Back to Introduction
Back to Introduction
Microcomputer History
This is a summary of the most important events associated with the microcomputer age. This is not a comprehensive history, but simply a listing of the important events that a computer literate person should know.
1971
* The Intel 4004, the first of the family of Intel microprocessors, was developed.
1974
* The Intel 8080, a descendant of the 4004, was developed. It would be used in the first microcomputer the following year.
1975
* The MITS Altair computer kit hit the market. This was the first microcomputer, based on the 8080 CPU, with 256 bytes (0.25 K) of RAM. You could assemble it yourself for $500 or buy it assembled for $2500. There was no monitor or keyboard; it took input by flipping switches on its toaster-sized case, and lights went on or off as a means of output.
* 19-year-old Bill Gates, along with his high school friend Paul Allen, developed a version of BASIC for the Altair 8080, the first microcomputer programming language.
* The MOS 6502, a competitor to the Intel chip, was developed.
1976
* Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak developed the Apple I microcomputer in their basement. Though it was a flop, its successor became the first popular home computer.
1977
* The Apple II hit the market. It had a monitor and keyboard, along with 16 K RAM and 16 K ROM, and was powered by the MOS 6502.
1978
* Apple added floppy disk drives to the Apple II.
1979
* The first popular microcomputer application software was released--WordStar for word processing, dBase for data management, and VisiCalc for speadsheets. These were the first major programs of interest to non-programmers. VisiCalc gave microcomputers a foothold in business.
* Intel released its 8088 chip, a successor to the 8086 from the previous year. The 8088 would run the first IBM PCs.
1980
* DOS, a PC operating system was developed. Microsoft, the company Bill Gates had built around mainly around his versions of BASIC, licensed DOS.
* The first LANs (Local Area Networks, for connecting computers over a small area) became available.
* Motorola developed its 68000 chip; four years later, it would appear in the most important competitor to the IBM PC.
1981
* The IBM PC, based on the 8088, running at 4.77 mHz with a 160K floppy disk drive, hit the market. MS-DOS 1.0/1.1 was issued with the PC.
* Xerox introduced the graphical user interface, with user-friendly icons, buttons, and menus, operated with a mouse. Although Xerox's computers never took off, the elements of the GUI would appear in Apple's Macintosh a few years later.
1982
* The 80286 CPU was the next chip in the Intel family. It could address up to 16 MB RAM.
* Compaq developed the first IBM PC clones.
1983
* The capacity of floppy disks was expanded to 360 K.
* The first hard disks, around 10 MB, appeared.
1984
* The Apple Macintosh became the first serious competitor to the IBM PC. Powered by the Motorola 68000, with 128 K RAM, and the first 3 1/2" disk drive (400 K). Unlike the DOS-based PC, the Mac offered a graphical user interface.
* Microsoft, realizing the advantage of the Mac GUI, sped up development of Windows, which offered a GUI for PCs; however, Windows would not make an impact on the market for several more years.
* The first laser printers, which allowed individuals to do professional-quality printing, were introduced.
1985
* With the advent of laser printers, desktop publishing programs made it easy for people to do their own professional printing. The first major program of this kind, PageMaker, probably saved the Macintosh from extinction. The GUI lent itself well to page layout, and printing professionals who were often computer novices found the GUI easy to use.
* IBM PCs, which had previously been limited to 640 K of RAM, could now address expanded memory.
* Intel released its 80386 CPU.
1986
* The 3 1/2" disks, introduced for Macintosh, were becoming popular. Microsoft supported them in their new version of DOS for PCs.
* Apple sued Microsoft, claiming its Windows operating system illegally copied the "look and feel" of the Macintosh. Microsoft threatened to stop development of its Macintosh products unless the lawsuit was dropped. The matter was never really resolved.
1987
* The Macintosh II was released, based on the Motorola 68020, with 1 MB RAM and a hard disk. It was the first serious professional Mac, with a color monitor as a separate component, rather than being included in the case with the CPU like previous Macs.
* VGA graphics appeared on IBM PCs.
1988
* The Macintosh II got a CPU upgrade, now powered by a Motorola 68030. It also came with a 68882 math coprocessor and 4 MB RAM.
1989
* Intel released its 80486 CPU, with a built-in math coprocessor and speeds of at least 25 mHz.
* DSHD (double-sided, high-density) floppy disks came on the market, offering a capacity of 1.4 MB (3 1/2") and 1.2 MB (5 1/4").
* There was a tremendous growth of e-mail as a form of communication.
* Several Macintosh models debuted, most notably the Mac Portable, with a 68000 CPU, 16 mHz, 4 MB RAM, and an LCD monochrome display. Within a couple of years the Portable would catch up with the Mac II line.
1990
* Microsoft released Windows 3.0. Though Windows had been around for seven years, DOS remained the operating system of choice for PCs until this point. With an improved interface and the ability to access extended memory, software vendors began writing versions of their programs for Windows.
* Motorola released its 68040 chip, to be used in later Macs.
1991
* Microsoft shipped DOS 5.0, a major improvement over former versions, with DOS and drivers loaded in high memory, a full screen editor (EDIT), DOSKEY to recall previous commands, support for more than 2 hard disks, unformat, undelete.
* The Macintosh PowerBooks let the portable Macs catch up with their full-sized brothers. They had a built-in hard disk, floppy drive, and fax/modem.
* Apple also released the Macintosh Quadra and Macintosh Centris, high-performance machines based on the Motorola 68040.
* Apple and IBM formed a partnership to begin development of a new CPU to be used in future computers; they envisioned it using RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computing) technology and being able to run both PC (DOS/Windows) and Mac programs.
1992
* Viruses spread. In 1988 there were five known viruses. In 1992 there were more than a thousand.
* Microsoft shipped Windows 3.1, fixing bugs and adding features. This version became the standard for PCs within a year.
1993
* Intel released its Pentium chip. Called the 80586 in early versions, Intel changed the name to Pentium because it couldn't copyright a number. Capable of up to 100 million instructions per second.
1994
* Fast modem connections (14400 bps and faster) allowed PCs to provide graphical user interfaces to the Internet. For example, Eudora gave graphical access to Internet e-mail, and Mosaic let users surf the World Wide Web and view multimedia presentations in a hypertext format.
* The Power Macintosh, the first computer based on the Power PC chip developed from the Apple/IBM partnership (see 1991), gave lightning-fast responses from "native" applications written specifically for the chip. With 16 MB, the Power Mac was capable of running Windows programs as well, although its performance was disappointing.
* IBM released OS/2 Warp, an operating system to compete with Windows. It offered a graphical user interface, multitasking, and easy access to the Internet.
1995
* Netscape became the tool of choice for PC and Mac users to access the Internet and the World Wide Web in particular, offering fast loading of data, the ability to launch external applications, and the ability to send mail and read newsgroups.
* Microsoft released Windows 95, with true multitasking, networking capability, and less dependence on DOS.