|
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 |
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 |
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 |
Intel
releases the 80386SL processor which
uses low power and found in many portable computers. |
| 1991 |
id
Software is founded February 1, 1991. |
| 1991 |
BSDi
is founded. |
|
1991 |
Tim Berners-Lee introduces
WWW to the public on August 6,
1991. |
|
1991 |
NSF opens the
Internet to commercial use. |
| 1991 |
Intel
introduces the Intel 486SX chip in efforts to help bring a
lower-cost processor to the PC market selling for $258.00 |
| 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 |
Linux
is introduced by Linus Torvald in 1991. Complete history on Linux
can be found on our Linux / Unix history
section. |
| 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 |
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 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. |
|
1992 |
Internet Society
formed. |
| 1992 |
Grace
Hopper passes away January 1, 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 with a clock doubling ability that
generates higher operating speeds. |
| 1992 |
Microsoft
acquires Fox Software in June, maker of FoxPro. |
| 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 |
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. |
| 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. The processor is a 60 MHz
processor, incorporates 3.2 million transistors and sells for
$878.00. |
| 1993 |
Microsoft
releases Windows NT 3.1 and Windows for Workgroups 3.11. |
| 1993 |
The
NCSA releases the
Mosaic browser. |
| 1993 |
Neomagic
is founded. |
| 1993 |
Wine
begins to be developed. |
| 1993 |
John
Scully is named president of Apple Computers. |
| 1993 |
IrDA
is founded. |
| 1993 |
FRISK
software is founded. |
| 1993 |
Funcom
is founded. |
| 1993 |
PowerQuest
is founded. |
| 1993 |
The
Internet experiences massive growth. |
| 1993 |
ADSI
is developed at Bellcore |
| 1993 |
The
Environmental Protection Agency, along with 50 computer companies,
establish Energy Star guidelines which 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 IdSoftware
was released December 1993. Today DOOM is thought of as a turning point for
first person shooters and for games in general. |
| 1993 |
The
computer game Myst is
released and later is honored for being one of the most popular,
well known, and sold IBM compatible and Apple
Macintosh title. |
| 1994 |
Netscape
is found by Marc Andreesen and James H. Clark. |
| 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 |
VESA
Local Bus 2.0 is released. |
| 1994 |
3DFX
is founded. |
| 1994 |
Iomega
releases its Zip disk drive and
diskettes. |
| 1994 |
Red
Hat Linux is founded. |
| 1994 |
The World
Wide Web Consortium is founded by Tim
Bernes-Lee. |
| 1994 |
Microsoft
releases its beta for Windows 95, code named Chicago. |
| 1994 |
Rasmus
Lerdorf creates PHP. |
| 1994 |
Hotwired.com
runs the Internets first banner ad. |
| 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 |
MS-DOS 6.22 was released April, 1994 |
| 1994 |
ANSI approves the ATA
standard May 12, 1994. |
| 1994 |
Microsoft
releases Windows 3.11. |
| 1994 |
Jay Miner
passes away June 20, 1994. |
| 1994 |
Norway's
telecom company, Telenor, starts a research project that later
becomes Opera Software |
| 1994 |
W3C organization
is founded by Tim Bernes-Lee. |
| 1994 |
Commodore completed its
file for bankruptcy. |
| 1994 |
The Mach
Project ends. |
|
1995 |
The
dot-com boom
starts. |
|
1995 |
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 which lead to the development of the
PNG format. |
| 1995 |
Apple
allows other computer companies to clone its computer. |
| 1995 |
Microsoft
BOB is released. |
| 1995 |
The first Wiki
is created. |
|
1995 |
The first VoIP
software (Vocaltec) is released allowing end users to make voice
calls over the Internet. |
|
1995 |
Apple
develops FireWire. |
| 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 |
Microsoft
and General Electrics NBC television network form a
partnership. |
| 1995 |
LiveScript is renamed to JavaScript. |
| 1995 |
Java
is introduced. |
| 1995 |
Microsoft
Releases Windows 95, within four days the software sells more
than
1 million copies. |
