
1979	Bit 3 is established.
1979	Seagate is founded.
1979	Saitek is founded
1979	Oracle is founded.
1979	Novell Data System is established as an operating system developer. Later in 1983 the company becomes the Novell company.

Computer history – 1980 – 1990

Year	Event
1980	On January 3, Hewlett Packard introduces its HP-85. A microcomputer with 16kB of RAM and a 5-inch CRT display.
1980	IBM introduces RISC.
1980	IBM hires Paul Allen and Bill Gates to create an operating system for a new PC. The pair buy the rights to a simple operating system manufactured by Seattle Computer Products and use it as a template. IBM allows the two to keep the marketing rights to the operating system, called DOS.
1980	IBM hires Microsoft to develop versions of BASIC, FORTRAN, COBOL, and Pascal for the PC being developed by IBM.
1980	Microsoft licenses Unix and starts to develop a PC version, XENIX.
1980	The programming language FORTRAN 77 is created.
1980	The first Tandy Color computer is introduced.
1980	AST is founded.
1980	Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back is released May 21, 1980.
1980	Steve Ballmer joins Microsoft on June 11, 1980, and became Microsoft’s 30th employee, the first business manager hired by Bill Gates.
1980	Atari becomes the first company to register a Copyright for two computer games “Asteroids” and “Lunar Landar” on June 17, 1980.
1980	FIC is founded.
1980	Iomega is established.
1980	Quantum is founded.
1980	ARPANET experiences first major network crash causing it to go down for four hours October 27, 1980.
1980	Shawn Fanning is born November 22, 1980.
1981	Jeff Dailey, a 19-year old becomes the first person to die from computer gaming after dying from a heart attack after posting a score of 16,660 on Berzerk.
1981	Satya Pal Asija receives the first U.S. patent for a computer software program May 26, 1981.
1981	Diskeeper is founded on July 22, 1981.
1981	Microsoft buys the rights for QDOS from Seattle Computer Products (SCP) for $25,000 on July 27, 1981.
1981	MS-DOS 1.0 was released August, 1981.
1981	American National Standards Institute more commonly known as ANSI was founded.
1981	IBM joins the computer race by announcing the IBM Personal Computer on August 12, 1981, which runs the new MS-DOS operating system and has a starting price of $1,565.
1981	Kermit is developed at the Columbia University in New York
1981	Xerox introduces the graphical Star workstation. This computer greatly influences the development of Apples future computer models, Lisa and Macintosh, as well as Microsoft‘s Windows.
1981	VHDL is proposed and begins development.
1981	VMEbus is developed.
1981	Hayes Introduces the Smartmodem 300 with its standard setting AT command set and an operating speed of 300 bits per second.
1981	Adam Osborne introduces the Osborne I, the first successful portable computer, which weighs 25 pounds.
1981	Hewlett-Packard Superchip the first 32-bit chip is introduced.
1981	Commodore ships the VIC-20, which later becomes the worlds most popular computer costing only $299.95.
1981	Logitech is founded in Apples, Switzerland.
1981	Adaptec is founded.
1981	BITNET is founded.
1981	Gemlight is founded.
1981	Hayes releases the Smartmodem 1200 with transfer rates of 1,200 bits per second.
1981	CTX is established.
1981	IBM joins the computer race by introducing IBM 5150 PC that used the 4.77-MHz Intel 8088 processor, 16 kB base memory, and PC-DOS (MS-DOS) for the OS.
1981	Kensington is founded.
1981	MG Siegler is born November 2, 1981.
1982	Peter Norton creates Norton Utilities.
1982	Sony releases its first Trinitron monitor.
1982	SGI is founded.
1982	The Intel 80286 is introduced February 1, 1982.
1982	Maxtor is founded.
1982	Hercules is founded.
1982	Labtec is founded.
1982	Disney releases the movie Tron on July 9, 1982, the first movie to use computer generated special effects.
1982	Number Nine is founded.
1982	Symantec is founded.
1982	A Philips factory in Germany creates the world’s first compact disc August 17, 1982.
1982	Jack Kilby is inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
1982	Microsoft releases FORTRAN for the PC COBOL for MS-DOS, and Multiplan for the Apple II and CP/M machines.
1982	Microsoft establishes a subsidiary in England to begin foreign sales efforts.
1982	WordPerfect Corporation introduces WordPerfect 1.0 a word processing program that will become one of the computer markets most popular word processing program.
1982	The first luggable computer is introduced.
1982	Sun is incorporated in February 1982, with four employees.
1982	Lotus Development Corporation is founded.
1982	Compaq Computer Corp. is founded by Rod Canion and other Texas Instruments Incorporated engineers. Compaq is the first company to introduce a clone of the IBM PC (the Compaq Portable in 1983) and become IBMs biggest challenger in the corporate market.
1982	The Commodore 64 an 8-bit computer with 64 kilobytes of memory and Commodore BASIC begins to be sold.
1982	Diamond Multimedia is founded.
1982	The movie Blade Runner is released June 25, 1982.
1982	Veronica Belmont is born July 21, 1982.
1982	The HX-20 becomes the first notebook-sized portable computer is introduced by Epson.
1982	MS-DOS version 1.25 is released.
1982	Apple Computer is the first personal computer manufacturer to hit the $1 billion mark for annual sales.
1982	Adobe is founded.
1982	Professor Scott Fahlman creates a post on bulletin board mention the idea of using a series of characters to represent a smiley face and frown face that later became known as emoticons.
1982	BTC is founded.
1982	Sony begins selling the first Audio CD players October 1, 1982.
1982	The XT bus is introduced.
1982	Rich Skrenta a 15-year old high school student creates the first known computer virus known as The Elk Cloner.
1982	The first permanent artificial heart is implanted into Barney Clark December 2, 1982.
1982	AutoCAD is introduced in December 1982.
1983	Lotus 1-2-3, a spreadsheet program is introduced January 26, 1983.
1983	Apple releases the Lisa computer, the first commercial computer with a GUI.
1983	The IBM XT is first introduced on March 8, 1983.
1983	The first Apple WWDC is held.
1983	Compaq introduces the first 100% IBM compatible computer the “Compaq Portable” in March of 1983.
1983	PC World magazine first appears on newstands March 1983.
1983	John Scully becomes CEO of Apple on April 8, 1983.
1983	BSD 4.2 is released and introduces pseudo terminals.
1983	Zoran is founded.
1983	The movie Wargames is released June 3, 1983.
1983	Paul Allen leaves Microsoft.
1983	Iomega introduces the Bernoulli drive.
