EncyclopEdia of
computEr sciEncE
and tEchnology
R
evised
e
dition
haRRy
hendeRson
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF COMPUTER SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, Revised Edition
Copyright © 2009, 2004, 2003 by Harry Henderson
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Henderson, Harry, 1951–
Encyclopedia of computer science and technology / Harry Henderson.—Rev. ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-8160-6382-6
ISBN-10: 0-8160-6382-6
1. Computer science—Encyclopedias. 2. Computers—Encyclopedias. I. Title.
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004.03—dc22 2008029156
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lllustrations by Sholto Ainslie
Photo research by Tobi Zausner, Ph.D.
Printed in the United States of America
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This book is printed on acid-free paper and contains
30 percent postconsumer recycled content.
In memory of my brother,
Bruce Henderson,
who gave me my first opportunity to explore
personal computing almost 30 years ago.
529
The following chronology lists some significant events in the
history of computing. Although the first
calculator
s (i.e.,
the abacus) were known in ancient times, the chronology
begins with the development of modern mathematics and the
first calculators in the 17th century.
1617
John Napier published an explanation of “Napier’s bones,”
a manual aid to calculation based on logarithms, and the
ancestor to the slide rule.
1624
William Schickard invented a mechanical
calculator
that
can perform automatic carrying during addition and sub-
traction. It can also multiply and divide by repeated addi-
tions or subtractions.
1642
Blaise Pascal invented a
calculator
that he calls the Pas-
caline. Its improved carry mechanism used a weight to allow
it to carry several places. A small batch of the machines was
made, but it did not see widespread use.
1673
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (co-inventor with Isaac Newton
of the calculus) invented a
calculator
called the Leibniz
Wheel. He also wrote about the binary number system that
eventually became the basis for modern computation.
1786
J. H. Muller invented a “difference engine,” a machine that
can solve polynomials by repeated addition or subtraction.
1822
Charles B
aBBage
designed and partially built a much more
elaborate difference engine.
1832
B
aBBage
sketched out a detailed design for the Analytical
Machine. This machine was to have been programmed by
punched
cards
, storing data in a mechanical
memory
, and
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even including a
printer
. Although it was not built during
his lifetime, Babbage’s machine embodied most of the con-
cepts used in modern computers.
1843
Ada Lovelace provided extensive commentary on a book by
B
aBBage
’s Italian supporter Menabrea. Besides being the
first technical writer, Lovelace also wrote what might be
considered the world’s first computer program.
1844
Samuel Morse demonstrated the electromagnetic telegraph
by sending a message from Washington to Baltimore. The
telegraph inaugurated both electric data transmission and
the use of a binary character code (dots and dashes).
1850
Amedee Mannheim created the first modern slide rule. It
will become an essential accessory for engineers and scien-
tists until the inexpensive electronic
calculator
arrived in
the 1970s.
1854
George Boole’s book
The Laws of Thought described what is
now called Boolean algebra. B
oolean
operators
are essen-
tial for the
Branching
statements
and
loops
that control
the operation of computer programs.
1884
W. S. Burroughs marketed his first adding machine, begin-
ning what will become an important
calculator
(and later,
computer) business.
1890
Herman h
ollerith
’s
punched
card
tabulator enabled
the U.S. government to complete the 1890 census in record
time.
1896
h
ollerith
founded the Tabulating Machine Company,
which will become the Computing, Tabulating, and Record-
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Appendix ii
a c
hronology
of
c
omputing
530 Appendix II
ing company (CTR) in 1911. In 1924, it will become Interna-
tional Business Machines (iBm).
1904
J. A. Fleming invented the diode vacuum tube. Together with
Lee de Forest’s invention of the triode two years later, this
development defined the beginnings of electronics, offering a
switching mechanism much faster than mechanical relays.
1919
The “flip-flop” circuit was invented by two American physi-
cists, W. H. Eccles and R. W. Jordan. The ability of the cir-
cuit to switch smoothly between two (binary) states would
form the basis for computer arithmetic logic units.
1921
Karl Capek’s play
R.U.R. introduced the term robot. Robots
will become a staple of science fiction “pulps” starting in the
1930s.
1930
Vannevar B
ush
’s elaborate
analog
computer
, the Differen-
tial Analyzer, went into service.
1936
Alonzo c
hurch
developed the lambda calculus, which can
be used to demonstrate the
computaBility
of mathematical
problems.
Konrad Z
use
built his first computer, a mechanical machine
based on the binary system.
1937
Alan t
uring
provided an alternative (an equivalent) demon-
stration of
computaBility
through his Turing Machine, an
imaginary computer that can reduce any computable prob-
lem to a series of simple operations performed on an endless
tape.
B
ell
l
aBoratories
mathematician George Stibitz created
the first circuit that could perform addition by combining
B
oolean
operators
.
1938
In a key development in
roBotics
, Doug T. Ross, an Ameri-
can engineer, created a robot that can store its experience in
memory
and “learn” to navigate a maze.
G. A. Philbrick developed an electronic version of the
ana
-
log
computer
.
Working in a garage near Stanford University, William
Hewlett and David Packard began to build audio oscillators.
They called their business the Hewlett-Packard Company.
Fifty years later, the garage would be preserved as a histori-
cal landmark.
1939
John a
tanasoff
and Clifford Berry built a small electronic
binary computer called the Atanasoff-Berry Computer
(ABC). A 1973, court decision would give this machine pre-
cedence over ENIAC as the first electronic digital computer.
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George Stibitz built the Complex Number Calculator, which
is controlled by a keyboard and uses relays.
1940
Claude s
hannon
introduced the fundamental concepts of
data
communications
theory.
George Stibitz demonstrated remote computing by control-
ling his Complex Number Calculator in New York from a
Teletype
terminal
at Dartmouth College in New Hamp-
shire.
1941
Working in isolation in wartime Germany, Konrad Z
use
completed the Z3. Although still mechanical rather than
electronic, the machine used sophisticated floating-point
numeric
data
.
1943
The British-built Colossus, an electronic (vacuum tube) spe-
cial-purpose computer that can rapidly analyze permuta-
tions to crack the German Enigma cipher.
1944
Howard a
iken
completed the Harvard Mark I, a large pro-
grammable calculator (or computer) using electromechani-
cal relays.
John
von
n
eumann
and Stanislaw Ulam developed the
Monte Carlo method of probabilistic
simulation
, a tool
that would find widespread use as computer power becomes
available.
1945
Z
use
continued computer development and created a
sophisticated matrix-based programming language called
Plankalkül.
Vannevar B
ush
envisioned
hypertext
and knowledge link-
ing and retrieval in his article “As We May Think.”
Alan t
uring
developed the concept of using
procedures
and
functions
(subroutines) called with parameters. His
team also developed the Pilot ACE (Automatic Comput-
ing Engine), which would help the development of a British
computer industry.
