| Year |
Event |
| 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 |
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. |
|
1981 |
Diskeeper is founded on July 22, 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 introducing IBM Personal Computer, 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 Microsofts
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 |
Kensington
is founded. |
| 1982 |
Peter
Norton creates Norton Utilities. |
| 1982 |
Sony
releases its first Trinitron
monitor. |
| 1982 |
SGI
is founded. |
| 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 |
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 and Lotus 1-2-3, a spreadsheet
program is introduced. |
| 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 begins to be sold with 64 kilobytes of
random-access
memory and containing Microsoft
BASIC and dropping in price
from $600 to $200 allows it to become the best-selling computer of
all time. |
| 1982 |
Diamond
Multimedia is founded. |
| 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 |
The Intel
80286 processor is announced. |
| 1982 |
Adobe
is founded. |
| 1982 |
BTC
is founded |
| 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. |
| 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 |
Zoran
is founded. |
| 1983 |
Paul
Allen leaves Microsoft. |
| 1983 |
The Time magazine nominates the
personal computer as the "machine of the year", the first
non-human ever nominated. |
| 1983 |
Interplay
is founded. |
| 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 |
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 |
Microsoft
Windows was announced
November, 1983 |
| 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
introduces its first portable computer, the IBM Portable weighing in
at 30 pounds. |
| 1984 |
SETI
is founded. |
| 1984 |
ESS
Technologies is founded. |
| 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 |
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 |
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 |
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 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 |
Cirrus
is established. |
| 1984 |
ISA
is expanded to 16-bit capability. |
| 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, a 16 MHz processor that incorporates 275,000
transistor and capable of accessing up to four gigabytes of
memory. The processor sells for $299. |
| 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 |
The
Nintendo Entertainment System makes its debut. |
| 1985 |
ATI
is founded. |
| 1985 |
Boca
is established. |
| 1985 |
Corel
is founded. |
| 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 |
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 |
MS-DOS 3.2 was released April, 1986. |
| 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 PCD announces it's first laptop computer, the PC Convertible, weighing 12 pounds. |
| 1986 |
CD-i
format is specified. |
| 1986 |
Aztech
is established. |
| 1986 |
Avid
is established. |
| 1987 |
Oak
Technology is founded. |
|
1987 |
CompuServe introduces the GIF
standard and images. |
| 1987 |
RealTek
is founded October 1987. |
| 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 Windows 2.0 in December 9, 1987. |
| 1987 |
Microsoft
introduces Microsoft Works. |
| 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, which has improved
graphics, a 3.5-inch diskette drive, and proprietary bus to help
prevent clone makers competition. |
| 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 |
IBM
introduces MCA. |
| 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 introduced by Sun. |
| 1987 |
IBM
introduces VGA. |
| 1987 |
Larry
Wall introduces Perl 1.0 |
| 1987 |
Elitegroup
Computer Systems is established. |
| 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 |
Friedrich
Reintzer discovers liquid crystal. |
| 1988 |
SNMP
is introduced. |
|
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 developed as an alternative to MCA. |
| 1988 |
Motorola
releases the 88000
processor. |
| 1988 |
NTP
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. |
| 1989 |
GriD
Systems Corporation introduces the first pen-based computer. |
| 1989 |
PCMCIA
trade association is founded. |
| 1989 |
ActionFront
is founded. |
| 1989 |
EPoX
is founded. |
| 1989 |
ABIT
is founded. |
| 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. |
| 1989 |
Poqet announces
the Poqet PC the first pocket-sized MS-DOS compatible computer.../history/198090.htm |
| 1989 |
Asus
is founded. |
|
1989 |
The networking routing protocol
OSPF is introduced. |
| 1989 |
Citrix
is founded. |
| 1989 |
S3
Inc. is founded. |