1983	The TIME magazine nominates the personal computer as the “machine of the year” December 26,1982, the first non-human ever nominated.
1983	The 414s, a group of hackers are caught by the FBI.
1983	Interplay is founded.
1983	Novell introduces Netware.
1983	The Apple IIe is introduced. The computer contains 64 kilobytes of RAM one megahertz 6502 processor and running Applesoft BASIC and sells for $1,400.
1983	ARPANET standardizes TCP/IP.
1983	Tandy, Epson and NEC all sell notebook computers however only the Tandys model 100 becomes popular because of its low price of $499.
1983	THX is established.
1983	More than 10 million computers are in use in the United States.
1983	MS-DOS 2.0 was released March, 1983.
1983	Alexis Ohanian is born April 24, 1983.
1983	Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi is released May 25, 1983.
1983	True BASIC is created and is a compiled, structured language. It doesn’t require line numbers, as the original BASIC did, and includes the advanced control structures necessary for structured programming.
1983	The QIC Standard becomes the first standard in the computer history for tape drives.
1983	Soviet jets shoot down a civilian Korean Air Lines Flight 007 flying from New York to Seoul and kill all 269 passengers and crew. As a result of this mistake President Ronald Regan orders the U.S. military to make Global Positioning System (GPS) available for civilian use.
1983	The GNU operating system is first announced by Richard Stallman September 27, 1983.
1983	IAB is founded in 1983.
1983	IBM announces the PCjr (PC junior) computer November 1, 1983.
1983	Microsoft Windows was announced November 10, 1983.
1983	The largest BBS Exec-PC goes online November 28, 1983.
1984	The AT&T company we know today officially starts, expiring the famous Bell logo January 1, 1984.
1984	Docutel/Olivetti introduce the Olivetti PC, compatible with the IBM PC on January 3, 1984.
1984	On January 4th Netherlands Antilles issues a 45-cent postage stamp of a computer making a newspaper.
1984	The now famous Apple “1984” commercial is aired during Super Bowl XVIII January 22, 1984.
1984	On January 24, 1984 the Apple Macintosh is introduced.
1984	Hitachi announces it has developed the first memory chip capable of holding 1MB on January 5th.
1984	IBM‘s AT computer is introduced.
1984	The MUD was known as MAD becomes the first global MUD and runs across BITNET.
1984	IBM PC Division (PCD) introduces its first portable computer, the IBM Portable weighing in at 30 pounds.
1984	Justine Ezarik is born March 20, 1984.
1984	Microsoft creates a new hardware and peripheral division March 29, 1984.
1984	ESS Technologies is founded.
1984	Mark Zuckerberg is born May 14, 1984.
1984	The game Tetris is first released in the USSR June 6, 1984.
1984	Guillemot is founded.
1984	Amiga is purchased by Commodore Business Machines on August 15th.
1984	Bill Gates is featured on the cover of TIME magazine.
1984	ASN.1 is first defined.
1984	The 3.5-inch floppy diskette is introduced and later becomes an industry standard.
1984	Dell Computer is founded May 3, 1984 in Austin Texas.
1984	Fox Software FoxBASE is introduced.
1984	Paul Mockapetris and Jon Postel introduce DNS.
1984	The now famous Apple commercial is shown during the Super Bowl, the commercial introduces the Apple Macintosh, a computer with graphical user interface instead of needing to type in commands. In six months sales of the computer reach 100,000.
1984	Apple AppleTalk networking protocol is introduced.
1984	Dhrystone is developed.
1984	IBM develops EGA.
1984	The computer Museum opens in downtown Boston.
1984	Microsoft introduces MS-DOS 3.0 for the IBM PC AT and MS-DOS 3.1 for networks.
1984	The Tandy 1000 personal computer is introduced and becomes the best-selling IBM-compatible computer of the year.
1984	IBM introduces the Enhanced Graphics Adapter (EGA) video card with higher resolution, more colors, and a quicker response then previous video cards.
1984	University of Southern California professor Fred Cohen creates alarm when he warns the public about computer viruses in his Computer Virus – Theory and Experiments paper.
1984	The term cyberspace is first used and coined by William Gibson in his book Neuromancer.
1984	Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak are awarded the National Medal of Technology
1984	The beginning of the greatest adventure computer gaming series is released by Sierra. Kings Quest 1: Quest for the crown is released to the public.
1984	The Yellow book of CD-ROM standards is written.
1984	The original Terminator movie is released October 26, 1984.
1984	SETI is founded November 20, 1984.
1984	Cirrus is established.
1984	ISA is expanded to 16-bit capability.
1985	The WELL is founded in February 1985 by Stewart Brand and Larry Brilliant.
1985	On January 4th at CES, Commodore introduces the Commodore 128 PC with 8502 processor 128 kB of RAM and ROM cartridge port.
1985	On January 4th at CES, Atari introduces the Atari 130XE, 130ST, 260ST, 520ST, 65XE, 65XEM, and 65XEP computers.
1985	The first Internet domain name symbolics.com is registered by Symbolics, a Massachusetts computer company on March 15, 1985.
1985	Charles Hamblin passes away May 14, 1985.
1985	The GNU manifesto is published by Dr. Dobb’s Journal
1985	Software Arts assets are sold to Lotus. Software Arts is most well known for its VisiCalc program.
1985	The Amiga aka A1000 is introduced..
1985	PNY Technologies is founded.
1985	Dell releases its first computer, the “Turbo PC.”
1985	Titus Interactive is founded.
1985	Microtek introduces the world’s first 300-dpi black-and-white sheetfed scanner.
1985	Quantum Computer Services is founded, this company later becomes AOL.
1985	Microsoft and IBM begin collaboration on the next-generation operating system (OS/2).
1985	The computer company Gateway 2000 is founded in Siox City, Iowa on September 5, 1985.
1985	CAT1 wiring is introduced.
1985	Intel introduces the 80386 in October.
1985	Paul Brainard of Aldus Corporation introduces Pagemaker for the Macintosh, a program that lets users mix type and graphics on the same page. The combination of this software and the new Apple LaserWriter laser printer helps create the desktop publishing field.
1985	The Mach Project begins at the Carnegie Mellon University.
1985	IBM develops NetBEUI.
1985	Microsoft Windows 1.0 is introduced in November, 1985 and is initially sold for $100.00.
1985	ATI is founded.
1985	Microsoft releases first version of QuickBASIC on August 18, 1985.
1985	Steve Jobs quits Apple September 16, 1985.