1946
ENIAC went into service. Developed by J. Presper e
ckert
and John m
auchly
, the machine is widely considered to
be the first large-scale electronic digital computer. It used
18,000 vacuum tubes.
In the “Princeton Reports” based upon the ENIAC work, John
von
n
eumann
, together with Arthur W. Burks and Herman
Goldstine described the fundamental operations of modern
computers including the stored program concept—the hold-
ing of all program instructions in memory, where they can be
referred to repeatedly and even manipulated like other data.
1947
The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) was
founded.
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Appendix II 531
e
ckert
and m
auchly
formed the Eckert-Mauchly Corpo-
ration for commercial marketing of computers based on the
ENIAC design.
John
von
n
eumann
began development of the EDVAC
(Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Calculator) for
the U.S. government’s Ballistic Research Laboratory. This
machine, completed in 1952, would be the first to use pro-
grams completely stored in memory and able to be changed
without physically changing the hardware.
Richard Hamming developed
error
correction
algorithms.
Alan t
uring
’s paper on “Intelligent Machinery” began lay-
ing the groundwork for
artificial
intelligence
research.
In Britain, Manchester University built the first electronic
computer that can store a full program in
memory
. It was
called “baby” because it was a small test version of a planned
larger machine. For its main memory it used a CRT-like tube
invented by F. C. Williams.
IBM under Thomas J. Watson, Sr. decided to enter the new
computer field in a big way by beginning to develop the
Selective Sequence Electronic Calculator (SSEC) as a com-
petitor to ENIAC and the Harvard Mark I. The huge machine
used thousands of both vacuum tubes and relays.
Tom Kilburn and M. H. A. Newman invented the index reg-
ister, which would be used to keep track of the current loca-
tion in memory of instructions or data.
The transistor was invented at B
ell
Labs by John Bard-
een, Walter Brattain, and William Shockley. The solid-state
device could potentially replicate all the functionality of the
vacuum tube with much less size and power consumption.
It would be some time before it was inexpensive enough to
be used in computers, however.
Norbert W
iener
coined the term
cybernetics to refer to con-
trol and feedback systems.
Claude s
hannon
formally introduced statistical informa-
tion theory.
1949
The Cambridge EDSAC demonstrated versatile stored-pro-
gram computing. Meanwhile, e
ckert
and m
auchly
work
on BINAC, a successor/spinoff of ENIAC for Northrop Air-
craft Corporation.
Frank Rosenblatt developed the perceptron, the first form of
neural
netWork
, for solving pattern-matching problems.
An Wang patented “core memory,” using an array of magne-
tized rings and wires, which would become the main mem-
ory (RAM) for many
mainframes
in the 1950s.
1950
Alan t
uring
proposed the Turing Test as a way to demon-
strate
artificial
intelligence
.
Development began of the high-speed computers Whirlwind
and SAGE for the U.S. military. The military also began to
use computers to run war games or simulations.
Claude s
hannon
outlined the algorithms for a chess-play-
ing program that could evaluate positions and perform heu-
ristic calculations. He would build a chess-playing computer
called Caissac.
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Japan began development of electronic computers under the
leadership of Hideo Yamashita, who would build the Tokyo
Automatic Calculator.
Approximately 60 electronic or electromechanical comput-
ers were in operation worldwide. Each was built “by hand”
as there were no production models yet.
1951
e
ckert
and m
auchly
marketed Univac I, generally consid-
ered the first commercial computer (although the Ferranti
Mark I is sometimes given co-honors).
An Wang founded Wang Laboratories, which would become
a major computer manufacturer through the 1970s.
Grace h
opper
at Remington Rand coined the word
com
-
piler
and began developing automatic systems for creating
machine codes from higher-level instructions.
1952
Alick Glennie developed autocode, generally considered to
be the first true high-level
programming
language
.
Magnetic core
memory
began to come into use.
election night a Univac I predicted that Dwight D. Eisen-
hower would win the 1952 U.S. presidential election. It
made its prediction an hour after the polls closed, but its
findings were not released at first because news analysts
insisted the race was closer.
MANIAC was On developed to do secret nuclear research in
Los Alamos.
The iBm 701 went into production. It was one of the first
computers to use magnetic
tape
drives
as primary means
of data storage.
IBM was accused of violating the Sherman Antitrust Act
in its computer business. Litigation in one form or another
would drag on until 1982.
John
von
n
eumann
described self-reproducing automata.
The symbolic
assemBler
was introduced by Nathaniel
Rochester.
IBM and Remington Rand (Univac) dominated the young
computer industry.
1954
The
iBm
650 was marketed. It was the first truly mass-pro-
duced computer, and relatively affordable by businesses and
industries. It used a magnetic drum memory.
In Britain, the Lyons Electronic Office (LEO) became the
first integrated computer system for use for
Business
appli
-
cations
, primarily accounting and payroll.
1955
Grace h
opper
created Flow-matic, the first high-level lan-
guage designed for
Business
applications
of
computers
.
The Computer Usage Company (CUC) was founded by John
W. Sheldon and Elmer C. Kubie. It is considered to be the
first company devoted entirely to developing computer soft-
ware rather than hardware.
Bendix marketed the G-15, its competitor to the IBM 650 in
the “small” business computer market.
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532 Appendix II
Users of the new IBM 704
mainframe
, frustrated at the
lack of technical supported, formed the first computer
user
group
, called SHARE.
The large
iBm
705
mainframe
is marketed by IBM. It uses
magnetic core
memory
.
1956
The iBm 704 and Univac 1103 introduced a new generation
of commercial
mainframes
with magnetic core storage.
John m
c
c
arthy
coined the term
artificial
intelligence
,
or AI.
The Dartmouth AI conference brought together leading
researchers such as McCarthy, Marvin m
insky
, Herbert
Simon, and Allen Newell. It would set the agenda for the field.
Newell, Shaw, and Simon developed Logic Theorist, the first
program that can prove theorems.
A. I. Dumey described
hashing
, a procedure for quickly
sorting or retrieving data by assigning calculated values.
The infant transistor industry began to grow as companies
such as IBM began to build transistorized calculators.
IBM signed a consent decree ending the 1952 antitrust com-
plaint by restricting some of its business practices in selling
mainframe computers.
1957
John Backus and his team released
fortran
, which would
become the most widely used language for
scientific
com
-
puting
applications
.
Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) was founded by Ken
Olsen and Harlan Anderson. The company’s agenda involved
the development of a new class of smaller computer, the
minicomputer
.
Minicomputer development would be inspired by the MIT
TX-0 computer. While not yet a “mini,” the machine was the
first fully transistorized computer.
The hard drive came into service in
iBm
’s 305 RAMAC.
IBM developed the first dot matrix
printer
.
1958
The I/O interrupt used by devices to signal their needs to
the CPU was developed by
iBm
. It would be used later in
personal computers.
China began to build computers based on Soviet designs,
which in turn had been based upon American and British
machines.
