June 11, 1980: Steve Ballmer is hired as Microsoft’s first Business Manager
1980 – Otherwise known as “The 24th Man” (to join Microsoft, that is), Steve Ballmer came on as Microsoft’s first Business Manager. He made only $50k and stock options. Of course 30 years later, Steve succeeded Bill Gates as CEO of the Redmond based software company.
Full Day in Tech History podcast show notes for June 11
2001 – To compete with AOL, Internet Service Providers NetZero and Juno Online Services announce they will merge to become United Online. The company would eventually acquire other assets to keep afloat, including the purchase of the FTD group in 2008.
Of course, NetZero had changed their business model to a Wireless plan in 2012 and operates a broadband and dial up service nation-wide.
Full Day in Tech History podcast show notes for June 8
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.
Full Day in Tech History podcast show notes for June 5
1896 – Henry Ford gets ready to test drive the first Quadricycle (a.k.a. Car). Only one problem – They didn’t make the garage door big enough. Out comes the Ax – A couple chops and a wider door was created. The car ran 2 speed, but could not go in reverse.
2009 – Intel introduces the Nehalem Core i7 processor, code-named “Lynnfield”. The i7-950 and 975 models are 4-core processors with a speed of 3.06 GHz. The processor ran 64-bit instruction set and could take up to 24 GB of RAM at DDR3 800/1066. Price: $294.00
Full Day in Tech History podcast show notes for June 3
1988 – While not the first version of the PS/2, the Model 70 was introduced with the 80386 processor. 16, 20, and 25 MHz clock speeds. The Model 70 also used a 25 MHz Intel 486 processor in a complex called the Power Platform.
If you wanted to upgrade to the 80486, you would have to replace the PS/2’s BIOS chip along with the processor board.
The model 70-A21 sold for $11,295 and included 2 MB of RAM, 120 MB ESDI hard drive, MS-DOS and OS/2. If you wanted a monitor for it, you would have to put down an additional $595 for the 8512 VGA.
Model 70 was a desktop case and Model 80 was a tower. IBM also introduced the PS/2 Model 25 LS and PS/2 Model 50 Z.
Full Day in Tech History podcast show notes for June 1
1979 – Intel released the successor to the 8086 processor in the Intel 8088 chip. With a clock rate of either 4.77 MHz or 8 MHz, this 16-bit chip had an external bus of 8 bits and 29,000 transistors. It was used in IBM PC and PC-XT computers during the 80’s.
Descendants to the 8088 are the 80188, 80186, and what would become the 386, 486 and Pentium chips.
Full Day in Tech History podcast show notes for June 1
1987 – North American Phillips Company introduced the compact disc video format. Using the same technology as LaserVision, the “CD’s with Pictures” would be gold in color and the same size as an audio CD. They could hold up to 800 MB – which would allow for a full length movie in SD, or a video music album.
The CD-V didn’t last that long, dissolving by 1991.
Full Day in Tech History podcast show notes for May 30