History (and possible future) of Desktop computing

Woz	1971	Intel builds the first microprocessor, the 108 KHz 4004, using 2300 transistors and could address 640 bytes. The documentation for the chip was written by Adam Osborne.
	Early '70s	The Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) was a think tank where many ideas started. Ethernet (networking), laser printing and the idea of a computer made for an individual with a video screen, disk drive, keyboard and a mouse originated with PARC. This first personal computer was called the Alto and sold for $20,000. Xerox wasn't able to cash in on PARC's work.
	1975	Altair 8800 kit micro-computer with 256 bits of memory was advertised in Popular Electronics. Paul Allen of Honeywell and Bill Gates, a Harvard freshman, wrote a version of the Basic programming language for the Altair. About 2000 or these kit computers were sold. Altair also introduced the "Electric Pencil", the first word processor for personal computers
		Wozniak and Jobs start Apple computer in Jobs' garage.
		Bill Gates and Paul Allen sign a partnership agreement to form their Albuquerque-based company after licensing their newly written personal computer language, BASIC.
	1977	Radio shack (Tandy) releases the TRS-80 with 4KB RAM, 4KB ROM, a black-and-white display and a tape cassette for $600. Their sales projections for the first year were 3,000 units. They sold 10,000 in the first month.
Steve Jobs Apple II	1978	Apple II introduced. The first affordable non-kit home computer. Typically with 16 to 32k bytes of memory.
		Hayes Microcomputer Products introduces the first commercially available modem at 300 baud.
		Intel begins production of the 8086 chip running at 4.77MHz.
	1979	Visicalc spreadsheet released
		MicroPro releases WordStar
		DBase II written
	1980	Apple III introduced. Costs $4500 to $8000 with a 2MHz processor
	1980	IBM and Digital Research begin creation of a PC operating system based on the 8086 chip. Digital Research backs out. Microsoft signs on and creates MS-DOS 1.0.
Osborne 1	1981	The Osborne 1 "portable" was introduced weighing over 20 pounds with 64kb RAM, two 5.25-inch floppy drives and a 5-inch display for $1795. Production couldn't keep pace with orders. In 1983 Osborne announced a new computer long before they could deliver. People stopped buying the Osborne 1 and the company when bankrupt.
		IBM, with help from Intel and Microsoft, introduces their first PC with a 4.77MHz processor, 64kb RAM, a floppy disk drive running Microsoft's DOS 1.0 for $3000 to $6000. Very few parts were copyrighted by IBM so the clones soon followed, much to the dismay of IBM and the joy of Intel and Microsoft.
		Novell Data Systems writes software to link computers together allowing them to share a hard drive.
	1982	Commodore 64 introduced. At $600 it's the best-selling computer model ever. About 20 million are sold.
		Three former senior managers from Texas Instruments found Compaq.
		Intel announces a 6MHz chip.
		Lotus founded. 1-2-3 spreadsheet program ships in early '83.
		VisiCorp announces a graphical user interface.
	1983	Apple introduces the Lisa with a 5 MHz processor, 1mb RAM, 2mb ROM, 12-inch monitor, two floppy drives and a $10,000 price tag.
	1983	Microsoft demos its Interface Manager (later renamed Windows).
	1984	The Macintosh unveiled with 8 MHz processor, 128 kb RAM and a built-in black-and-white screen. 50,000 are sold in 75 days. This is considered the first easy-to-use PC.
		IBM announces the PC AT with DOS 3.0. Fully loaded with a monitor and 20mb hard drive it's $6700.
		Hewlett-Packard releases the LaserJet printer for $3600.
	1985	Wozniak and Jobs leave Apple.
	1985	Windows 1.0 released. It doesn't sell well. Many claimed its look and feel were copied from the Macintosh.
	1986	The 386 introduced on the desktop.
	1987	IBM announces the PS/2, a proprietary system incompatible with current systems.
		Sybase introduces SQL client/server architecture for relational databases.
		The 3.5 inch floppy replaces the 5.25 inch as the standard.
	1989	Intel announces the 486.
		Lotus Notes ships.
		Steven Jobs' NeXT Cube reaches the market with an optical reader instead of a disk drive, an operating system that used Object Oriented Programming (build larger programs by assembling smaller pieces of code), and digitally processed audio and video signals. It was ahead of it's time. That's a nice way of saying the technology wasn't ready yet.
	1990	Windows 3.0 introduced.
		The first PCMCIA card released.
		Tim Berners-Lee, the developer of HTML, coins the phrase "World Wide Web."
		Apple announces "QuickTime" video software for the Macintosh.
	1991	Apple introduces the PowerBook notebook computers. The top model has a 25MHz processor, 40mb hard drive and an active-matrix monochrome display and sells for $4599.
	1992	Windows 3.1 released.
	1992	IBM and Apple form the Taligent company to develop a hardware independent Operating System. It would be an alternative to Windows. The company was absorbed by IBM in 1995 without shipping a useful product.
	1993	The 60 MHz Pentium chip introduced.
		Windows NT released.
		Apple introduces the Newton hand-held "personal digital assistant." The first ones didn't work well because the handwriting recognition software wasn't mature.
	1994	Novell buys WordPerfect Corp. and the Quattro Pro spreadsheet program from Borland then sells both to Corel in 1996.
		Netscape Navigator 1.0 released.
		Digital announces the 300 MHz RISC processor.
	1995	Microsoft introduces Bob, an easier to use version of Windows for consumers. It doesn't sell.
		Sun Microsystems introduces Java.
		IBM introduces the ThinkPad.
		IBM buys Lotus.
		The first Mac clones ship.
		Windows 95 released.
	1996	Oracle designs a "network computer" using a browser as the interface.
		Internet Explorer 2.0 released.
		The PalmPilot handheld computer released.
	1997	Microsoft buys WebTV.
	1997	NCSA stops all development on MOSAIC, the first graphical Internet Web Browser.
	1998	Windows 98 released.
	1998	America Online buys Netscape.