1985	Boca is established.
1985	IBM introduces the Baby AT motherboard form factor.
1985	Corel is founded.
1985	The first C++ reference guide is published by Bjarne Stoustrup October 14, 1985.
1985	The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is released in North America October 18, 1985.
1985	Microsoft releases the first version of Microsoft Excel on the Apple Macintosh November 30, 1985.
1985	Gravis is founded.
1986	The Hacker Manifesto is published in Phrack (Volume One, Issue 7, Phile 3 of 10) on January 8, 1986.
1986	The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is formed January 16, 1986.
1986	The space shuttle Challenger explodes January 28, 1986 during take off, resulting in the death of the seven crew members.
1986	Beny Alagem buys the Packard Bell name from Teledyne and starts the Packard Bell computer company.
1986	The term vaporware is first used by Philip Elmer-DeWitt in a TIME magazine article.
1986	Gigabyte is founded.
1986	Pixar is co-founded by Steve Jobs.
1986	Apple introduces the Mac Plus. The computer contained one megabyte of RAM, new keyboard that contained cursors and numeric keypad and sold for $2,600.
1986	The AT or 101 key keyboard is introduced by IBM.
1986	Compaq introduces the first 386-based PC compatible computer.
1986	The NCSA opens.
1986	Microsoft is listed on the New York Stock Exchange selling shares to the public at $21 each, making Bill Gates one of the worlds youngest billionaires.
1986	More than 30 million computers are in use in the United States.
1986	The domain ibm.com comes online March 19, 1986.
1986	MS-DOS 3.2 was released April, 1986.
1986	IBM becomes the first company to use a one megabit chip in the IBM Model 3090.
1986	IMAP is developed by Stanford University.
1986	Eric Thomas develops the first Listserv.
1986	NSFNET is created.
1986	BITNET II is created.
1986	IBM PC Division (PCD) announces it’s first laptop computer, the PC Convertible, weighing 12 pounds, which is 18 pounds lighter than the earlier portable computer.
1986	CD-i format is specified.
1986	Tandy announces the Color Computer 3 July 30, 1986.
1986	Aztech is established.
1986	Avid is established.
1987	Steve Wozniak ends his employment with Apple on February 6, 1987.
1987	The domain apple.com comes online February 19, 1987.
1987	Oak Technology is founded.
1987	CompuServe introduces the GIF standard and images.
1987	Robert Noyce is awarded the National Medal of Technology.
1987	Microsoft purchases Forethought Incorporated. The company that developed the presentation software PowerPoint.
1987	Microsoft introduces Microsoft Works.
1987	Dolby AC-1 is introduced.
1987	VIA Technologies is founded.
1987	Microsoft and IBM release OS/2 1.0.
1987	The Mac SE is introduced at $2,900.
1987	Chipsets begin to be found on computer motherboards.
1987	IBM introduces the PS/2 personal computer that has improved graphics, a 3.5-inch diskette drive, and proprietary bus to help prevent clone makers competition, and a bidirectional 8-bit port.
1987	IBM sends clone manufacturers letters demanding retroactive licensing fees.
1987	IBM develops 8514/A.
1987	MS-DOS 3.3 was released April, 1987.
1987	The domain cisco.com comes online May 14, 1987.
1987	Microsoft acquires Forethought on June 29, 1987, the developer of what we know today as Microsoft PowerPoint.
1987	IBM introduces MCA.
1987	The first ARM processor computer, the Acorn Archimedes is released.
1987	Microsoft Shares hits $100 per share.
1987	Apogee is founded, Apogee is well known for its computer games as well as the company who first released a ‘Shareware’ game.
1987	The SPARC processor is first introduced by Sun.
1987	The first e-mail from China is sent to its connection in Germany September 20, 1987.
1987	Star Trek: The Next Generation TV show premiers for the first time.
1987	IBM introduces VGA.
1987	RealTek is founded October 1987.
1987	Walter Brattain passes away October 13, 1987.
1987	Larry Wall introduces Perl 1.0.
1987	On November 22, 1987 a Chicago PBS affiliate WTTW-11 TV broadcast gets hacked by a person wearing a Max Headroom mask.
1987	Microsoft introduces Windows 2.0 in December 9, 1987.
1987	Larry Wall releases the first version of Perl on December 18, 1987, version 1.0.
1987	Elitegroup Computer Systems is established.
1988	Edmund Berkeley passes away March 7, 1988.
1988	Apple files a copyright infringement against Microsoft for Windows 2.03 and Hewlett Packard for New Wave in comparison with their Macintosh operating system.
1988	About 45 million PCs are in use in the United States.
1988	SNMP is introduced.
1988	Robert Morris releases the Morris worm November 22, 1988, becoming one of the first major worms to infect roughly 6,000 computers over the Internet and helps establish the CERT Coordination Center.
1988	First T-1 backbone is added to ARPANET.
1988	Xircom is founded.
1988	Bitnet and CSNET merge to create CREN.
1988	Trend Micro is founded.
1988	Creative Labs introduces the SoundBlaster, a sound card for the PC that contains an 11-voice FM synthesizer with text-to-speech, digitized voice input/output, a MIDI port, a joystick port and bundled software.
1988	Jarkko Oikarinen develops IRC
1988	EISA is announced in September as an alternative to MCA.
1988	Motorola releases the 88000 processor.
1988	NTP is introduced.
1988	Intel 80386SX is introduced.
1988	Promise is founded.
1988	OSF is founded.
1988	Morphing is first introduced in the movie Willow.
1988	MS-DOS 4.0 was released July, 1988.
1988	MS-DOS 4.01 was released November, 1988.
1988	Andrei Ershov passes away December 8, 1988.
1989	GriD Systems Corporation introduces the first pen-based computer.
1989	PCMCIA trade association is founded.
1989	ActionFront is founded.
1989	The Gif89a standard is introduced.
1989	ABIT is founded.
1989	SQL Server is introduced.
1989	Antoni Kilinski passes away May 6, 1989.
1989	Fred Cohen is awarded the Information Technology Award.
1989	Intel releases the 486DX processor, with more than 1 million transistors and multitasking capabilities.
1989	Orange book is released by Philips and Sony.
1986	Robert Morris becomes first person indicted under the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act on July 26, 1989.
1989	The first release of Microsoft Office for the Apple Mac is released on August 1, 1989.
1989	William Shockley passes away August 12, 1989.
1989	Poqet announces the Poqet PC the first pocket-sized MS-DOS compatible computer.
1989	Asus is founded.
1989	AC-2 is introduced.
1989	The networking routing protocol OSPF is introduced.
1989	Citrix is founded.
1989	S3 Inc. is founded.

