1993 – The graphics software labs at AT&T closed down and relocated to the AT&T Multimedia Software Solutions. The division focused on software products that included 3D vector based graphic programs like AutoCAD, RIO, TOPAZ for PC and Mac computers.
1990 – The secret service and Austin TX police raided Steve Jackson Games, along with the home of Loyd Blankenship, writer of GURPS Cyberpunk. Four computers, two laser printers and all of the companies’ hardware was seized. This was a part of a nationwide data piracy investigation.
It was a very sketchy reason for why the roleplaying and gaming company got raided this hard. This also brought on a six month battle to get back their hardware, which they finally were able to retrieve all but one hard drive. Finally, on October 21, 1990, Steve Jackson Games got to look at the warrant and reason why they were raided.
It turned out Blankenship was doing research for his book. He visited and talked alot about questionable topics at his home and at his work – Steve Jackson Games.
This incident sparked the creation of the Electronic Frontier Foundation – a nonprofit dedicated to the constitutional rights of computer users.
February 19, 1990: Adobe Photoshop 1.0 was released
1990 – Thomas Knoll was a student at the University of Michigan when he decided to write a program for his Macintosh Plus. The program was a simple image viewer, but when his brother – John Knoll – caught wind, he suggested that Thomas turn it into an image editor. Thomas took 6 months to develop the first version of the photo editing program. They then took the idea to Adobe, who snapped the idea up. At that point, Adobe Photoshop 1.0 was released. 23 years later, it is the premier image editing software for most. The first version only ran on Mac and because of the Monochromatic display, only created in black and white. There is not a day I go by without having to open up my version of Photoshop. I even used to do Photoshop contests – Here are some of the photoshops I did.
1978 – The first computer bulletin board system was created in Chicago, Illinois by Ward Christensen and Randy Suess. The Computerized Bulletin Board System (CBBS) came together in 30 days, where it was then launched. Even though it was already turned on for testing, today was the day CBBS went into production.
1983 – at an introductory price of $9995, Apple introduces the Lisa computer – the first computer with a GUI (Graphical User Interface). The computer featured a 5 MHz 68000 microprocessor, 1 MB RAM, 12″ monochrome monitor, dual 5.25″ 860 KB floppy drives, a 5 MB hard drive and more.
Lisa cost Apple Computer US$50 million to develop. The software for it cost Apple Computer US$100 million to develop.“Lisa” is an acronym for Local Integrated Software Architecture.
Richard Wexelblat – History of Programming Languages
1965 – Richard Wexelblat was the first candidate to complete his doctoral dissertation, hence giving him a degree in “Computer Science“. It was presented at the University of Pennsylvania – Moore School of Electrical Engineering. Richard went on to write the “History of Programming Languages” (ISBN:0-12-745040-8)
1998 – A Georgia man became the first person that ran a computer controlled by thought. The subject (known as J.R.) was paralyzed due to stroke. Dr Roy Bakay and Dr. Phillip Kennedy implanted a glass cone into J.R’s brain, which would allow him to mentally control the PC.
2005 – To handle revenues, the Mozilla Foundation established the Mozilla Corporation. This taxable organization can skirt any legal issues the Foundation would endure for being a non-profit organization. A board of directors brought Gary Kovacs on as CEO to the Mozilla Corporation.It was the first computer based on the Zilog processor.
1977, Lewis Kornfeld announces the TRS-80 Model I microcomputer. This 8-bit computer had 4KB RAM, 4KB ROM, 12-inch RCA video, and came with the CP/M OS. The computer was $399.95, but add all the extras and it would come to $599.95. The computer was presented by Lewis Kornfeld, president of Radio Shack at the time.
The TRS-80 Model I computer was discontinued in 1981.