Sperry Rand introduced the Univac II, a huge, powerful,
and surprisingly reliable computer that used 5,200 vacuum
tubes, 18,000 crystal diodes, and 184,000 magnetic cores.
Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments built the first integrated
circuit, fitting five components onto a half-inch piece of ger-
manium.
As the cold war continued, the U.S. Air Force brought SAGE
on-line. This integrated air defense system featured
real
-
time
processing
and graphics displays.
1959
John m
c
c
arthy
developed l
isp
, a language based on
Alonzo c
hurch
’s lambda calculus and including extensive
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facilities for
list
processing
. It would become the favorite
language for
artificial
intelligence
research.
coBol
was introduced, with much of the key work and
inspiration coming from Grace h
opper
.
iBm
marketed the 7090
mainframe
, a large transistorized
machine that could perform 229,000 additions a second. The
smaller IBM 1401 would prove to be even more popular. IBM
also introduced a high-speed
printer
using type chains.
Robert Noyce of Fairchild Semiconductor built a different
type of integrated circuit, using aluminum traces and layers
deposited on a silicon substrate.
1960
Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) marketed the PDP-1,
generally considered the first commercial
minicomputer
.
Control Data Corporation (CDC) impressed the industry
with its CDC 1604, designed by Seymour c
ray
. It offered
high speed at considerably lower prices than
iBm
and the
other major companies.
The a
lgol
language demonstrated block structure for better
organization of programs. The report on the language intro-
duced BNF (B
ackus
-n
aur
form
) as a systematic descrip-
tion of computer language grammar.
Donald Blitzer introduced PLATO, the first large-scale
interactive
computer
-
aided
instruction
system. It would
later be marketed extensively by Control Data Corporation
(CDC).
Paul Baran of RAND developed the idea of packet-switching to
allow for decentralized information
netWorks
; the idea would
soon attract the attention of the U.S. Defense Department.
In an advance in practical
roBotics
, the remote-operated
“Handyman” robot arm and hand was put to work in a
nuclear power plant.
The U.S. Navy began to develop the Naval Tactical Data
System (NTDS) to track targets and the status of ships in a
combat zone.
1961
Time-sharing computer systems came into use at MIT and
other facilities. Among other things, they encouraged the
efforts of the first
hackers
to find clever things to do with
the computers.
Leonard Kleinrock’s paper “Information Flow in Large Com-
munication Nets” was the first description of the packet-
switching message transfer system that would underlie the
i
nternet
.
Arthur Samuel’s ongoing research into
computer
games
design culminated in his checkers program reaching mas-
ter level. The program includes learning algorithms that can
improve its play.
The
iBm
STRETCH (IBM 7030) is installed at Los Alamos
National Laboratory. Its advanced “pipeline” architecture
allowed new instructions to begin to be processed while
preceding ones were being finished. It and Univac’s LARC
are sometimes considered to be the first
supercomputers
.
IBM made a major move into scientific computing with
its modular 7040 and 7044 computers, which can be used
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Appendix II 533
together with the 1401 to build a “scalable” installation for
tackling complex problems.
Unimation introduced the industrial robot (the Unimate).
Fairchild Semiconductor marketed the first commercial
integrated circuit.
1962
The discipline of
computer
science
began to emerge
with the first departments established at Purdue and Stan-
ford.
MIT students created
Spacewar, the first video
computer
game
, on the PDP-1.
On a more practical level, MIT programmers Richard Green-
blatt and D. Murphy develop TECO, one of the first
text
editor
s.
J. C. R. Licklider described the “Intergalactic Network,”
a universal information exchange system that would help
inspire the development of the i
nternet
.
Douglas e
ngelBart
invented the computer
mouse
at SRI.
IBM developed the SABRE online ticket reservation system
for American Airlines. The system will soon be adopted
by other carriers and demonstrate the use of networked
computer systems to facilitate commerce. Meanwhile,
iBm
earned $1 billion from its computer business, which by then
had overtaken its traditional office machines as the compa-
ny’s leading source of revenue.
1963
Joseph W
eiZenBaum
’s
Eliza program carried on natural-
sounding conversations in the manner of a psychotherapist.
Ivan Sutherland developed
Sketchpad, the first computer
drawing system.
Reliable Metal Oxide Semiconductor (MOS) integrated cir-
cuits were perfected, and would become the basis for many
electronic devices in years to come, including computers for
space exploration.
1964
The
iBm
System/360 was announced. It would become the
most successful
mainframe
in history, with its successors
dominating business computing for the next two decades.
IBM introduced the MT/ST (Magnetic Tape/Selectric Type-
writer), considered to be the first dedicated
Word
pro
-
cessing
system. While rudimentary, it allowed text to be
corrected before printing.
Seymour c
ray
’s Control Data CDC 6600 is announced.
When completed, it ran about three times faster than IBM’s
STRETCH, irritating Thomas Watson, head of the far larger
IBM.
J. Kemeny and T. Kurtz developed
Basic
to allow students to
program on the Dartmouth time-sharing system.
At the other end of the scale, IBM introduced the complex,
feature-filled PL/1 (Programming Language 1) for use with
its System/360.
The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) officially
adopted the ASCII (American Standard Code for Informa-
tion Interchange) character code.
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Paul Baran of SRI wrote a paper, “On Distributed Commu-
nication Networks,” further describing the implementation
of packet-switched network that could route around disrup-
tions. The work began to attract the attention of military
planners concerned with air defense and missile control sys-
tems surviving nuclear attack.
Jean Sammet and her colleagues developed the first com-
puter program that can do algebra.
Gordon m
oore
(a founder of Fairchild Semiconductor and
later, of Intel Corporation) stated that the power of CPUs
would continue to double every 18 to 24 months. “Moore’s
law” proved to be remarkably accurate.
1965
iBm
introduced the
floppy
disk
(or diskette) for use with its
mainframes.
Edsgar d
ijkstra
devised the semaphore, a variable that two
processes can use to synchronize their operations and aid-
ing the development of
concurrent
programming
.
The APL language developed by Kenneth Iverson provided
a powerful, compact, but perhaps cryptic way to formulate
calculations.
The s
imula
language introduced what will become known
as
oBject
-
oriented
programming
.
The DEC PDP-8 became the first mass-produced minicom-
puter, with over 50,000 systems being sold. The machine
brings computing power to thousands of universities,
research labs, and businesses that could not afford main-
frames. Designed by Edson deCastro and engineered by Gor-
don Bell, the PDP-8 design marked an important milestone
on the road to the desktop PC.
NASA uses an IBM onboard computer to guide Gemini
astronauts in their first rendezvous in space.
The potential of the
expert
system
was demonstrated by
Dendral, a specialized medical diagnostic program that
began development by Edward Feigenbaum, Joshua Leder-
berg, and Bruce Buchanan.
