1979– Visicalc is released by Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankston. The spreadsheet application is called the first killer app for personal computers. It turned the PC from a hobby to a business tool.
The software was released under their company name “Software Arts”. It was developed for the Apple II computer with 6502 assmebler.
Only downfall for the company was they did not patent the system, therefore, clones like SuperCalc, Microsoft’s MultiPlan and Lotus 1-2-3, would show up.
2006 – The book iWoz: from Computer Geek to Cult Icon: How I Invented the Personal Computer, Co-founded Apple and had Fun Doing it. (**WHEW!**) came out. It was a book that was written to dispel some of the rumors and misconceptions on many different items.
1989 – 4 years after resigning from Apple, Steve Jobs and his newest company NeXT finally release the NeXTstepOS. It is a Unix based system, with some aspects of BSD and using the Mach kernal. This is the OS that will eventually merge into Apple when Jobs comes back.
1990 – The NeXTstation is finally released. It used the 68040 Motorola processor running 33MHz and the 68882 math co-processor running at 25 MHz. 2.88 MB floppy, 8 MB RAM, monochrome monitor, all for $4.995.If you wanted 4096 colors, that would cost you – $7,995.
1983 – The Osbourne I was a computer introduced by Adam Osbourne in 1981. It featured a Z80 microprocessor and the computer would run at least $1800. However, the computer company did not fair too well. They tried to mask their true financial statements in hopes that things would turn around. However once investors found out what was going on, they would start asking questions. Osbourne could not handle the pressure and on this day they filed for bankruptcy.
1945 – Grace Hopper is forever immortalized in the computer world as the first person to find a bug in a computer system. Litterally. The bug was a moth in between Relay #70 on Panel “F” of the Harvard Mark II Aiken Relay Calculator.From there on end, “Bug” meant a problem in a computer system. I guess once the moth was removed, the word “Debug” was also added.BTW – The relay functioned properly after the moth was removed.
1947 – It sounds like that same relay finally failed 2 years later.
August 18, 1992: Wang Computers had been growing, but their financial outlook didn’t seem good. In 1992, they filed for Bankruptcy protection. They eventually got out of bankruptcy, but not before they changed the scope of the business. They changed to Wang Global, then in 1999 were bought out by “Gentronics”
2011 – CEO Leo Apatheker made an announcement HP will be focusing on Enterprise, and putting the PC division on sale. This sale did not include the WebOS software. He instantly discontinued the HP TouchPad tablet and Pre series of smart phone. By the evening, most stores would discount the TouchPad to $99. This brought a lot of controversy, as some people would go to buy a TouchPad at Best Buy and they were denied as HP told them to ship the units back. BTW – HP was incorporated back in 1947 on this day.
Fluid Concepts & Creative Analogies: Computer Models of the Fundamental Mechanisms of Thought.That was the first book Amazon sold on July 16th, 1995. The company ran from their garage in Bellevue, Washington. 3 SPARC machines was all they had and a cool little mechanism that rung a bell every time a book was sold. The business model was set to make profit in 5 years. It was a good thing, because that may have helped it survive the dot com bubble.
17 years later, Amazon is going strong. Purchases of companies like WOOT! and Zappos!, along with the introduction of Kindle e-reader and Amazon Prime, the company is one of the largest resellers of product on the web.
1983 – Coleco announced at the Consumer Electronics Show the Coleco Adam. It was their first attempt at a computer hybrid system – gaming and desktop computing. The $725 price tag didn’t hurt, either.
With a Zilog Z80 processor and 80 kB RAM with 16 kB video RAM, the Adam could do what you needed. Also available was a printer, tape drive, and spots for 3 expansion cards.
Unfortunately, the computer didn’t do as well as the company wanted. They expected a half-million sold by December, but didn’t reach that goal. Ultimately, the Coleco Adam was discontinued in 1985.
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