Computer History – 1990

Year	Event
1990	In 1990 Tim Berners-Lee, working with Robert Cailliau at CERN propose a ‘hypertext’ system, which is the first start of the Internet as we know it today.
1990	Microsoft releases Windows 3.0 a completely new version of Microsoft Windows. The version will sell more than 3 million copies in one year.
1990	Microsoft exceeds $1 billion in sales and becomes the first company to do so.
1990	Godwin’s Law is conceived.
1990	Alan Perlis passes away February 7, 1990.
1990	Electronic Frontier Foundation or EFF is founded February 16, 1990.
1990	An Wang passes away march 24, 1990.
1990	Hubble telescope goes into space.
1990	Microsoft releases its first product for the Russian market Russian DOS 4.01.
1990	The World, the first commercial Internet dial-up access provider comes online.
1990	Norton sells his software business to Symantec.
1990	Creative Labs introduces the SoundBlaster Pro.
1990	Quarterdeck releases its memory management program QEMM386 version 5.1 which quickly becomes the fastest-selling software program in the Untied States.
1990	Robert Noyce passes away June 3, 1990.
1990	The Multimedia Personal Computer (MPC) standards are developed by Tandy and Microsoft.
1990	Microsoft and IBM stop working together to develop operating systems.
1990	Arthur Samuel passes away July 29, 1990.
1990	IBM introduces XGA.
1990	ARPANET replaced by NSFNET.
1990	The first search engine Archie, written by Alan Emtage, Bill Heelan, and Mike Parker at McGill University in Montreal Canada is released on September 10, 1990
1990	GSM standard is defined.
1990	The NiMH battery begins being used for commercial use.
1990	Panda Software is founded.
1990	Archie, the first search engine is introduced on September 10, 1990.
1990	Gopher is developed at the University of Minnesota. The program is a menu-driven search-and-retrieval tool and helps Internet users location information online.
1990	The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is launched October 17, 1990.
1990	Intel releases the 80386SL processor that uses low power and found in many portable computers.
1990	Tim Berners-Lee successfully sets up the first web server at info.cern.ch on December 25, 1990.

Computer History – 1991

Year	Event
1991	John Bardeen passes away January 30, 1991.
1991	id Software is founded February 1, 1991.
1991	BSDi is founded.
1991	Python is introduced.
1991	HTTP/0.9 is introduced.
1991	NSF opens the Internet to commercial use.
1991	AMD introduces the AM386 microprocessor family in March.
1991	Intel introduces the Intel 486SX chip in April in efforts to help bring a lower-cost processor to the PC market selling for $258.00.
1991	Cell phone Lithium batteries begin being recalled in Japan after phone explodes and burns mans face while talking on the phone.
1991	The Sega Genesis game “Zero Wing” is introduced. The phrase “All your base are belong to us” later becomes a popular saying for computer gamers and geeks.
1991	Symantec releases Norton antivirus software.
1991	The programming language FORTRAN 90 is created.
1991	Following its decision not to develop operating systems cooperatively with IBM, Microsoft changes the name of OS/2 to Windows NT.
1991	Creative Labs releases a multimedia upgrade kit that includes a CD-ROM drive, the SoundBlaster Pro sound card, a MIDI kit and a variety of software applications. The kit allows IBM compatible users to obtain all tools needed to meet the MPC standards.
1991	Pretty Good Privacy more commonly known as PGP a public key used for encryption is released as Freeware by Philip Zimmerman.
1991	The computer Monkey Virus is first discovered in Edmonton, Canada.
1991	The domain microsoft.com comes online May 2, 1991.
1991	Dolby introduces AC-3.
1991	Apple introduces System 7 operating system May 13, 1991.
1991	Derrick Lehmer passes away May 22, 1991.
1991	The DLT tape drive is released as a very reliable, high-speed and high-capacity tape drive solution.
1991	The Enhanced Parallel Port (EPP) is developed by Intel, Xircom and Zenith Data Systems.
1991	TrueType a scalable font is introduced and developed by Microsoft and Apple and is used on all Apple computers and PC computers running Windows.
1991	MS-DOS 5.0 was released June, 1991.
1991	The London Science Museum completed the Difference Engine No 2 for the bicentennial year of Charles Babbage’s birth in June of 1991.
1991	The movie Terminator 2 is released July 1, 1991.
1991	The first Cybercafe opens in July 1991 in SanFrancisco .
1991	The World Wide Web is launched to the public August 6, 1991. Tim Berners-Lee, a scientist at the European Partial Physics Laboratory (CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland develops the Web as a research tool.
1991	Linux is introduced by Linus Torvald in August 25, 1991.
1991	Apple QuickTime is introduced December 2, 1991.