The U.S. Defense Department’s ARPA (Advanced Research
Projects Agency) sponsored a study of a “co-operative net-
work of time-sharing computers.” A testbed network was
begun by connecting a TX-2 minicomputer at MIT via phone
line to a computer at System Development Corporation in
Santa Monica, California.
Ted Nelson’s influential vision of universal knowledge shar-
ing through computers introduced the term
hypertext
.
1966
In the first federal case involving
computer
crime
(
U.S. v.
Bennett), a bank programmer is convicted of altering a bank
program to allow him to overdraw his account.
The first ACM Turing Award is given to Alan Perlis.
The New York Stock Exchange automated much of its trad-
ing operations.
1967
The memory
cache
(a small amount of fast memory used
for instructions or data that are likely to be needed) was
introduced in the IBM 360/85 series.
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534 Appendix II
iBm
developed the first
floppy
disk
drive.
Seymour p
apert
introduced l
ogo
, a l
isp
-like language that
would be used to teach children programming concepts
intuitively.
A chess program written by Richard Greenblatt of MIT,
Mac Hack IV, achieved the playing skill of a strong amateur
human player.
Fred Brooks did early experiments in computer-mediated
sense perception, laying groundwork for
virtual
reality
.
1968
Edsger d
ijkstra
’s little letter entitled “GO TO Considered
Harmful” argued that the GOTO or “jump” statement made
programs hard to read and more prone to error. The result-
ing discussion gave impetus to the
structured
program
-
ming
movement. Another aspect of this movement was the
introduction of the term
software
engineering
.
Robert Noyce, Andrew g
rove
, and Gordon m
oore
founded
i
ntel
, the company that would come to dominate the
microprocessor
industry by the early 1980s.
iBm
introduced the System/3, a lower-cost computer system
designed for small businesses.
Bolt, Beranek and Newman (BBN) was awarded a govern-
ment contract to build “interface message processors” or
IMPs to translate data between computers linked over
packet-switched networks.
Alan k
ay
prototyped the Dynabook, a concept that led
toward both the
portaBle
computer
and the graphical
user
interface
.
Stanley Kubrick’s movie
2001 introduced Hal 9000, the
self-aware (but paranoid) computer that kills members of a
deep-space exploration crew.
1969
Ken Thompson and Dennis r
itchie
began work on the
unix
operating
system
. It will feature a small
kernel
that
can be used with many different command
shells
, and will
eventually incorporate hundreds of utility programs that
can be linked to perform tasks.
Edgar F. Codd introduced the concept of the relational sys-
tem that would form the foundation for most modern
data
-
Base
management
system
.
iBm
was sued by the U.S. Department of Justice for antitrust
violations. The voluminous case would finally be dropped in
1982. However, government pressure may have led the com-
puter giant to finally allow its users to buy software from
third parties, giving a major boost to the software industry.
ARPANET is officially launched. The first four nodes of the
ARPANET came online, prototyping what would eventually
become the i
nternet
.
SRI researchers developed Shakey, the first mobile robot
that could “see” and respond to its environment. The actual
control computer was separate, however, and controlled the
robot through a radio link.
Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin successfully made the
first human landing on the Moon, despite problems with the
onboard Apollo Guidance Computer.
The first automatic teller machine (ATM) was put in service.
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1970
Gene a
mdahl
left
iBm
to found Amdahl Corporation, which
would compete with IBM in the mainframe “clone” market.
An i
ntel
Corporation team led by Marcian E. Hoff began to
develop the Intel 4004
microprocessor
.
Digital Equipment Corporation announced the PDP-11, the
beginning of a series of 16-bit minicomputers that will sup-
port time-sharing computing in many universities.
John Conway’s “Game of Life” popularized
cellular
automata
.
The ACM held its first all-computer chess tournament in
New York City. Northeastern University’s Chess 3.0 topped
the field of six programs competing.
Charles Moore began writing programs to demonstrate the
versatility of his programming language f
orth
.
Xerox Corporation established the Palo Alto Research Cen-
ter (PARC). This laboratory will create many innovations in
interactive computing and the graphical
user
interface
.
1971
Niklaus W
irth
formally announced p
ascal
, a small, well-
structured language that will become the most popular
language for teaching
computer
science
for the next two
decades.
The IEEE Computer Society was founded.
The
iBm
System/370 series ushered in a new generation of
mainframes using densely packed integrated circuits for
both
cpu
and
memory
.
1972
Dennis r
itchie
and Brian Kernighan developed
c
, a com-
pact language that would become a favorite for
systems
pro
-
gramming
, particularly in
unix
.
The creation of an
e
-
program for the ARPANET
included the decision to use the at (@) key as part of e-mail
addresses.
Alan k
ay
developed s
malltalk
, building upon SIMULA
to create a powerful, seamless
oBject
-
oriented
program
-
ming
language and
operating
system
. The language would
eventually be influential although not widely used. Kay also
prototyped the Dynabook, a notebook computer, but Xerox
officials showed little interest.
Seymour c
ray
left CDC and founded Cray Research to
develop new
supercomputer
.
i
ntel
introduced the 8008, the first commercially available
8-bit
microprocessor
.
The 5.25-inch diskette first appeared. It would become a
mainstay of personal computing until it was replaced by the
more compact 3.5-inch diskette in the 1990s.
Nolan Bushnell’s Atari Corp. had the first commercial
com
-
puter
game
hit,
Pong. It and its beeping cousins would soon
become an inescapable part of every parent’s experience.
1973
Alain Colmerauer and Philippe Roussel at the University of
Marseilles developed p
rolog
(Programming in Logic), a
language that could be used to reason based upon a stored
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Appendix II 535
base of knowledge. The language would become popular for
expert
systems
development.
B
ell
l
aBoratories
established a group to support and pro-
mulgate the
unix
operating
system
.
The Ethernet protocol for LANs (
local
area
netWorks
)
was developed by Robert Metcalfe.
In a San Francisco hotel lobby Vinton c
erf
sketched the
architecture for an Internet gateway on a napkin.
Don Lancaster published his “TV Typewriter” design in
Radio Electronics. It would enable hobbyists to build displays
for the soon-to-be available microcomputer.
The Boston Computer Society (BCS) was founded. It became
one of the premier computer user groups.
Gary Kildall founded Digital Research, whose CP/M
oper
-
ating
system
would be an early leader in the microcom-
puter field.
A federal court declared that the Eckert-Mauchly ENIAC
patents were invalid because John a
tanasoff
had the same
ideas earlier in his ABC computer.
1974
The Alto graphical workstation was developed by Alan
k
ay
and others at Xerox PARC. It did not achieve commer-
cial success, but a decade later something very much like it
would appear in the form of the a
pple
m
acintosh
.
An international computer chess tournament is won by the
Russian KAISSA program, which crushed the American
favorite Chess 4.0.
Computerized product scanners were introduced in an Ohio
supermarket.
i
ntel
released the 8080, a
microprocessor
that had 6,000
transistors, could execute 640,000 instructions per second,
was able to access 64 kB of memory, and ran at a clock rate
of 2 MHz.
