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| History of computing |
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| Timeline of computing |
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This article presents a detailedtimeline of events in the history ofcomputing from 1990 to 1999. For narratives explaining the overall developments, see thehistory of computing.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1990 | Motorola releases the68040 capable of 35 MIPS and integrated a far superior FPU. The 68040 was included in some of the Apple Macintosh and Commodore Amiga lineup. |
| March 19 | Macintosh IIfx released. Based on a 40 MHz version of the 68030 it achieved 10MIPS. It also had a fasterSCSI adapter, which could transfer 3.0 Mbit/s. |
| May 22 | Introduction ofWindows 3.0 byMicrosoft.[1] It is a multitasking system that maintains compatibility withMS-DOS, allowing several MS-DOS tasks to be run at once on an 80386 or above. This created a real threat to the Macintosh and despite a similar product, IBM's OS/2, it was very successful. |
| June | Commodore releases theAmiga 3000, the first32-bit Amiga. It used aMotorola 68030 processor and the upgraded ECS chipset.Amiga OS 2.0 was released with the launch of the A3000, which exploited its 32-bit architecture. Later variants included the Amiga 3000UX, launched as a low end UNIX workstation, runningUNIX System V. The A3000T was the first Amiga to use atower form factor, which increased expansion potential. |
| October 1 | Microsoft Office released.[2] |
| October 15 | Macintosh Classic released,[3] an identical replacement to the Macintosh Plus of January 1986. Also came the Macintosh IIsi which ran a 68030 processor at 20 MHz to achieve 5.0MIPS, and also a 256 colour video adapter. |
| November 12 | Tim Berners-Lee submitted a proposal to the management atCERN which coined the termWorldWideWeb.[4] |
| November | Macintosh LC released. This ran a 68020 processor at 16 MHz to achieve 2.6MIPS, it had a slightly improved SCSI adapter and a 256 colour video adapter. |
| 1990 | Multimedia PC (MPC) Level 1 specification published by a council of companies including Microsoft and Creative Labs. This specified the minimum standards for a Multimedia IBM PC. The MPC level 1 specification originally required a 12 MHz80286 microprocessor, but this was later revised to require a 16 MHz80386SX microprocessor as the 80286 was realised to be inadequate. It also required aCD-ROM drive capable of 150 kB/s (single speed) and also of Audio CD output. Companies can, after paying a fee, use the MPC logo on their product. |
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1991 | Borland acquires Ashton-Tate Corporation and theDbase program. |
| 1991 | Phil Zimmermann releases thepublic keyencryption programPGP along with its source code, which quickly appears on the Internet. |
| March | Commodore release theCDTV, anAmiga multimedia appliance with CD-ROM drive but no floppy drive. |
| April 22 | The Intel 80486 SX is released as a cheaper alternative to 80486 DX, with the key difference being the lack of an integratedFPU. |
| May | Creative Labs introduces theSound Blaster Prosound card. |
| June | To promoteOS/2,Bill Gates took every opportunity after its release to say 'DOS is dead'; however, the development of DOS 5.0 led to the permanent dropping of OS/2 development. Unlike version 4, this version was properly tested through the distribution ofbeta versions to over 7,500 users.[This paragraph needs citation(s)] This version included the ability to load device drivers and TSR programs above the 640KiB boundary (into UMBs and the HMA), freeing more RAM for programs. This version marked the end of collaboration between Microsoft and IBM on DOS. |
| August | TheLinux kernel is born with the following post to the Usenet Newsgroup comp.os.minix byLinus Torvalds, a Finnish college student: "Hello everybody out there using minix- I'm doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won't be big and professional like gnu) for 386(486) AT clones."[5] Linux has become one of the most widely usedUnix-like operating system kernels in the world today. It originally only ran on Intel 386 processors, but years later added many different types of computers (now includes complete range from small tosupercomputers and IBM mainframes), including SunSPARC,DEC/Compaq Alpha, and manyARM,MIPS,PowerPC, andMotorola 68000 based computers. In 1992, theGNU project adopted the Linux kernel for use with GNU systems while they waited for the development of their own kernel,GNU Hurd, to be completed. The GNU project's aim is to provide a complete andfree Unix-like operating system, combining the Hurd or Linux kernel with a complete suite of free software to run on it. Torvalds changed the licence of the Linux kernel from one prohibiting commercial use to theGNU General Public License on February 1, 1992. |
