Timeline of ICT and Technology
(1939 - Present Day) 

1939- Hewlett Packard founded 

 

Hewlett-Packard is founded. David Packard and Bill Hewlett found Hewlett-Packard in a Palo Alto, California garage.

Their first product was the HP 200A Audio Oscillator, which rapidly becomes a popular piece of test equipment for engineers.

Walt Disney ordered eight of the 200B model to use as sound effects generators for the 1940 movie "Fantasia".

1943- Project Whirlwind 

Project Whirlwind begins. During World War II, the U.S. Navy approached the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) about building a flight simulator to train bomber crews.

The team first built a large analog computer, but found it inaccurate and inflexible. After designers saw a demonstration of the ENIAC computer, they decided on building a digital computer.

1944- Harvard Mark-1 completed

Conceived by Harvard professor Howard Aiken, and designed and built by IBM, the Harvard Mark-1 was a room-sized, relay-based calculator.

The machine had a fifty-foot long camshaft that synchronized the machine’s thousands of component parts.

The Mark-1 was used to produce mathematical tables but was soon superseded by stored program computers.

1945- EDVAC programming 

 
John von Neumann wrote "First Draft of a report on the EDVAC" in which he outlined the architecture of a stored-program computer.

 Electronic storage of programming information and data eliminated the need for the more clumsy methods of programming, such as punched paper tape — a concept that has characterized mainstream computer development since 1945.

1948- IBM SSEC

 IBM´s Selective Sequence Electronic Calculator computed scientific data in public display near the company´s Manhattan headquarters.

Before its decommissioning in 1952, the SSEC produced the moon-position tables used for plotting the course of the 1969 Apollo flight to the moon. 

1950- First commerical computer

 Engineering Research Associates of built the ERA 1101, the first commercially produced computer; the company´s first customer was the U.S. Navy. It held 1 million bits on its magnetic drum, the earliest magnetic storage devices.

Drums registered information as magnetic pulses in tracks around a metal cylinder. Read/write heads both recorded and recovered the data.

Drums eventually stored as many as 4,000 words and retrieved any one of them in as little as five-thousandths of a second.

1953- Core memory first used 

At MIT, Jay Forrester installed magnetic core memory on the Whirlwind computer.

Core memory made computers more reliable, faster, and easier to make.

Such a system of storage remained popular until the development of semiconductors in the 1970s.

1954- First mass - produced computer

 The IBM 650 magnetic drum calculator established itself as the first mass-produced computer, with the company selling 450 in one year.

Spinning at 12,500 rpm, the 650´s magnetic data-storage drum allowed much faster access to stored material than drum memory machines.

1957- FORTRAN coding 

A new language, FORTRAN (short for FORmula TRANslator), enabled a computer to perform a repetitive task from a single set of instructions by using loops.

The first commercial FORTRAN program ran at Westinghouse, producing a missing comma diagnostic. A successful attempt followed.

1962- First interactive computer game

 MIT students Slug Russell, Shag Graetz, and Alan Kotok wrote SpaceWar!, considered the first interactive computer game.

First played at MIT on DEC´s PDP-1, the large-scope display featured interactive, shoot´em-up graphics that inspired future video games.

Dueling players fired at each other´s spaceships and used early versions of joysticks to manipulate away from the central gravitational force of a sun as well as from the enemy ship.

1964- First networked computers

  IBM announced the System/360, a family of six mutually compatible computers and 40 peripherals that could work together.

The initial investment of $5 billion was quickly returned as orders for the system climbed to 1,000 per month within two years.

1964- BASIC programming language

  Thomas Kurtz and John Kemeny created BASIC, an easy-to-learn programming language, for their students at Dartmouth College.

BASIC was the forerunner for the advanced programming languages in use today.

1967- LOGO invented 

 Seymour Papert designed LOGO as a computer language for children. Initially a drawing program, LOGO controlled the actions of a mechanical "turtle", which traced its path with pen on paper.

Electronic turtles made their designs on a video display monitor.

1969- First UNIX operating system

 UNIX combined many of the timesharing and file management features offered by Multics, from which it took its name.

Multics, a project of the mid1960s, represented the first effort at creating a multi-user, multi-tasking operating system.

1969- First computer controlled robot 

 Victor Scheinman´s Stanford Arm made a breakthrough as the first electrically powered, computer-controlled robot arm.

By 1974, the Stanford Arm could assemble a Ford Model T water pump, guiding itself with optical and contact sensors.

Scheinman went on to design the PUMA series of industrial robots for Unimation, robots used for automobile assembly and other industrial tasks.

1971- First email sent 

 The first e-mail is sent. Ray Tomlinson of the research firm Bolt, Beranek and Newman sent the first e-mail when he was supposed to be working on a different project.

Tomlinson, who is credited with being the one to decide on the "@" sign for use in e-mail, sent his message over a military network called ARPANET.

When asked to describe the contents of the first email, Tomlinson said it was “something like "QWERTYUIOP"”

1972- First modern video game

 Pong is released.