David Ahl’s
Creative Computing magazine began to offer an
emphasis on using small computers for education and other
human-centered tasks.
Vinton c
erf
and Robert Kahn began to publicize their
tcp
/
ip
internet
protocol.
A group at the University of California, Berkeley, began to
develop their own version of the
unix
operating
system
.
The 1974 Privacy Act began the process of trying to protect
individual
privacy
in
the
digital
age
.
1975
Fred Brooks published the influential book
The Mythical
Man-Month. It explained the factors that bog down soft-
ware development and focused more attention on
softWare
engineering
and its management.
Electronics hobbyists were intrigued by the announcement
of the MITS Altair, the first complete
microcomputer
sys-
tem available in the form of a kit. While the basic kit cost
only $395, the keyboard, display, and other peripherals were
extra.
MITS founder Ed Roberts also coined the term
personal
computer
. Hundreds of hobbyists built the kits and yearned
for more capable machines. Many hobbyists flocked to
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meetings of the Homebrew Computer Club in Menlo Park,
California.
iBm
introduced the first commercially available laser
printer
. The very fast, heavy-duty machine was suitable
only for very large businesses.
The first ARPANET discussion mail list was created. The
most popular topic for early mail lists was science fiction.
In Los Angeles, Dick Heiser opened what is believed to be
the first retail store to sell computers to “ordinary people.”
1976
Seymour c
ray
’s sleek, monolithlike Cray 1 set a new stan-
dard for
supercomputers
.
Whitfield Diffie and Martin Hellman announced a public-
key
encryption
system that allowed users to securely send
information without previously exchanging keys.
iBm
developed the first (relatively crude) inkjet
printer
for
printing address labels.
Shugart Associates offered a
floppy
disk
drive to microcom-
puter builders. It cost $390.
Steve W
oZniak
proposed that Hewlett-Packard fund the cre-
ation of a
personal
computer
, while his friend Steve j
oBs
made a similar proposal to Atari Corp. Both proposals were
rejected, so the two friends started a
pple
Computer Com-
pany.
Chuck Peddle of MOS Technology developed the 6502
microprocessor
, which would be used in the Apple, Atari,
and some other early personal computers.
Bill g
ates
complained about software piracy in his “Open
Letter to Hobbyists.” People were illicitly copying his BASIC
language tapes.
copy
protection
would soon be used in an
attempt to prevent copying of commercial programs for per-
sonal computers.
Computer enthusiasts found an erudite forum in the
magazine
Dr. Dobb’s Journal of Computer Calisthenics and
Orthodontia: Running Light without Overbyte. The more main-
stream
Byte magazine also became a widely known forum
for describing new projects and selling components.
William Crowther and Don Woods at Stanford University
developed the first interactive
computer
game
involving
an adventure with monsters and other obstacles. Univer-
sity administrators would soon complain that the game was
wasting too much computer time.
1977
Benoit Mandelbrot’s book on
fractals
in
computing
pop-
ularized a mathematical phenomenon that would find uses
in computer graphics, data compression, and other areas.
The Data
encryption
Standard (DES) was announced. Crit-
ics charged that it was too weak and probably already com-
promised by spy agencies.
Vinton c
erf
demonstrated the versatility and extent of
the Internet Protocol (IP) by sending a message around the
world via radio, land line, and satellite links.
The Charles B
aBBage
Institute was founded. It would
become an important resource for the study of computing
history.
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536 Appendix II
Bill g
ates
and Paul Allen found a tiny company called
m
icrosoft
. Its first product was a
Basic
interpreter
for
the newly emerging
personal
computer
systems.
Radio Shack began selling its TRS-80 Model 1 personal
computer.
The a
pple
II was released. It will become the most success-
ful of the early (pre-iBm)
personal
computer
s.
1978
Diablo Systems marketed the first daisy-wheel
printer
.
Atari announced its Atari 400 and Atari 800
personal
com
-
puter
s. They offered superior graphics (for the time).
Daniel Bricklin’s VisiCalc
spreadsheet
is announced. It will
become the first software “hit” for the Apple II, leading busi-
nesses to consider using personal computers.
Ward Christiansen and Randy Suess developed the first soft-
ware for
Bulletin
Board
systems
(BBS).
The first West Coast Computer Faire was organized in San
Francisco. The annual event became a showcase for inno-
vation and a meeting forum for the first decade of personal
computing.
The BSD (Berkeley Software Distribution) version of unix
was released by the group at the University of California,
Berkeley, under the leadership of Bill j
oy
.
The
aWk
(named for Aho, Weinberger, and Kernighan)
scripting
language
appeared.
1979
medical
applications
of
computing
were highlighted
when Allan M. Cormack and Godfrey N. Hounsfield
received the Nobel Prize in medicine for the development of
computerized tomography (CAT), creating a revolutionary
way to examine the structure of the human body.
The Ashton-Tate company began to market dBase II, a
data
-
Base
management
system
that became the leader in per-
sonal computer databases during the coming decade.
i
ntel
’s new 16-bit processors, the 8086 and 8088, began to
dominate the market.
Hayes marketed the first
modem
, and the CompuServe
on
-
line
service
and early bulletin boards gave a growing num-
ber of users something to connect to.
unix
users Tom Truscott, Jim Ellis, and Steve Bellovin devel-
oped a program to exchange news in the form of files copied
between the Duke University and University of North Caro-
lina computer systems. This gradually grew into USENET
(or
netneWs
), providing thousands of topical newsgroups.
The first networked computer fantasy game, MUD (Multi-
User Dungeon), was developed.
The first COMDEX was held in Las Vegas. It would become
the PC industry’s premier trade show.
Boston’s Computer Museum was founded. This perhaps sig-
naled the computing field’s consciousness of coming of age.
1980
a
da
, a modular descendent of p
ascal
, was announced. The
language was part of efforts by the U.S. Defense Department
to modernize its software development process.
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RISC (
reduced
instruction
set
computer
) microproces-
sor architecture was introduced.
a
pple
’s initial public offering of 4.6 million shares at $22
per share sold out immediately. It was the largest IPO since
that of Ford Motor Company in 1956. Apple founders, Steve
j
oBs
and Steve W
oZniak
, became the first multimillionaires
of the microcomputer generation.
XENIX, a version of
unix
for
personal
computer
s, was
offered. It met with limited success.
Shugart Associates announced a
hard
disk
drive for per-
sonal computers. The disk stored a whopping 5 megabytes.
1981
The
iBm
PC was announced. a
pple
“welcomed” its competi-
tor in ads, but the IBM machine would soon surpass its com-
petitors as the personal computer of choice for business. Its
success is aided by a version of the VisiCalc
spreadsheet
that sells more than 200,000 copies.
Osborne introduced the
portaBle
(sort of)
computer
, a
machine with the size and weight of a heavy suitcase.