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1992 | First 64-bitmicroprocessors; the first 64-bit variant ofMIPS, theMIPS R4000 was introduced in 1992 (announced October 1, 1991) and another major RISC microprocessor,DEC Alpha (no longer produced), was also introduced in 1992. Intel had introduced theIntel i860 RISC microprocessor in 1989, marketed as a "64-bit microprocessor", while it had essentially a 32-bit architecture (non-pure "32/64-bit"), enhanced with a 3D graphics unit capable of 64-bit. Computers with 64-bit registers (but not addressing, and not microprocessors) had appeared decades earlier, as far back asIBM 7030 Stretch (considered a failure) in 1962, and in theCray-1 supercomputer installed atLos Alamos National Laboratory in 1976. |
| 1992 |
|
| ? | Introduction ofCD-i launched byPhilips.[6] |
| 1992 | ThePowerPC 601, developed by IBM, Motorola and Apple Computer, was released. This was the first generation ofPowerPC processors. |
| 1992 | The last "luggable" computer of theCompaq Portable series, theCompaq Portable 486, was released. |
| 1992 | IBMThinkPad 700C laptop created. It was lightweight compared to its predecessors.[7] |
| March | First release of386BSD: the first fully operational Unix operating system to be completely free and open source, and to be able to ran on PC-compatible computer systems based on the32-bitIntel 80386 ("i386"). |
| April | Introduction ofWindows 3.1[8] |
| May | Wolfenstein 3D released byid Software[9] |
| June | Sound Blaster 16 ASP introduced byCreative Labs. |
| October | Commodore International releases theAmiga 1200 andAmiga 4000. Both machines included the improvedAdvanced Graphics Architecture chipset. The 1200 had a 14 MHz 68020 processor; the 4000 had a 25 MHz 68040. |
| November 10 | Digital Equipment Corporation introduces theAlpha AXP architecture and the Alpha-basedDEC 3000 AXP workstations,DEC 4000 AXP departmental servers and theDEC 7000 AXP enterprise servers. |
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| January 23 | Mosaic graphical web browser launched.[10][11] |
| 1993 | Commercial providers were allowed to sell Internet connections to individuals. Many people began using the Internet, especially with the new interface provided by the World-Wide Web (see 1989) andNCSA Mosaic. |
| 1993 | Release of the first version ofELOQUENS, atext-to-speech commercial software, fromCSELT.[12] |
| 1993 | The first web magazine,The Virtual Journal, is published but fails commercially. |
| 1993 | Novell purchasesDigital Research;DR DOS becomes Novell DOS. |
| 1993 | TheMP3 file format was published. This sound format later became the most common standard for music on PCs and laterdigital audio players.[13] |
| March | Microsoft introduces MS-DOS 6.0, includingDoubleSpace disk compression. |
| March 22 | Intel releases theP5-basedPentium processor, 60 and 66 MHz versions. It has over 3.1 million transistors and can achieve up to 100 MIPS.John H. Crawford co-managed the design of the P5;[14] Donald Alpert managed the architectural team;[15] andVinod K. Dham headed the P5 group.[16] |
| May | MPC Level 2 specification introduced (see November 1990). This was designed to allow playback of a 15 frames per second video in a 320x240 pixel window. The key difference from MPC level 1 is the requirement of a CD-ROM drive capable of 300 kB/s (double speed). Products are also required to be tested by the MPC council, making MPC Level 2 compatibility a stamp of certification. |
| June | Severe Tire Damage made the first live music performance on the Internet, usingMBone technology. |
| July 27 | Microsoft released theWindows NT 3.1 operating system that supported 32-bit programs. |
| December 10 | Doom was released byid Software. ThePC began to be considered as a serious games-playing machine, reinforced by the earlier release in November ofSam & Max Hit the Road. |
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1994 | Several major PC games are released, such asCommand & Conquer,Alone in the Dark 2,Theme Park,Magic Carpet,Descent andLittle Big Adventure. Other, less significant releases for the PC includedStar Trek: The Next Generation: A Final Unity,Full Throttle andTerminal Velocity. This success of the PC as a games platform was partly due to and partly a cause of significantly increased PC ownership among the general public during the early–mid 1990s. This also reflected the rapidly increasing quality of games available for the PC. |
| 1994 | Peter Shor devises an algorithm which letsquantum computers determine the factorization of large integers quickly. This is the first interesting problem for which quantum computers promise a significant speed-up, and it therefore generates a lot of interest in quantum computers. |
| 1994 | DNA computingproof of concept on toytravelling salesman problem; a method for input/output still to be determined.[17] |
| 1994 | Motorola released the68060 processor. |
| 1994 | Adobe Photoshop 3.0 graphics editing software released.[7] |