Computer History – 1992

Year	Event
1992	Internet Society formed.
1992	Grace Hopper passes away January 1, 1992.
1992	John Scully first uses the term PDA at CES while describing the Apple Newton on January 7, 1992.
1992	NSFNET upgraded to T-3 backbone.
1992	Microsoft introduces Windows 3.1. It sells more than 1 million copies within the first two months of its release.
1992	Intel releases the 486DX2 chip March 2 with a clock doubling ability that generates higher operating speeds.
1992	Microsoft acquires Fox Software in June, maker of FoxPro.
1992	Allen Newell passes away July 19, 1992.
1992	VESA local bus is introduced.
1992	Radio Shack releases the M2500 XL/2 and M4020 SX personal computers, which are the first personal based upon the MPC specification.
1992	The Reusable Alkaline battery is used for commercial use.
1992	GeCAD is founded.
1992	Popular Gopher tool Veronica is first released.
1992	EPP version 1.7 is released.
1992	IBM PCD introduces ThinkPad, the industry’s first notebook with a 10.4 inch color TFT display and TrackPoint.
1992	Thrustmaster is founded.
1992	TWAIN a standard interface for scanning equipment is developed by the TWAIN consortium, as it was called, consisted of representatives from Aldus, Caere, Eastman, Kodak, Hewlett Packard and Logitech.
1992	Microsoft and Hewlett Packard develops ECP.
1992	MIME standard is defined.
1992	Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) is developed by SQL Access Group.
1992	Jean-Loup Gaily and Mark Alder release gzip on October 31, 1992.
1992	John Kemeny passes away December 26, 1992.

Computer History – 1993

Year	Event
1993	Fifty World Wide Web servers are known to exist as of January.
1993	Winsock is released January 1993.
1993	President Bill Clinton puts the United States White House online with a World Wide Web page and E-mail address for the President, Vice President and first lady.
1993	Microsoft releases Windows NT, Microsoft Office 4.0 and MS-DOS 6.0.
1993	Intel develops PPGA.
1993	Efficient Networks is established.
1993	Tandy sells its computer business to AST Research.
1993	Intel releases the Pentium Processor on March 22 1993. The processor is a 60 MHz processor, incorporates 3.2 million transistors and sells for $878.00.
1993	The NCSA releases the Mosaic browser April 22, 1993.
1993	Microsoft and IBM introduce a PnP ISA.
1993	The first live streaming was done by the band Severe Tire Damage on June 24, 1993. The event was seen live in Australia and other locations over the Internet.
1993	Microsoft Windows NT 3.1 was released July 27, 1993.
1993	Neomagic is founded.
1993	Wine begins to be developed.
1993	John Scully is named president of Apple Computers.
1993	IrDA is founded.
1993	InterNIC is established.
1993	FRISK software is founded.
1993	Tim Negris, a VP at Oracle Corporation coins the term Thin client.
1993	Funcom is founded.
1993	WinRAR is first released.
1993	PowerQuest is founded.
1993	The Internet experiences massive growth.
1993	Edgar F. Codd introduces the world to OLAP.
1993	ADSI is developed at Bellcore
1993	The Environmental Protection Agency, along with 50 computer companies, establish Energy Star guidelines that aim to decrease the amount of power a PC uses when they are idle.
1993	Developed by IBM, Motorola and Apple the PowerPC processor for the Apple Power Mac is introduced and later included in the Power Mac.
1993	VCD is introduced.
1993	The PC game DOOM by Id Software was released December 10, 1993. Today, DOOM is thought of as a turning point for first person shooters and for computer games in general.
1993	Broderbund releases the computer game Myst is released September 24, 1993 and later is honored for being one of the most popular, well known, and sold IBM compatible and Apple Macintosh title.
1993	Microsoft Windows 3.11, an update to Windows 3.1 is released December 31, 1993