Apple tried to market the Apple III as a more powerful desk-
top computer for business, but the machine was plagued
with technical problems and did not sell well.
Digital Equipment Corporation introduced its DECmate
dedicated word-processing system.
Xerox PARC displayed the Star, a successor to the Alto with
512 kB of RAM. It was intended for use in an Ethernet
net
-
Work
.
A network called BITNET (“Because It’s Time Network”)
began to link academic institutions worldwide.
Tracy Kidder’s best-selling
The Soul of a New Machine
recounted the intense Silicon Valley working culture as seen
in the development of Data General’s latest
Workstation
,
the Eclipse.
Japan announced a 10-year effort to create “Fifth Generation”
computing based on application of
artificial
intelligence
.
1982
s
un
m
icrosystems
was founded. It would specialize in
high-performance
Workstations
.
AT&T began marketing
unix
(System III) as a commercial
product.
Compaq became one of the most successful makers of
“clones” or
iBm
PC-compatible computers, introducing a
portable (luggable) machine.
The AutoCad program brought CAD (
computer
-
aided
design
and
manufacturing
) to the desktop.
The
Time magazine “man of the year” was not a person at
all—it was the
personal
computer
!
1983
Business use of personal computers continued to grow.
Word
processing
leaders WordStar and WordPerfect were
joined by the first version of Microsoft Word. Lotus 1-2-3
became the new
spreadsheet
leader.
Borland International introduced Turbo p
ascal
, a speedy, easy
to use programming environment for personal computers.
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Appendix II 537
An industry pundit introduced the term
vaporware to refer
to much-hyped but never-released software, such as a prod-
uct called Ovation for
iBm
PCs.
IBM tried to market the PC Jr., a less-expensive PC for home
and school users. It failed to gain a foothold in the market.
More successfully, IBM offered the PC XT, the first
per
-
sonal
computer
that had a built-in hard drive.
Radio Shack introduced the Model 100, the first practical
notebook computer.
a
pple
introduced the Lisa, a $10,000 computer with a
graphical
user
interface
. Its high price and slow perfor-
mance made it a flop, but its ideas would be more success-
fully implemented the following year in the m
acintosh
.
John Sculley became president of Apple Computer, begin-
ning a bitter struggle with Apple cofounder Steve j
oBs
.
Richard s
tallman
began the GNU (GNU’s not UNIX) proj-
ect to create a version of UNIX that would not be subject to
AT&T licensing.
The movie
War Games portrayed teenage
hackers
taking
control of nuclear missile facilities.
1984
A classic Super Bowl commercial introduced the a
pple
m
acintosh
, the computer “for the rest of us.” Based largely
on Alan k
ay
’s earlier work at Xerox PARC, the “Mac” used
menus, icons, and a mouse instead of the cryptic text com-
mands required by MS-DOS.
Meanwhile, iBm introduced a more powerful personal com-
puter, the PC/AT with the Intel 80286 chip.
Steve j
oBs
leaves Apple Computer to found a company called
NeXT.
m
icrosoft
CEO Bill g
ates
was featured on a
Time maga-
zine cover.
The
domain
name
system
began. It allows i
nternet
users
to connect to remote machines by name without having to
specify an exact network path.
British institutions develop JANET, the Joint Academic
Network.
Science fiction writer William Gibson coined the word
cyberspace
in his novel
Neuromancer. It began a new SF
genre called
cyberpunk, featuring a harsh, violent, immer-
sive high-tech world.
1985
Desktop publishing was fueled by several developments
including John Warnock’s p
ost
s
cript
page description lan-
guage and the Aldus PageMaker page layout program. The
m
acintosh
’s graphical interface gave it the early lead in this
application.
m
icrosoft
W
indoWs
1.0 was released, using many of the
same features as the Macintosh, although not nearly as
well.
There was increasing effort to unify the two versions of
unix
(AT&T and BSD), with guidelines including the Sys-
tem V Interface Standard and POSIX.
Commodore introduces the Amiga, a machine with a sophis-
ticated
operating
system
and powerful color graphics. The
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machine had many die-hard fans but ultimately could not
survive in the marketplace.
iBm
marketed the IBM 3090, a large, powerful
mainframe
that cost $9.3 million.
The Cray 2
supercomputer
broke the 1-billion-instruc-
tions-a-second barrier.
A
conferencing
system
called the Whole Earth ‘Lectronic
Link (WELL) was founded. Its earliest users are largely
drawn from Grateful Dead fans and assorted techies.
1986
The National Science Foundation funded NSFNET, which
provides high-speed Internet connections to link universi-
ties and research institutions.
Borland released a PROLOG compiler, making the
artifi
-
cial
intelligence
language accessible to PC users. A PC
version of s
malltalk
also appeared from another company.
a
pple
beefed up the relatively anemic m
acintosh
with the
Macintosh Plus, which has more
memory
.
1987
Bjarne s
troustrup
’s c++ language offered
oBject
-
oriented
programming
in a form that was palatable to the legions of
C programmers. The language would surpass its predecessor
in the coming decade.
Sun marked its first
Workstation
based on RISC (
reduced
instruction
set
computing
) technology.
a
pple
sold its one millionth m
acintosh
. Apple also brought
out a new line of Macs (the Macintosh SE and Macintosh II)
that, unlike the original Macs, were expandable by plugging
in cards.
Apple also introduced Hypercard, a simple
hypertext
authoring
system
that became popular with educators.
iBm
introduced a new line of personal computers called the
PS/2. It featured a more efficient BUS called the Microchan-
nel and some other innovations, but it sold only modestly.
Most of the industry continued to further develop standards
based upon the IBM PC AT.
The Thinking Machines Corporation’s Connection Machine
introduced massive parallel processing. It contained 64,000
microprocessors
that could collectively perform 2 billion
instructions per second.
1988
Robert Morris Jr.’s “worm” accidentally ran out of control on
the i
nternet
, bringing concerns about
computer
crime
and
security
to public attention. The Computer Emergency
Response Team (CERT) was formed in response.
Wolfram’s Mathematica program was a milestone in math-
ematical computing, allowing users to not merely calculate
but also to solve symbolic equations automatically.
Cray introduced the Cray Y-MP
supercomputer
. It could
process 2 billion operations per second.
iBm
announced a new midrange
mainframe
, the AS/400.
Sandia National Laboratory began to build a massively par-
allel “hypercomputer” that would have 1,024 processors
working in tandem.
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538 Appendix II
A consortium called the Open Software Foundation was
established to promote
open
source
shared software devel-
opment.
1989
The i
nternet
now had more than 100,000 host computers.
Deep Thought defeated Danish chess grandmaster Bent
Larsen, marking the first time a grandmaster had been
defeated by a computer.
i
ntel
announced the 80486 CPU, a chip with over a million
transistors.
Astronomer Clifford s
toll
’s book
The Cuckoo’s Egg
recounted his pursuit of German hackers who were seeking
military secrets. Stoll soon became a well-known critic of
computer technology and the Internet.