| June | Microsoft releases MS-DOS 6.22, containing disk compression under the nameDriveSpace after settling a dispute withStac over their compression program, Stacker. Microsoft had removed DoubleSpace from MS-DOS 6.21 in February after a jury found them guilty of patent infringement, and a judge later ordered Microsoft to recall all unsold infringing products worldwide. MS-DOS 6.22 was the last standalone version of MS-DOS released. |
| March 7 | Intel released Pentium processor, 90 and 100 MHz versions. |
| March 14 | Linus Torvalds released version 1.0 of theLinux kernel. |
| April 29 | Commodore International declares bankruptcy. Commodore's assets were eventually sold to German PC manufacturerESCOM in 1995. |
| August | IBM releases theIBM Simon a forerunner to thesmartphone. |
| September | PC DOS 6.3 is released, essentially the same as version 5.0; this release by IBM included more bundled software, such as Stacker and anti-virus software. |
| October 10 | Intel releases thePentium processor, 75 MHz version.[18] |
| December 1994 | Netscape Navigator 1.0 web browser released.[7] It was written as an alternative to NCSA Mosaic. |
| December 3 | Sony releases its firstPlayStation console in Japan; to date, over 100 million units have been sold. |
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| ? | Jaz drive removable hard disk storage introduced.[19] |
| ? | Zip drive removable floppy disk storage introduced.[19] |
| March 1995 | Linus released Linux Kernel v1.2.0 (Linux 95). |
| March 27, 1995 | Intel released Pentium processor, 120 MHz version. |
| May 23, 1995 | Sun Microsystems first announcesJava at the SunWorld conference. |
| June 1, 1995 | Intel released Pentium processor, 133 MHz version. |
| August 24, 1995 | Microsoft releasesWindows 95, replacing Windows 3.1 with a pre-emptively multitasked 32-bit operating system that integrated MS-DOS and Windows. |
| October 3, 1995 | Be Inc. launch theBeBox, featuring twoPowerPC 603 processors running at 66 MHz, and running their new operating systemBeOS. |
| November 1, 1995 | Intel released Pentium Pro, 150, 166, 180, and 200 MHz versions, on one day. It was the first product based on theP6 microarchitecture, later used in the Pentium II, III, M, and Core processors. It achieves 440MIPS and contains 5.5 million transistors; this is nearly 2,400 times as many as the first microprocessor, the 4004; and capable of 70,000 times as many instructions per second. |
| November 6, 1995 | 3dfx releases Voodoo, the first consumer 3D accelerator, able to render scenes in real time and in high resolution. GLQuake (anOpenGL port ofQuake) is the first popular game using this new technology. Other games soon follow, including Tomb Raider. |
| December 1995 | JavaScript development announced byNetscape. |
| December 21, 1995 | First public release of theRuby programming language (version 0.95) |
| December 28, 1995 | CompuServe blocked access to over 200 sexually explicitUsenet newsgroups, partly to avoid confrontation with the German government. Access to all but five groups was restored on February 13, 1996. |
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1996 | Nokia released theNokia 9000, the first of Nokia's smartphones.[20] |
| 1996 | Quake released – representing the dramatic increases in both software and hardware technology sinceDoom, of three years prior.[21] Other notable releases includedCivilization 2,Tomb Raider,[22]Command & Conquer: Red Alert[23] andGrand Prix Manager 2.[24] On the more controversial frontBattlecruiser 3000AD was also released, but its advertising had to be censored. |
| January | Netscape Navigator 2.0 released. First browser to supportJavaScript. |
| Windows 95 OSR2 (OEM System Release 2) was released – partly to fix bugs found in release 1 – but only to computer retailers for sale with new systems. There were actually two separate releases of Windows 95 OSR2 before the introduction of Windows 98, the second of which contained both USB and FAT32 support – the main selling points of Windows 98. FAT32 is a new filing system that provides support for disk partitions bigger than 2.1 GB and is better at coping with large disks (especially in terms of wasted space). | |
| January 4 | Intel released Pentium processor, 150 and 166 MHz versions. |
| April 17 | Toshiba released theLibretto sub-notebook. With a volume of 821.1 cm3 and a weight of just 840 g, it was the smallestPC compatible computer to be released at that time. |
| June 9 | Linux 2.0 released and it was a significant improvement over the earlier versions: it was the first to support multiple architectures (originally developed for the Intel 386 processor, it now supported Digital's Alpha architecture and would very soon support the SPARC architecture, and many others). It was also the first stable kernel to support SMP, kernel modules, and much more. |
| July 4 | Hotmail, founded bySabeer Bhatia andJack Smith, is commercially launched onIndependence Day in the United States, symbolically representingfreedom fromInternet service providers. (Hotmail is now owned and operated byMicrosoft; it is rebranded asOutlook.com in 2013.) |