Nolan Bushnell hired young engineer Al Alcorn to design a car driving game, but when it became apparent that this was too ambitious for the time, he had Alcorn to design a version of ping-pong instead.

The game was tested in bars in Grass Valley and Sunnyvale, California where it proved very popular. Pong would revolutionize the arcade industry and launch the modern video game era.

1975- Microsoft are born 

In 1975, Bill Gates and Paul Allen form a partnership called Microsoft.

Like most start-ups, Microsoft begins small, but has a massive vision - a computer on every desktop and in every home.

During the coming years, Microsoft begins to change the ways we work.

Microsoft is now one of the biggest companies in the world.

1975- Betamax video standard introduced

A Betamax cassette

Betamax was a analogue videocassette which allowed the recording and playback of video. Betamax was developed by Sony and released in Japan on May 10th 1975.

The name 'Beta' comes from the fact that when the tape ran through the transport, it looked like the Greek letter beta (β). 'Max' was to suggest that the videocassette performed at maximum capability.

Later versions of Betamax could record and play video   at two different speeds - normal and half-speed (termed 'long play'). Normal speed recording allowed for 1 hour of content and half-speed allowed for over two hours.

The Betamax initially retailed for just over $1,000. 

1976- VHS video standard introduced 

A VHS cassette

 Video Home System (VHS) was developed in 1976 by the JVC company as a rival to Sony's Betamax. VHS cassettes could record and play video in two speeds (normal and long play) which provided two or four hours of recording time respectively.

In the late 1970's to the early 1980's, Betamax and VHS competed in what is now remembered as the 'videotape format war' where both products fought for dominance in the market.

Even though Betamax offered better video quality, VHS won the format war and Betamax became largely obsolete. Cheaper prices and longer recording times are considered the reasons as to why VHS outlived Betamax. 

1976- Apple are born 

Steve Wozniak designed the Apple I, a single-board computer. With specifications in hand and an order for 100 machines at $500 each from the Byte Shop, he and Steve Jobs got their start in business.

About 200 of the machines sold before the company announced the Apple II as a complete computer.

1977- Home gaming is born 

 Atari released the Atari Video Computer System (VCS) - later renamed the Atari 2600.

The VCS was the first widely successful video game system, selling more than twenty million units throughout the 1980s.

The VCS used the 8-bit MOS 6507 microprocessor and was designed to be connected to a home television set. When the last of Atari’s game consoles were made in 1990, more than 900 game titles had been released.

1980- First hard disk drive (HDD) 

Seagate Technology created the first hard disk drive for microcomputers, the ST506. The disk held 5 megabytes of data, five times as much as a standard floppy disk, and fit in the space of a floppy disk drive.

The hard disk drive itself is a rigid metallic platter coated on both sides with a thin layer of magnetic material that stores digital data.

Seagate quickly drew such big-name customers as Apple Computer and IBM. Within a few years, it had sold 4 million units.

1981- MS-DOS released 

  The MS-DOS (Microsoft Disk Operating System) basic software for the newly released IBM PC, established a long partnership between IBM and Microsoft, which Bill Gates and Paul Allen had founded only six years earlier.

1982- Commodore 64 released

Commodore introduces the Commodore 64.

The C64, as it was better known, sold for $595, came with 64KB of RAM and featured impressive graphics. Thousands of software titles were released over the lifespan of the C64.

By the time the C64 was discontinued in 1993, it had sold more than 22 million units and is recognized by the 2006 Guinness Book of World Records as the greatest selling single computer model of all time.

1984- Apple Macintosh launched

Apple Computer launched the Macintosh, the first successful mouse-driven computer with a graphical user interface, with a single $1.5 million commercial during the 1984 Super Bowl.

Based on the Motorola 68000 microprocessor, the Macintosh included many features at an affordable price of $2,500.

Applications that came as part of the package included MacPaint, which made use of the mouse, and MacWrite.

1986- Pixar is founded 

 Pixar is founded. Pixar was originally called the Special Effects Computer Group at Lucasfilm (launched in 1979).

The group created the computer animated segments of films such as “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.”

In 1986, Apple Computer co-founder Steve Jobs paid 10 million dollars to Lucasfilm to purchase the Group and renamed it Pixar. Over the next decade, Pixar made highly successful (and Oscar-winning) animated films. It was bought by Disney in 2006.

1988- First computer virus 

 Robert Morris´ worm flooded the ARPANET.

23-year-old Morris, the son of a computer security expert for the National Security Agency, sent a nondestructive worm through the Internet, causing problems for about 6,000 of the 60,000 hosts linked to the network.

Morris was sentenced to three years of probation, 400 hours of community
service, and a fine of $10,050.

1989- First simulator game

Maxis released SimCity, a video game that helped launch of series of simulators.

Maxis cofounder Will Wright built on his childhood interest in plastic models of ships and airplanes, eventually starting up a company with Jeff Braun and designing a computer program that allowed the user to create his own city.