| 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 |
CD-E
is introduced to the general public. |
| 1995 |
EDO
memory is introduced. |
| 1995 |
Intel
releases the new motherboard form factor ATX. |
| 1995 |
Lotus becomes a part of IBM. |
| 1995 |
USB
standard is released. |
| 1996 |
Netgear
is founded January 8, 1996. |
| 1996 |
Intel
releases the 200 MHz P6. |
|
1996 |
Telecom Act
deregulates data networks. |
|
1996 |
More
e-mail is sent than
postal mail in USA. |
|
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 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 |
AT&T
introduces Worldnet. |
| 1996 |
Microsoft
introduces DirectX. |
| 1996 |
AT&T
spins off the system and technology unit which renames itself Lucent
Technologies. |
| 1996 |
IBM
computer Deep Blue beats chess master Garry Kasparov in two chess
matches. |
| 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
Corp. 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. |
| 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
buys NeXT Software Inc. for $400 million and acquires 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 |
K56Flex
is announced in November by Lucent
and Rockwell. |
|
1996 |
The ATSC approves of
HDTV on December 24, 1996. |
|
1997 |
Mosaic development and
support officially discontinued on January 7, 1997. |
|
1997 |
The
PNG standard is introduced on January 10, 1997. |
|
1997 |
Internet2
consortium is established. |
|
1997 |
IEEE releases
802.11 (WiFi) standard. |
| 1997 |
Intel
introduces the MMX chip. |
| 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 |
IBMs
Deep Blue computer defeats world champion chess player Garry
Kasparov in their second six-game showdown, winning the
tie-breaking game in only 62 minutes. |
| 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 / Digital Versatile Discs (DVDs) 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 |
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
releases Microsoft Office 97. |
| 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 |
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 |
Cyrix
is established. |
| 1997 |
Riven,
the sequel to Myst is released in October 1997. |
|
1997 |
Microsoft acquires Hotmail a free e-mail service in December
1997. |
|
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 |
ATA-4
is approved by ANSI. |
| 1998 |
Lite-on
is founded. |
| 1998 |
eMachines
is founded. |
| 1998 |
3DNow!
is introduced by AMD. |
| 1998 |
Sun
releases the JavaStation |
| 1998 |
Netscape
releases Navigator 5.0 as well as revealing its complete source
code for Navigator on its Web site. |
| 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
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 |
SETI@Home
is introduced on June 8, 1998. |
| 1998 |
Microsoft
Windows 98 is officially released on June 25, 1998. |
| 1998 |
Google
is founded by Sergey Brin and
Larry Page September 7, 1998. |
| 1998 |
The CST
is initiated by ETA. |
| 1998 |
AMR
is released September 9, 1998 |
| 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 |
Computer
Hope is established in November 1998. |
| 1999 |
The
Victoria's Secret fashion show becomes the first major webcast
on the Internet attracting over 1.5 million visitors on February
5, 1999. Unfortunately not everyone was able to view the webcast
because of the popularity. |
| 1999 |
Microsoft acquires
Access software April 19,
1999. |
| 1999 |
IEEE
introduced 802.11b. |
| 1999 |
The Intel
Pentium III 500 MHz is released. |
| 1999 |
Microsoft
releases Windows CE 3.0 |
| 1999 |
RSAC
becomes part of ICRA |
| 1999 |
Aims
Labs goes out of business. |
| 1999 |
Amazon
agrees to buy Accept.com, Alexa Internet (Alexa.com), and
Exchange.com. |
|
1999 |
AOL
purchases Nullsoft. |
| 1999 |
National
Semiconductor announced it will exit the PC processor market.
June 30, 1999 - VIA Technologies
announces it will acquire Cyrix from National Semiconductor. |
| 1999 |
NVIDIA
introduces the GPU. |
| 1999 |
Iomega
releases its Zip plus disk drive
and diskettes. |
| 1999 |
Sun Microsystems
acquires StarDivision, the developers behind the StarOffice
suite of software. |
| 1999 |
The D
programming language starts development. |
| 1999 |
On December 1, 1999 the most expensive
Internet domain was sold by
Marc Ostrofsky for $7.5 Million. |
