1984 – Apple announced they would split up the Cupertino based company into three divisions – Apple II (handling all Apple III computers as well), the Apple 32 division (Lisa, and new Macintosh line of computers) and Accessory Products (Printers, keyboards, etc).
Delbert Yocam led the Apple II group which Steve Jobs would take care of Apple 32. Michael Muller would lead the accessories.
Apple did a lot of reorganizing, including Michael Spindler to VP of the European group and William Campbell to VP of sales in the US.
In 1984, they also introduced the Macintosh, with a groundbreaking Superbowl ad. At this time, Sculley and Jobs were co-working on a better Apple computer, but that would turn sour where Jobs resigned in 1985 to start NeXT Computers.
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2000 – Microsoft CEO Bill Gates announces he will be stepping down from his role but remain on the Board and embrace a new role as Chief software architect. Steve Ballmer will take over the CEO role and also remain president.
Love him or hate him, Ballmer kept Microsoft running and helped raise annual revenues. Ballmer would remain CEO of Microsoft until February 2014, then take over as the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers.
Bill Gates continued on the board. In 2014 he stepped down to Technology Advisor. Gates is also co-founder of the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation
In Wisconsin, friends are called "Sconnies". Even if you're not from Wisconsin, you can be part of the Sconnie Geek Nation through my coverage! By pledging, you join the Geek Sconnie Nation! Plus, you help me cover costs so I can continue the coverage of Gadget tech, music tech, and geek culture through the shows.
1975 – Bill Gates and Paul Allen write a letter to the Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry System (MITS) stating they have BASIC language for the Intel 8080 processor and would like to incorporate on the Altair computer in exchange for royalty payments. MITS agrees and Micro-soft was born. Later it would become Microsoft.
In Wisconsin, friends are called "Sconnies". Even if you're not from Wisconsin, you can be part of the Sconnie Geek Nation through my coverage! By pledging, you join the Geek Sconnie Nation! Plus, you help me cover costs so I can continue the coverage of Gadget tech, music tech, and geek culture through the shows.
1974 – Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS) puts out the first ever “Do it yourself” Altair 8800. You would get it through Popular Mechanics Magazine, then assemble it yourself. This is a turning point in home computer setup. The price for an Altair 8800 kit – $397 – and it included Microsoft Altair BASIC.
In Wisconsin, friends are called "Sconnies". Even if you're not from Wisconsin, you can be part of the Sconnie Geek Nation through my coverage! By pledging, you join the Geek Sconnie Nation! Plus, you help me cover costs so I can continue the coverage of Gadget tech, music tech, and geek culture through the shows.
1978 – It is one of the most infamous pictures in tech today. This is the Microsoft crew. Can you guess which one is Bill Gates?
The picture was updated in 2008 when the group (except Bob Wallace, who passed away in 2002) got back together for Bill Gates last few days at Microsoft (below).
The staff picture includes: Bill Gates, Andrea Lewis, Marla Wood, Paul Allen (2nd row) Bob O’Rear, Bob Greenberg (who helped launch Cabbage Patch Kids), Marc McDonald, Gordon Letwin, (3rd row) Steve Wood, Bob Wallace (passed away in 2002) and Jim Lane.
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1972 – Andy Cappa’s tavern in CA was the site for the first Pong game was wheeled into the establishment. The coin-operated game was put in by Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell and game designer Al Alcorn. The duo decided that making their own game – rather than having 3rd parties do it – would help keep costs down. They then turned an old Roller rink and converted to a production line. Pong was the first successful video game system.
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1994 – The Sega Saturn is released featuring 2 28.6 MHz processors running 32 bit. It had 2 video display processors, QSound surround and 2 MB of memory, with 1.5MB of video memory. It went for 44,800 Yen, or $450.
2005 – Microsoft launches the XBOX 360. It contained a IBM PowerPC with 3 cores at 3.2 GHz a core. It contained a 500 MHz ATI card and 512 MB of RAM. There were several versions starting at $249 and going up to $399. The limited Halo 3 version had a specially crafted case.
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During the 80’s and 90’s, there was a little show called COMDEX. It stood for Computer Dealer Exhibition. For a while, there were 2 versions: The Spring COMDEX (Alternating for a while between Altanta and Chicago) and the Fall COMDEX (Las Vegas). The show was attended by many and there were vendors galore. I remember seeing Bill Gates at the 1998 Comdex for the Blue screen error when they plugged in a scanner. I also saw President William Clinton give a keynote.COMDEX finally fell in 2003. Nonetheless, a lot of History falls between this time and about April from the show. Therefore, the next few days there will be a lot of “At the COMDEX Show”.
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