The ARPANET officially ends, having been succeeded by the
NSFNET.
1990
m
icrosoft
W
indoWs
became truly successful with version
3.0, diminishing the user interface advantages of the m
acin
-
tosh
.
At s
un
m
icrosystems
, James Gosling developed the Oak lan-
guage to control
emBedded
systems
. After the original proj-
ect was canceled, Gosling redesigned the language as j
ava
.
iBm
announced the System/390
mainframe
.
iBm
and m
icrosoft
developed OS/2, an operating system
intended to replace ms-dos. Microsoft withdrew in favor of
Windows, and despite considerable technical merits, OS/2
never really takes hold.
Secret Service agents raided computer systems and bulletin
boards, seeking evidence of illegal copying of a BellSouth
manual, disrupting an innocent game company. In response,
Mitch Kapor founded the Electronic Frontier Foundation
to advocate for civil liberties of computer users. Another
group, the Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility,
filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for FBI
records involving alleged government surveillance of
Bulle
-
tin
Board
systems
.
1991
The Science Museum in London exhibited a reconstruction
of Charles B
aBBage
’s never-built difference engine.
A Finnish student named Linus t
orvalds
found that he
couldn’t afford a
unix
license, so he wrote his own
unix
kernel
and combined it with GNU utilities. The result
would eventually become the popular l
inux
operating
system.
Developers at the University of Minnesota created Gopher,
a system for providing documents over the i
nternet
using
linked menus. However, it was soon to be surpassed by the
W
orld
W
ide
W
eB
, created by Tim B
erners
-l
ee
at the
CERN physics laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland.
a
dvanced
m
icro
d
evices
began to compete with Intel by
making IBM PC-compatible CPU chips.
a
pple
and
iBm
signed a joint agreement to develop technol-
ogy in areas that include object-oriented
operating
sys
-
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•
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•
•
tems
, multimedia, and interoperability between m
acintosh
and IBM networks.
1992
Reports of the Michelangelo
computer
virus
frightened
computer users. Although the virus did little damage, it
spurred more users to practice “safe computing” and install
antivirus software.
m
otorola
announced the Power PC, a 32-bit RISC
micro
-
processor
that contains 28 million transistors.
An estimated 1 million host computers were on the i
nter
-
net
. The Internet Society is founded to serve as a coordina-
tor of future development of the network.
1993
a
pple
’s Newton handheld computer created a new cat-
egory of machine called the
pda
, or personal digital assis-
tant.
m
icrosoft
W
indoWs
NT was announced. It is a version of
the
operating
system
designed especially for network serv-
ers.
Steve j
oBs
announced that his NeXT company would
abandon its hardware efforts and concentrate on market-
ing its innovative
operating
system
and development
software.
Leonard Adleman demonstrated
molecular
computing
by
using DNA molecules to solve the Traveling Salesman prob-
lem.
The Cray 3
supercomputer
continued the evolution of that
line. It could be scaled up to a 16-processor system.
The Mosaic graphical W
eB
BroWser
popularized the W
orld
W
ide
W
eB
.
The Clinton administration announced plans to develop a
national “Information Superhighway” based on the i
nter
-
net
. Volunteer “Net Day” programs would begin to connect
schools to the network.
The White House established its Web site, www.whitehouse.
gov.
1994
Mosaic’s developer, Marc a
ndreessen
, left NCSA and joined
Jim Clark to found Netscape. Netscape soon released an
improved browser called Netscape Navigator.
a
pple
announced that it would license the Mac operating
system to other companies to make m
acintosh
“clones.”
Few companies would take them up on it, and Apple would
soon withdraw the licensing offer.
i
ntel
c
orporation
was forced to recall millions of dollars
worth of its new Pentium
chip
s when a mathematical flaw
was discovered in the floating-point routines.
Marc Andreessen and Jim Clark founded Netscape and
developed a new W
eB
BroWser
, Netscape Navigator. It
would become the leading Web browser for several years.
Red Hat released a commercial distribution of l
inux
1.0.
Search engines such as Lycos and Alta Vista started help-
ing users find Web pages. Meanwhile, a graduate student
named Jerry Yang started compiling an online list of his
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Appendix II 539
favorite Web sites. That list would eventually become
y
ahoo
!
Advertising in the form of banner ads began to appear on
Web sites.
1995
m
icrosoft
W
indoWs
95 gave a new look to the operating
system and provided better support for devices, including
plug
and
play
device configuration.
m
icrosoft
began its own on-line service, the Microsoft
Network (MSN). Despite its startup icon being placed on
the Windows 95 desktop, the network would trail industry
leader a
merica
o
nline
, which had overtaken CompuServe
and Prodigy.
Jeff B
eZos
’s online bookstore, Amazon.com, opened for busi-
ness. It would become the largest e-commerce retailer.
The major online services began major promotion of access
to the W
orld
W
ide
W
eB
.
NSFNET retired from direct operation of the i
nternet
,
which had now been fully privatized. The agency then
focused on providing new
BroadBand
connections between
supercomputer
sites.
s
un
announced the j
ava
language. It would become one of
the most popular languages for developing applications for
the World Wide Web.
m
otorola
announced the Power PC-602, a 64-bit
cpu
chip.
Compaq ranked first in personal computer sales in the
United States, followed by a
pple
.
Physicists Peter Fromherz and Alfred Stett of the Max
Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Munich, Germany, dem-
onstrated the direct stimulation of a specific nerve cell in
a leech by a computer probe. This conjured visions of the
“jacked-in” neural implants foreseen by science fiction writ-
ers such as William Gibson.
The next generation of Cray
supercomputer
s, the T90
series, could be scaled up to a rate of 60 billion instructions
per second.
streaming
(real-time video and audio) began to become
popular on the W
eB
.
Computer-generated imagery (CGI) was featured by Holly-
wood in the movie
Toy Story.
1996
A product called Web TV attempted to bring the W
orld
W
ide
W
eB
to home consumers without the complexity of
full-fledged computers. The product achieved only modest
success as the price of
personal
computer
s continued to
decline.
The U.S. Postal Service issued a stamp honoring the 50th
anniversary of ENIAC.
The Boston Computer Society, one of the oldest
computer
user
groups
, disbanded.
World chess champion Garry Kasparov won his first match
against iBm’s Deep Blue chess computer, but said the match
had been unexpectedly tough.
y
ahoo
! offered its stock to the public, running up the sec-
ond-highest first-day gain in NASDAQ history.
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•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Seymour c
ray
’s Cray Research (a developer of
supercom
-
puter
s) was acquired by Silicon Graphics.
Pierre o
midyar
turned a small hobby auction site into
e
B
ay
and was soon attracting thousands of eager sellers and buy-
ers to the site.
In one of its infrequent ventures into hardware, m
icrosoft
announced the NetPC, a stripped-down diskless PC that
would run software from a
netWork
. Such “network com-
puters” never really caught on, being overtaken by the ever-
declining price for complete PCs.
