1962
Research work at Bell Labs in the late 50's and early 60's into computer generated sound brought about the release of a vinyl LP called "Music from Mathematics". The music on the LP was soley created using an IBM 7090 computer and a digital to sound transducer. On one of the tracks - "A bicycle made for two" you could even listen to the computer sing the words. An amazing recording years ahead of it's time.
1964
IBM releases the System 360 range of commercial computers which included innovations such as upgradeability and magnetic tape drives.
1976The Apple II Computer was launched based on a totally different, but much cheaper microprocessor than the Altair, the MOS Technologies 6502. These two different processors led to two separate strands of development of desktop computers.
1981
IBM announced that it was launching a personal computer using an Intel 8088 processor running at 4.77MHz and 16K RAM for £786. The hardware and its MS-DOS operating system were largely out dated even by the standards of 1981 but the sheer size and reputation of IBM ensured that this rapidly became a world wide standard.
1985
Microsoft Windows was launched as the latest operating system for micro-computers, as they were called at the time. The aim was to replace the older DOS operating system, and although it was hopelessly inferior to Apple's OS, it enjoyed success, and soon turned a generic term, Windows, into a commercial trade-name.
1987
Windows 2 was launched, as was the Excel spreadsheet by Microsoft. In the UK, Acorn Computers of Cambridge launched its Archimedes computer, based on a RISC processor and an advanced GUI. Although faster, technically superior and easier to use than IBM clones, it could not compete with the size of the installed IBM base.
1996
Microsoft realigned its policy to concentrate not upon desktop computers, but on the internet. It launched three versions of Internet Explorer in the one year, and by supplying it free with Windows, it all but destroyed Netscape's market share. A long running legal battle would follow in the USA, and the growth of use of the world wide web in the next few years would be extraordinary.
1998
By 1998 the fear of a Millenium Bug in computer systems across the world was being taken more and more seriously. The fear was that computers had been programmed to use only two digits to define the year in any date, and that 00 would cause errors to occur. It was also feared that the machines would fail to calculate that the year 2000 was a leap year, as in most centuries it was not.
2000
The year 2000 did not bring the widespread devastation that had been predicted from the Millenium Bug. This may have been due to the extensive preparations carried out nationwide.
The US Justice Department declared, following a long trial, that Microsoft had abused its dominant market position to harm other software suppliers like Netscape.
February 2000
Windows 2000 was launched ...
March 2000
AMD announced that it now had 1000 MHz, or 1 Gigahertz, Athlon processors available.
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