Computer History – 1994

Year	Event
1994	Commodore computers files Bankruptcy.
1994	Vice President Al Gore makes a speech where he coins the term “Information Superhighway.”
1994	IBM releases OS/2 Warp.
1994	CDDI is adopted into the X3-T9.5 standard.
1994	VESA Local Bus 2.0 is released.
1994	Intel releases the second generation of Intel Pentium processors on March 7, 1994.
1994	Netscape (Mosaic Communications corporation) is found by Marc Andreesen and James H. Clark April 4, 1994.
1994	3DFX is founded.
1994	Microsoft introduces SMS, now known as SCCM.
1994	Iomega releases its Zip disk drive and diskettes.
1994	Red Hat Linux is founded.
1994	Microsoft releases its beta for Windows 95, code named Chicago.
1994	Rasmus Lerdorf creates PHP.
1994	IBM PCD introduces the IBM ThinkPad 775CD, the first notebook with an integrated CD-ROM.
1994	Hotwired sells the first banner ad to AT&T on October 27, 1994 and begins running the first Internet banner ad campaign.
1994	A mathematical flaw in the Intel Pentium involving the Pentium not correctly performing floating-point calculations is discovered. Later this leads to Intel millions of processors.
1994	YAHOO is created in April, 1994.
1994	Sunbelt Software is founded.
1994	The e-mail hoax “Good Times virus” is first sent out in e-mail. The hoax claimed that an e-mail containing “Good Times” in the subject was spreading on the Internet and if opened would erase everything on the hard drive and to forward the warning to all your friends. This e-mail continues to be sent out even today.
1994	MS-DOS 6.22 was released April, 1994.
1994	Intel introduces the Intel 486DX4 processor.
1994	ANSI approves the ATA standard May 12, 1994.
1994	Bashir Rameyev passes away May 16, 1918
1994	Microsoft releases Windows 3.11.
1994	Geek Squad is founded June 16, 1994.
1997	The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) is established.
1994	Jay Miner passes away June 20, 1994.
1994	Norway’s telecom company, Telenor, starts a research project that later becomes Opera Software
1994	Microsoft Windows NT 3.5 was released September 21, 1994.
1994	The W3C organization is founded by Tim Berners-Lee on October 1, 1994.
1994	Commodore completed its file for bankruptcy.
1994	The Mach Project ends.
1994	Mosaic Netscape 0.9, the first Netscape browser is officially released October 13, 1994. This browser also introduces the Internet to Cookies.
1994	Perl 5.000 is released October 17, 1994.
1994	Professor Thomas Nicely sends an e-mail on October 30, 1994 describing the Intel FPU bug.
1994	Amazon.com domain is registered November 1, 1994.
1994	WXYC (89.3 FM Chapel Hill, NC USA) becomes first traditional radio station to announce broadcasting on the Internet November 7, 1994.
1994	Mosaic branches off the company Netscape November 14, 1994.
1994	The W3C organization holds its first meeting December 14, 1994.
1994	Netscape version 1 is released.
1994	On December 24, 1994 Unisys and CompuServe announced that they expected licensing fees for software that creates and displays GIF images. This caused a lot of hysteria among developers and website owners using GIF images because of potential future GIF taxes that lead to the development of the PNG format.

Computer History – 1995

Year	Event
1995	Apple allows other computer companies to clone its computer by announcing its licensed the Macintosh operating system rights to Radius on January 4.
1995	IBM introduces the butterfly keyboard.
1995	The dot-com boom starts.
1995	Code named Utopia Microsoft Bob is introduced to the public January 5, 1995 at the CES by Bill Gates.
1995	The first Wiki is created.
1995	Yahoo.com domain is registered on January 18, 1995.
1995	Allen Coombs passes away January 30, 1995.
1995	Computer hacker Kevin Mitnick is arrested by the FBI.
1995	EPoX is founded in February
1995	The first VoIP software (Vocaltec) is released allowing end users to make voice calls over the Internet.
1995	Apple develops FireWire.
1995	O’Reilly Media sells the Global Network Navigator (“GNN”) to AOL in 1995.
1995	Netscape introduces SSL in February of 1995.
1995	Computer hacker Kevin Mitnick is arrested February 15, 1995.
1995	Perl 5.001 is released March 13, 1995.
1995	Arnold I. Dumey passes away.
1995	The Opera browser version 1 is released April 1, 1995.
1995	John Adam Presper “Pres” Eckert, Jr. passes away June 3, 1995.
1995	John Vincent Atanasoff passes away on June 15, 1995 at the age of 91.
1995	The movie ‘The Net’ with Sandra Bullock is released July 28, 1995.
1995	Microsoft releases Internet Explorer 1.0 on August 16, 1995.
1995	The domain ebay.com comes online August 4, 1995.
1995	Netscape goes public at $28.00 a share and by the closing ends at $58.00 a share.
1995	The first E3 is held in Las Vegas Nevada.
1995	Intel introduces the SMBus.
1995	Microsoft and General Electrics NBC television network form a partnership.
1995	LiveScript is renamed to JavaScript.
1995	Java is introduced.
1995	The Iomega Jaz drive is introduced.
1995	Microsoft Windows NT 3.51 was released May 30, 1995.
1995	Microsoft Releases Windows 95, within four days the software sells more than 1 million copies.
1995	PHP is publicly released June 8, 1995.
1995	One of the largest and well known e-commerce sites today opens its website for the first time. Amazon.com is officially opened July of 1995.
1995	DSVD is released.
1995	WebTV Networks is founded.
1995	EBay is founded by Pierre Omidyar.
1995	Hotmail is started by Jack Smith and Sabeer Bhatia.
1995	Microsoft releases Internet Explorer 2.0 on November 22, 1995 and officially starts the browser war between Netscape.
1995	CD-E is introduced to the general public.
1995	Ruby is released.
1995	The movie Hackers is released September 15, 1995.
1995	On September 20, 1995 AT&T splits into three separate publically traded companies: a systems and equipment company, a computer company, and a communications services company.
1995	Microsoft releases DirectX 1.0 (4.02.0095) on September 30, 1995.
1995	EDO memory is introduced.
1995	Intel releases the new motherboard form factor ATX.
1995	Lotus becomes a part of IBM.
1995	The first computer network wiretap is authorized October 23, 1995 and leads later to the arrest of Julio Cesar Ardita.
1995	CPAN is introduced October 26, 1995.
1995	Intel introduces the Intel Pentium Pro in November.
1995	Toy Story is released November 22, 1995 becoming the first movie that is completely computer generated.
1995	HTML 2.0 standard is first published in RFC 1866 November 24, 1995.
1995	Larry Page and Sergey Brin begin developing a search engine called BackRub with PageRank, an important technology that becomes an important part of Google.
1995	On December 4, 1995 Sun Microsystems announced JavaScript and first releases it in Netscape 2.0B3. In the same year they also introduced Java.
1995	IBM unveils Deep Blue December 5, 1995, a parallel computing system that will later play the World Chess Champion Gary Kasparov.
1995	Internet search engine AltaVista launches December 15, 1995.
1995	Konrad Zuse passes away December 18, 1995
1995	USB standard is released.