A number of other Sims followed in the series, including SimEarth, SimAnt, and SimLife.

1990- World Wide Web is born 

The World Wide Web (www) was born when Tim Berners-Lee, a researcher at CERN, developed HyperText Markup Language.

HTML, as it is commonly known, allowed the Internet to expand into the World Wide Web, using specifications he developed such as URL (Uniform Resource Locator) and HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol).

A browser, such as Netscape or Microsoft Internet Explorer, follows links and sends a query to a server, allowing a user to view a site.

1990- Windows 3.0 is launched

 Microsoft shipped Windows 3.0 on May 22. Compatible with DOS programs, the first successful version of Windows finally offered good enough performance to satisfy PC users.

For the new version, Microsoft revamped the interface and created a design that allowed PCs to support large graphical applications for the first time.

Microsoft released Windows amid a $10 million publicity blitz.

1993- First Person Shooter games introduced (FPS)

“Doom” is released. id Software released Doom in late 1993.

An immersive first-person shooter-style game, Doom became popular on many different platforms before losing popularity to games like Halo and Counter-Strike.

Doom players were also among the first to customize the game’s levels and appearance. Doom would spawn several sequels and a 2005 film.

1993- First Graphical Internet Browser

 The Mosaic web browser is released. Mosaic was the first commercial software that allowed graphical access to content on the internet.

Mosaic was designed by Eric Bina and Marc Andreessen at the University of Illinois’s National Center for Supercomputer Application. Mosaic was originally designed for a Unix system running x—windows.

By 1994, Mosaic was available for several other operating systems such as the Mac OS, Windows and AmigaOS.

1994- Yahoo is founded 

 Yahoo is founded. Founded by Stanford graduate students Jerry Yang and David Filo, Yahoo started out as "Jerry's Guide to the World Wide Web" before being renamed.

Yahoo originally resided on two machines, Akebono and Konishiki, both named after
famous Sumo wrestlers.

Yahoo would quickly expand to become one of the Internet’s most popular search engines.

1996- The launch of Hotmail 

 Hotmail, founded by Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smith, is commercially launched on Independence Day in the United States, symbolically representing freedom from Internet service providers.

Hotmail is now owned and operated by Microsoft.

1998- Windows 98 released 

Microsoft released Windows 98. Some U.S. attorneys tried to block its release since the new O/S interlaces with other programs such as Microsoft Internet Explorer and so effectively closes the market of such software to other companies.

The main selling points of Windows '98 were its support for USB and its support for disk partitions greater than 2 GB.

1998- Google launched 

 Google began in January 1996 as a research project by Larry Page and Sergey Brin when they were both PhD students at Stanford University in California.

The domain name for Google was registered on September 15, 1997, and the company was incorporated on September 4, 1998.

In May 2011, unique visitors of Google surpassed 1 billion for the first time.

Operating revenue in 2010 exceeded $29 billion. 

2000- Playstation 2 launched 

Sony releases the Playstation 2.

The PS2 is the best-selling console of all time, having reached over 150 million units sold as of January 31, 2011. This milestone was reached 10 years and 11 months after the system was released in Japan on March 4, 2000.

Further, Sony said it had 10,828 titles available for the system and that 1.52 billion PS2 titles had been sold since launch.

 

2003- Apple opens their first iTunes store 

 The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple.

Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States.

On February 24, 2010, the store served its 10 billionth song download; this milestone was reached in just under seven years of being online.

2004- Facebook 

 Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook Inc.

Facebook was founded by Mark Zuckerberg with his college roommates and fellow computer science students Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes.

As of July 2011 Facebook has more than 800 million active users and a value of around 41 billion US dollars.

 

2005- YouTube is founded 

 YouTube was founded by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim, who were all early employees of PayPal.

The first YouTube video was entitled “Me at the zoo” , and shows founder Karim at the San Diego Zoo. The video was uploaded on April 23, 2005, and can still be viewed on the site.

In July 2006 the company announced that was receiving 100 million video views per day.

By May 2010 more than 14 billion videos had been viewed.

2007- First iPhone announced

Apple created the device at an estimated development cost of US $150 million over thirty months.

The iPhone went on sale in the United States on June 29, 2007, at 6:00 pm local time, while hundreds of customers lined up outside the stores nationwide.

On March 2, 2011, at the iPad 2 event, Apple announced that they have sold 100 million iPhones worldwide.

2009- Microsoft launch Windows 7 

 Windows 7 was released on October 22, 2009, less than three years after the release of its predecessor, Windows Vista.

It became the highest-grossing pre-order in Amazon's history, surpassing sales of the previous record holder, the seventh Harry Potter book.

As of June 23, 2010, Windows 7 had sold 150 million copies which made it the fastest selling operating system in history with seven copies sold every second.

by: Mark Joseph Bumagat






Nicholle, M.(n.d.)."Timeline of ICT and Technology (1939-Present Day)".The ICT Lounge.
             Retrieved 20 Jan. 2014 from http://www.ictlounge.com/html/timeline_of_ict.htm