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IBM Model 5150 Released - IBM: From Facism to Family Rooms
The direct predecessor to modern personal computing, the 5150 laid the foundation for 1st gen PCs. Created by a team of people with Don Estridge at the helm. Don would come to be know as "The Father of the PC". This also launched the MS-DOS OS, which would become the foundation for Windows. This marked a departure from IBM's previous focus on business, scientific, and governmental contracts, which included involvement with Nazi Germany, as well as NASA, and the Social Security Administration. -
Apple's Macintosh PC Released - Rise of the Turtlenecked Eccentrics
Apple releases their Macintosh PC. Graphical User Interface driven, and the first PC with fully integrated mouse functionality, the Mac incorporated many things that would soon become standard issue with personal computing. Steve Jobs and a team of several undertook the design and creation. The computer was officially announced with a Super Bowl commercial directed by Ridley Scott. The commercial cast IBM as an Orwellian villain, with Macs being the independent challenger. -
Microsoft Windows 1.0 Interface Released - Bill Gates Leaps Onto the Scene
The Windows interface is released by Microsoft. It would be their first GUI (Graphical User Interface). It was not a entire OS, as it still required MS-DOS. The lead director on the project was Scott McGregor with Bill Gates having ultimate oversight. Despite underwhelming market performance, this interface launched the Windows line that would eventually come to dominate the market for decades.
Bill Gates would later go on to leap an office chair in a single bound - https://youtu.be/KxaCOHT0pmI -
RevisedLISTSERV Created - Replying All and Meaning It
Developed by student Eric Thomas as an upgrade to existing mailing systems, LISTSERV allowed for the first mass emailing system that operated without human oversight. This would revolutionize email communications by removing the human involvement previously needed to add or remove recipients. -
Welcome to the World Wide Web - The Greatest of All Abbreviations.
Developed by Tim Behners-Lee while working at CERN (of future particle acceleration fame) to bring together a series of networks and allow them to be accessed worldwide, the WWW was a landmark creation that would change the future of mankind in ways previously relegated to science fiction. Behners-Lee invented what would become the internet as we know it today. He would later go on to call for greater oversight and moderation of his creation, while lamenting the more insidious aspects of it.