Saturday, May 23, 2009

Today in Tech History - The LAN

The first Ethernet LAN data packet was transmitted at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center on May 23, 1973. Bob Metcalf and David Boggs were the inventors of the networking technology that would eventually be used on the vast majority of local area networks in the world. For three years they worked to refine and improve their invention. By 1976, their experimental network was connecting 100 devices.

Friday, May 22, 2009

Today in Tech History: Microsoft Windows 3.0

Microsoft Windows 3.0 was released on May 22, 1990. Independent software vendors began developing Windows applications with vigor in response to its increased memory addressing and a more powerful user interface. The powerful new applications helped Microsoft sell more than 10 million copies of Windows, making it the best-selling graphical user interface in the history of computing.

Friday, March 06, 2009

March 6 - Michelangelo Virus Anniversary

The Michelangelo virus was the first computer virus to capture the attention of the mass media. Set to first execute on March 6, 1992 (the birth day of the famous Renaissance artist), the virus was predicted to destroy data on all personal computers on which it resided. The hype lead to many installations of anti-virus software and computer checks. All told, less than 10,000 PCs worldwide were affected as a result of Michelangelo.

Monday, February 16, 2009

The Birth of the BBS or Bulletin Board System

The first computer bulletin board system (BBS) goes live on February 16, 1978 in Chicago, Illinois. During a winter blizzard, Ward Christensen and Randy Suess piece together a computerized answering machine and message center that allows fellow computer hobbyists to send and receive announcements and meeting notes. They call it the Computerized Bulletin Board System.