1983 – Microsoft releases the 2-button mouse. It was designed for Microsoft Word 1.0. The first mouse would fail, but the second version in 1985 would solidify the mouse on PC’s. Of course, Microsoft launched Microsoft Word v. 1.0for $229. Full Day in Tech History podcast show notes for May 2 Other Events in the Day in Technology History Excel launches for Macintosh Intel releases 3600MHz Pentium D processor Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
1977 – Two days prior, Microsoft send MITS a letter with the allegation that they were not up on royalty payments and if they didn’t catch up, MITS would be in breach and the 8080 BASIC would be pulled. MITS sends a letter stating that they are not correct. Ultimately, this would begin a debate that would end in November when Microsoft pulled the 8080 BASIC out. Full Day in Tech History podcast show notes for April 21 The Tanday 5000MC Intel 3 GHz Pentium 4 Firefox 3.0.9 is released Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
1975- Paul Allen and Bill Gates found Microsoft in Albuquerque, NM. The company was founded there simply because that is where Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS) is located. The duo was building BASIC for the Altair 8800. Wikazine – Full show notes for April 4 The Yorkshire Posse attacks 13 corporate sites Gmail is integrated into Google calendar Mosaic is founded. It would later become Netscape Communications Corp. Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
1973 – Martin Cooper made the first handheld cellular phone call in public. Walking down the streets of New York, Cooper – the General Manager of Motorola’s communication system division – talked on the phone. It’s not the first cellular call since car phones have been around before then. The phone is also known as the “Brick” cell phone. 2000 – US District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson issues a forty-three page conclusions of law, ruling that Microsofttried to monopolize the web browser market. The next day, Microsoft stock drops 15% as an aftershock. Wikazine – Full show notes for April 2 Atari declares today Pac Man Day The first Telnet specification IBM introduces the PC Convertable Podcast: Play in new window ...
2001 – The reason why I decided to highlight this event is to make you aware that Tablets are not a new thing. Computer companies have been trying to perfect the tablet for many years. in 2001, for example, Microsoft CEO Bill Gates introduces the Tablet PC initiative. Using a Crusoe processor and the XP OS, he shows off a touch screen with Microsoft Notebook handwriting recognition software. This 3 pound revolution weighed only 3 lbs and would cost the average consumer $2,000 – 3,500.Wikazine – Full show notes for March 26 First World Altair Computer Convention is held in New Mexico. Kevin Mitnick pleads guilty Dr. Who comes back out of mothballs. Podcast: Play in new window | Download | ...
2009 – The face of browsers was changing. Mozilla had made a major push for the browser market and Google had entered into the market with the Chrome browser. In the meantime, Microsoft was getting pressure from the European Union for it’s bundling of the browser on the operating system. Still, Internet Explorer continues on and releases IE8 Wikazine – Full show notes for March 19 IBM PC jr is discontinued Apple releases the Mac IIfx Palm introduces the M500 and M505 handhelds Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
1986-$21.00 a share was the first price for stock in Microsoft. 2.5 million shares were sold, raising the price to 27.75 and netting the company 61 million initially. Since then, the highest it has gone was 57.91 on Dec 24th, 1999. Yet with about 10 stock splits and several dividends in the 24 years, people definitely got their money’s worth. If you would have purchased 100 shares in 1986 and let those shares ride until today, you would have 102,400 shares of stock at appx. $29 a share. Wikazine – Full show notes for March 13 Apple and Bandai demonstrate the Pippin Atmark Multimedia computer JTS sells Atari to HIACXI Jerry Jalava gets the first prothstetic thumb drive Podcast: Play in ...
1997- US Senator Orrin Hatch holds a hearing on the Antitrust activities of Microsoft. Scott McNealy of Sun Microsystems and Jim Barksdale of Netscape Communications were present to question if Microsoft is intentionally pushing out the Netscape web browser for Internet Explorer. Of course, this would become a long drawn out investigation which almost splits Microsoft into separate companies. Wikazine – Full show notes for March 2 Delphi is first released by Borland Yahoo! is incorporated Napster begins blocking access to one million MP3 Steve Jobs announces the iPad2 Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
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