Computer History – 1996

Year	Event
1996	The domain imdb.com comes online January 5, 1996.
1996	Netgear is founded January 8, 1996.
1996	Intel releases the 200 MHz P6.
1996	Jeffrey Lee Parson is born in 1996.
1996	IPv6 is introduced.
1996	Telecom Act deregulates data networks.
1996	For the first time more e-mail is sent than postal mail in USA.
1996	The first Java Development Kit (JDK 1.0) codenamed oak is released January 23, 1996.
1996	The game Duke Nukem 3D is released January 29, 1996.
1996	The domain myspace.com comes online February 22, 1996.
1996	The movie Twister becomes the first featured film put on DVD March 25, 1996.
1996	David Packard passes away on March 26, 1996
1996	Microsoft VBScript is introduced.
1996	Cuthbert Hurd passes away.
1996	Angelfire is founded.
1996	Alexa is introduced in April 1996.
1996	Dr. Thomas Pabst starts the Tom’s Hardware website.
1996	Microsoft releases DirectX 2.0a (4.03.00.1096) on June 5, 1996.
1996	A domestic sheep by the name of Dolly is born and becomes the first mammal to be cloned
1996	Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 was released July 29, 1996.
1996	Li-polymer batteries begin being used.
1996	HTTP/1.0 is specified in RFC 1945 and introduced in 1996.
1996	CREN ended its support and since then the network has cease to exist.
1996	What first started off as a Usenet, IMDb becomes incorporated as the Internet Movie Database, Ltd.
1996	Google is first developed by Sergey Brin and Larry Page.
1996	KDE is started to be developed by Matthias Ettrich
1996	Macromedia purchases FutureWave and later releases Macromedia Flash 1.0.
1996	The first CSS specification, CSS 1, is published by the W3C in December 1996.
1996	The CDA amendment to the U.S. 1996 Telecommunications Act that went into effect on February 8, 1996. The law was intended to protect children from obscenity on the Internet, but many Internet users argued that its language was too vague and it violated the rights of free speech. Protesters against the law turned their web pages black and displayed blue ribbon icons downloaded from the Electronic Frontier Foundation. February 8, 1996 is more commonly known as “black Thursday.”
1996	Cray Research merges with SGI.
1996	ATA-2 is approved by ANSI.
1996	IBM and Sears sell Prodigy is sold to Internet Wireless.
1996	Microsoft releases Internet Explorer 3.0 on August 13, 1996.
1996	AT&T introduces Worldnet.
1996	Microsoft releases DirectX 3.0 (4.04.00.0068) on June 5, 1996.
1996	AT&T spins off the system and technology unit, which later renames itself Lucent Technologies.
1996	IBM computer Deep Blue beats chess master Garry Kasparov in two chess matches for the first time on February 2, 1996.
1996	NEC merges its PC operations outside Japan with Packard Bell.
1996	Sony enters the PC market with the release of VAIO.
1996	Creative Labs introduces the 3D Blaster card its first graphics card to be released to the computer market.
1996	Apple Stock sinks to a 10-year low of less than $18.00 a share.
1996	U.S. Robotics Pilot is announced.
1996	Seagate has completed the merger of Conner Peripherals.
1996	Microsoft releases Windows CE.
1996	Tandy announces it will either sell or close all of its 17 incredible Universe stores and 19 of its Computer City stores because of low sales and losses in revenue.
1996	WebTV is introduced allowing users to browse the web from their TV July 10, 1996.
1996	MSNBC makes its debut.
1996	Microsoft introduces the IntelliMouse also known as a wheel mouse.
1996	Acer America Corporation introduces its designer home PCs.
1996	Sun Microsystems releases its line of network computers.
1996	Apple announces it will purchase NeXT for $429 million on December 20, 1996 and that it will acquire Steve Jobs, Apples cofounder, as a consultant.
1996	Microsoft Windows CE 1.0 is released as a portable operating system solution.
1996	Bit 3 becomes part of SBS Technologies.
1996	Seymour Cray passes away October 5, 1996.
1996	The U.S. Postal Services releases a new stamp commemorating the 50th birthday of the ENIAC.
1996	The first Tomb Raider game is released November 14, 1996.
1996	United States patent 5,579,430 is granted November 26, 1996 for the digital encoding process of MP3 files.
1996	K56Flex is announced in November by Lucent and Rockwell.
1996	Charles Molnar passes away December 13, 1996.
1996	Carl Sagen passes away December 20, 1996.
1996	The ATSC approves of HDTV on December 24, 1996.