1997
The chess world was shocked when world champion Garry
Kasparov was defeated in a rematch with Deep Blue.
A single i
nternet
domain name, business.com, was sold for
$150,000.
a
maZon
.
com
had a successful initial public offering (IPO).
A technology called “push” began to be hyped. It involved
Web sites continually feeding “channels” of news or enter-
tainment to user’s desktops. However, the idea would fail to
make much headway.
i
nternet
users banded together to demonstrate
distriB
-
uted
computing
by cracking a 56-bit DES cipher in 140
days.
The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) cele-
brated its 50th anniversary.
1998
m
icrosoft
W
indoWs
98 provided an incremental improve-
ment in the
operating
system
.
a
pple
announced the iMac, a stylish machine that rejuve-
nated the m
acintosh
line.
e
B
ay
’s IPO was wildly successful, making Pierre o
midyar
,
Meg Whitman, and other eBay executives instant million-
aires.
Merger-mania hit the online service industry, with a
merica
o
nline
buying CompuServe’s online service (spinning off
the network facilities to WorldCom). AOL then acquired
Netscape and its Web hosting technology.
In another significant merger, Compaq acquired Digital
Equipment Corporation (DEC).
1999
Federal Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson found that m
icro
-
soft
violated antitrust laws. The case dragged on with
appeals, with the process of crafting a remedy (such as
possibly the split-up of the company) still unresolved in
2002.
Another virus, Melissa, panicked computer users.
Some companies began to offer “free” computers to people
who agreed to sign up for long-term, relatively expensive
i
nternet
service.
Computer scientists and industry pundits debated the possi-
bility of widespread computer disasters due to the
y
2
k
proB
-
lem
. Companies spent millions of dollars trying to find and
fix old computer code that used only two digits to store year
dates.
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•
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•
•
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•
•
•
540 Appendix II
a
pple
released
os
x
, a new
unix
-based
operating
system
for the m
acintosh
.
2000
New Year’s Day found the world to be continuing much as
before, with only a few scattered
y
2
k
proBlems
.
Unknown hackers, however, brought down some commer-
cial Web sites with denial-of-service (DOS) attacks.
AOL merged with Time-Warner, creating the world’s larg-
est media company. Critics worried about the affects of
growing corporate concentration on the diversity of the
i
nternet
.
m
icrosoft
W
indoWs
2000 began the process of merging
the consumer Windows and Windows NT lines into a single
family of operating systems that would no longer use any of
the underlying
ms
-
dos
code.
The W
orld
W
ide
W
eB
was estimated to have about 1 bil-
lion pages online.
Tech stocks (and particularly
e
-
commerce
companies)
began to sharply decline as investors became increasingly
skeptical about profitability.
A growing number of Web users were beginning to switch
to much faster
BroadBand
connections using
dsl
or
caBle
modems
.
2001
The decline in
e
-
commerce
stocks continued, with tens of
thousands of jobs lost. One of the many failures was Web-
van, the i
nternet
grocery service. a
maZon
.
com
suffered
losses but continued trying to expand into profitable niches.
Only
e
B
ay
among the major e-commerce companies contin-
ued to be profitable.
m
icrosoft
W
indoWs
XP offered consumer and “profes-
sional” versions of Windows on the same code base.
iBm
researchers created a seven “qubit” quantum computer
to execute Shor’s algorithm, a radical approach to factoring
that could potentially revolutionize cryptography.
Among the specters raised in the wake of the September 11
terrorist attacks was
cyBerterrorism
having the potential
to disrupt vital infrastructure, services, and the economy.
Biometrics
and more sophisticated database techniques
were enlisted in the war on terrorism while civil liberties
groups voiced concerns.
2002
Wireless networking using the faster 802.11 standard
became increasingly popular as an alternative to cabled or
phone line networks for homes and small offices.
Consumer digital cameras began to approach “professional”
quality.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that “virtual” child pornogra-
phy (in which no actual children were used) was protected
by the First Amendment.
Continuing stock market declines threaten growth in the
computer and i
nternet
sectors.
The music-sharing service Napster goes out of business,
when it is forced to stop distributing copyrighted music.
•
•
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•
2003
The U.S. economy begins to recover, including the tech-
nology sector. However, there is a growing concern about
jobs being “outsourced” to countries such as India and
China.
Weblogs, or
Blogs
, are an increasingly popular form of
online expression. Some journalists even use them to
“break” major stories.
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) files
hundreds of lawsuits against individual users of music file-
sharing systems.
a
pple
and AMD introduce the first 64-bit microprocessors
in the
personal
computer
market.
2004
Security remains an urgent concern as viruses and worms
flood the i
nternet
in vast numbers.
spam
also floods users’
e
-
boxes.
phishing
messages
trick users into revealing credit card numbers and other
sensitive information.
a
pple
’s iPod dominates the portable media player market,
while its iTunes store sells over 100 million songs.
Bloggers become a political force, winning access to major
party conventions.
Enthusiastic response to g
oogle
’s initial public stock offer-
ing signals that investors may have regained confidence in
the strength of the i
nternet
sector.
2005
“W
eB
2.0” becomes a buzzword with W
eB
services
being
designed to be leveraged into new applications to be deliv-
ered to users’ browsers.
s
ony
’s flawed CD copy protection leaves users vulnerable to
hackers
; consumers increasingly demand an end to restric-
tions on use of media they buy.
Concerns about the security of new
electronic
voting
systems
grow.
2006
a
pple
begins selling i
ntel
-based Macs; meanwhile most
PCs now have dual processors.
g
oogle
buys the phenomenally successful video site y
ou
-
t
uBe
for $1.65 billion.
m
icrosoft
releases its delayed Windows Vista operating
system, but response is lukewarm.
New versions of l
inux
such as Ubuntu attract enthusiasts,
but are slow in making inroads on the desktop.
2007
social
netWorking
sites such as MySpace and FaceBook
are used by millions of students, but raise concerns about
privacy and bullying.
W
ikipedia
now has more than 9 million articles in 252 lan-
guages.
CNN and y
ou
t
uBe
join to sponsor presidential political
debates, and candidates respond to questions posed in vid-
eos submitted by the public.
•
•
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•
•
Appendix II 541
g
oogle
and other free Web-based applications offer new
alternatives for office software.
a
pple
introduces the iPhone and new iPods with innovative
user interfaces.
Albert Fert and Peter Grunberg receive the Nobel Prize in
physics for their development of “giant magnetoresistance,”
a phenomenon that enables disk drives to read fainter, more
densely packed magnetic signals. The result is shrinking
disks and/or greater storage capacity.
•
•
•
2008
A record amount of money is raised online during the presi-
dential election campaign.
Microsoft engages in a protracted campaign to acquire
online rival Yahoo!
Providers and advocacy groups struggle over net neutrality
(equal treatment of online applications and content).
•
•
•