	What's next?	Faster, smaller processors, of course, but what will that lead to? "Smarter" cars, appliances, TV's and wristwatches. Even vending machines. Give the Coke machine a computer chip and an internet link so the vendor can keep track of inventory.
		Eventually processing gets down to the molecular level. At some point in building faster processors the laws of physics dictates that we've run into a wall using silicon.
		Databases and documents are truly interfaced. Knowledge is available anywhere, anytime. There's lots of data available now, but it has to be turned into useful knowledge by the right software.
		The small, portable storage medium, like floppy discs and CD-ROMs, are no longer needed.
		Speech recognition? Can you see an office full of people sitting around talking to their computers? Something needs to replace the keyboard and mouse, but it won't be speech recognition except in certain situations--maybe in the home and manufacturing. Maybe some kind of a "smart mouse?" Or maybe something that tracks your eye and hand movements. You will wind up talking to a computer on the phone more and more.
		Video. Flat displays, then 3-D displays, then holographic.
		Your PC, TV and telephone (data, video and voice) are fully integrated into one digital unit with the Internet giving you something similar to the current Web plus full access to entertainment--games, TV shows and movies when you want them. No more waiting until 8 PM Wednesday to see your favorite show. And you can use it to set your thermostat and coffee maker via your home network. The kids will download their homework to the school computer where the first pass at correction is made by the school's software before the teacher sees it. No more using the excuse that "my dog ate my homework." Your car's not running right so the repair shop dials it up and checks the error code and figures out what' wrong and maybe send a software fix. From your car you'll be able to check your e-mail and download whatever music you wish to listen to. If you're lost or have a question you can "ask" your wristwatch and via a satellite link to an Internet knowledgebase you can get an answer--anytime anywhere.

History of Desktop Computing