Computer History – 1997

Year	Event
1997	HTTP/1.1 is specified in RFC 2616 and officially released in January 1997.
1997	Mosaic development and support officially discontinued on January 7, 1997.
1997	On January 7th Microsoft releases the final version of Internet Explorer 3.0 for the Apple Macintosh.
1997	The PNG standard is introduced on January 10, 1997.
1997	Internet2 consortium is established.
1997	The world learns of Dolly, the first successfully cloned mammal February 22, 1997.
1997	The domain facebook.com comes online March 28, 1997.
1997	IEEE releases 802.11 (WiFi) standard.
1997	The Mars Pathfinder successfully lands on Mars July 4, 1997.
1997	Microsoft releases DirectX 5.0 (4.05.00.0155) on July 16, 1997.
1997	Intel introduces the MMX chip.
1997	The CD burning software Nero is first released.
1997	Unwired Planet develops HDML.
1997	Intel introduces the Slot 1 processor and slot.
1997	Connectix introduces Virtual PC.
1997	Yahoo! introduces Yahoo Mail.
1997	ATA-3 is approved by ANSI.
1997	Several computer manufactures introduce sub 1,000 computers, computers that cost less than $1,000.00.
1997	AOL faces several lawsuits from subscribers who are upset about the difficulties encountered when attempting to connect to its services.
1997	The dancing baby becomes one of the Internets first fads. The dancingbaby is a short 3D animation of a small baby wearing diapers dancing. It was first created by Michael Girard and later tweaked by Ron Lussier at LucasArts who released it on a CompuServe forum as chacha.avi.
1997	Altavista introduces its free online translator Babel Fish.
1997	A cult known as the Heaven’s Gate that earns its money from designing web sites commits a mass suicide on March 27, 1997.
1997	Digital Video Discs aka Digital Versatile Discs (DVDs) first go on sale.
1997	Microsoft announces plans to buy WebTV Networks in April for $425 million. The deal is later approved and completed in August.
1997	CompUSA joins Dell and Gateway in selling build-to-order PC computers.
1997	Intel Pentium II is introduced on May 7, 1997.
1997	IBMs Deep Blue computer defeats world champion chess player Garry Kasparov May 11, 1997 in their second six-game showdown, winning the tie-breaking game in only 62 minutes.
1997	Perl 5.004 is released May 15, 1997.
1997	Kaspersky is founded.
1997	Carsten Haitzler releases Enlightenment.
1997	E ink is established.
1997	CD-RW drives and media are introduced.
1997	Bill Gates is now the worlds richest businessman.
1997	The NASA Pathfinder Web site, which is running real-time images sent from the Pathfinder on Mars receives more than 100 million hits during its first four days, in response to the high popularity NASA sets up 25 mirror pages to handle the traffic. The site sets a new popularity record.
1997	Microsoft begins working on its own search engine.
1997	The TRUSTe organization is founded.
1997	Microsoft saves Apple with a $150 million investment August 6, 1997.
1997	The google.com domain name is registered after Sergey Brin and Larry Page decide to change the name of their BackRub search engine to Google September 15, 1997.
1997	The domain craigslist.com comes online September 24, 1997.
1997	Microsoft releases Internet Explorer 4.0 in September of 1997.
1997	Microsoft releases Microsoft Office 97.
1997	The first paywall is introduced by the Wall Street Journal.
1997	Microsoft announces Windows 98.
1997	3Com buys U.S. Robotics for $6.6 billion making the consolidation the largest in the history of computer companies.
1997	Apple releases MAC OS 8.
1997	Nullsoft is founded by Justin Frankel.
1997	Webroot Software is founded.
1997	Microsoft invests $150 million in Apple Computers Inc. and agrees to continue creating software for Apple computers, in agreement Apple makes Microsoft Internet Explorer its browser of choice for Macintosh computers.
1997	The Li-Ion battery begins being used for commercial uses.
1997	The Intel Pentium II 233 MHz processor is released.
1997	IEEE introduced 802.11 the wireless network standard in June 1997.
1997	Advanced Graphics Port or AGP designed for Video cards. Designed by Intel is released August of 1997.
1997	Microsoft Windows CE 2.x is released.
1997	The Slashdot website launches.
1997	Steve Jobs rejoins Apple September 16, 1997.
1997	Cyrix is established.
1997	Riven, the sequel to Myst is released in October 1997.
1997	The domain netflix.com comes online November 10, 1997.
1997	Microsoft acquires Hotmail a free e-mail service in December 1997.
1997	Cyril Cleverdon passes away December 4, 1997.

Computer History – 1998

Year

Event

1998	Internet weblogs begin to appear.
1998	Intel releases the Celeron processor.
1998	Compaq Computer purchases Digital Equipment Corporation for $9.6 billion on January 26, 1998.
1998	Hearings open between Microsoft and the U.S. Department of Justice to whether Microsoft has a monopoly on the software market.
1998	The DMCA is passed.
1998	XML 1.0 becomes a W3C recommendation on February 8, 1998.
1998	ATA-4 is approved by ANSI.
1998	Lite-on is founded.
1998	Blender begins being developed by NeoGeo and Not a Number Technologies in 1998.
1998	eMachines is founded.
1998	3DNow! is introduced by AMD.
1998	Sun releases the JavaStation
1998	Bill Gates, is hit in the face with a cream pie.
1998	During the demonstration of a pre-release copy of Windows 98 at Comdex Bill Gates and an assistant demonstrate how to install a scanner. During the demonstration Windows 98 caused an error message.
1998	V.90 modem standard is announced and agreed on February 6, 1998
1998	Sun Microsystems begins shipping the JavaStation in March of 1998.
1998	Saehan’s MPMan becomes the first MP3 player released in Japan to the public in spring of 1998.
1998	The CIH virus also known as Chernobyl virus is created and begins infecting computers and starts executing one year later on April 26, 1999 the same day as the Chernobyl accident in Ukraine on April 26, 1986.
1998	Koko, a gorilla ape and student of American Sign Language holds first interspecies live Internet chat April 27, 1998.
1998	SETI@Home is introduced on June 8, 1998.
1998	Microsoft Windows 98 is officially released on June 25, 1998.
1998	The domain computerhope.com comes online July 14, 1998.
1998	Perl 5.005 is released July 22, 1998.
1998	The “Solar Sunrise” attack is launched by two teenager hackers and gives them access to more than 500 military government computers.
1998	Google files for incorporation in California September 4, 1998.
1998	The CST is initiated by ETA.
1998	AMR is released September 9, 1998
1998	Reynold Johnson passes away September 15, 1998.
1998	Google hires Craig Silverstein as its first employee.
1998	Microsoft Internet Explorer passes Netscape in Internet browser market share for the first time as reported in a September 28, 1998 International Data Corporation report.
1998	Rockstar Games is founded.
1998	MySQL is introduced.
1998	PayPal is founded.
1998	Amazon purchases IMDb.
1998	Apple introduces the iMac, the iMac helps bring Apple back on the computer maps as a very easy and friendly computer.
1998	Award, well known for its computer BIOS becomes part of Phoenix, another company well known for its computer BIOS.
1998	Sony introduces the Sony Memory Stick.
1998	David Evans passes away October 3, 1998.
1998	In October of 1998 Microsoft announced that future releases of Windows NT would no longer have the initials of NT and that the next edition would be Windows 2000.
1998	Computer Hope is established in November 1, 1998.
1998	Microsoft acquires the advertising company LinkExchange for $265 Million USD November 6, 1998.
1998	Valve Half-Life a popular FPS game is released November 19, 1998.
1998	AOL announces it will acquire Netscape Communications for an estimated value of $4.2 billion November 24, 1998.

Computer History – 1999