| July 14 | The first public release ofOpera, version 2.1 for Windows.[25] |
| September 23 | Audio Highway announced the Listen Up player, the firstMP3digital audio player.[26] It was later released in September 1997. |
| October 6 | Intel releases a 200 MHz version of the Pentium processor. |
| November | Telecom Italia released TIM Card, the first prepaid card for cellular phones in the world; designed byCSELT. |
| December | id Software releases QuakeWorld, a version of Quake designed for Internet multiplayer games. Several innovative[citation needed] features such as movement prediction make the game playable even over low-speed and high-latency Internet connections. |
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| ? | Tim Berners-Lee awarded the Institute of Physics' 1997 Duddell Medal for inventing the World Wide Web (see 1989). |
| ? | Grand Theft Auto andQuake 2 were released while Lara Croft returned inTomb Raider II. As standards for graphics kept increasing, 3D graphics cards were beginning to become mandatory for game players. |
| January 8 | Intel released Pentium MMX, 166 and 200 MHz versions. ItsMMX instruction set is designed to increase performance when running multimedia applications. |
| May 7 | Intel releases thePentium II processor, 233, 266, and 300 MHz versions. It has a larger on-chip cache and expanded instruction set. |
| May 11 | IBM'sDeep Blue became the first computer to beat a reigning World Chess Champion,Garry Kasparov, in a full chess match. The computer had played him before, losing 5/6 games in February 1996. |
| June 2 | Intel released Pentium MMX, 233 MHz version. |
| August 6 | After 18 months of lossesApple Computer was in serious financial trouble. Microsoft invested in Apple, buying 100,000 non-voting shares worth $150 million; many Apple owners disapproved. One condition was that Apple would drop the long-runningcourt case; attempting to sue Microsoft for copying the look and feel of their operating system when designing Windows. |
| September | Internet Explorer 4.0 was released. |
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| January | Compaq Computer Corporation announces pending acquisition ofDigital Equipment Corporation for $9.6 billion. |
| February | Intel released the 333 MHz Pentium II processor. Code-named Deschutes, they used the new 0.25 micrometre manufacturing process, so they can run faster and generate less heat. |
| March | Be Inc. releasedBeOS R3. This was the first BeOS version available forx86 PCs andPower Macs. |
| May | Apple announces theiMac, an all-in-one with integral 15 inch (381 mm) multiscan monitor, 24× CD-ROM, 2× available USB ports, 56 kbit/smodem, two stereo speakers, and Ethernet, but no floppy drive. It was encased in translucentBondi Blue and Ice plastic. Quantity shipping began in August. Designed byJonathan Ive, it was the model that enabled Apple to become profitable again.[citation needed] |
| June 25 | Microsoft releasedWindows 98.[27] Some U.S. attorneys tried to block its release since the new OS interfaces with other programs, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer, and so effectively closes the market of such software to other companies. Microsoft has fought back with a letter to the White House suggesting that 26 of its industry allies say that a delay in the release of the new OS could damage the U.S. economy. The main selling points of Windows 98 were its support for USB and its support for disk partitions greater than 2 GB with FAT32 (although FAT32 was actually released with Windows 95 OSR2). |
| September | UpstarteMachines announces two home PCs priced at $399 and $499, creating the sub-$600 market and launching a price war. Within four months, the new company becomes the No. 5 computer maker at retail. |
| Date | Event | |
|---|---|---|
| January 25 | Linux Kernel 2.2.0 is released. The number of people running Linux is estimated at over 10 million, making it an important operating system in the Unix market, and increasingly so in the PC market. | |
| February 22 | AMD releases a K6-III clocked at 400 MHz and a 450 MHz version forOEMs. It contains about 23 million transistors, and requires motherboards using aSuper Socket 7. It supports a 100 MHz front side bus (FSB), an improvement over AMD's prior chips that used a 66 MHz FSB. The use of a 100 MHz FSB brought technical equivalence with the 100 MHz FSB used on the Intel Pentium II. | |
| August 31 | Apple releases thePower Mac G4.[28] It is powered by thePowerPC G4 chip from Motorola. Available in 400 MHz, 450 MHz and 500 MHz versions, Apple claimed it as the first personal computer to be capable of over one billion floating-point operations per second. | |
| October 11 | Nvidia releases Geforce 256, claiming to be the first consumer level Graphics Processor Unit with Transform and Lighting Engine. | |
| November 29 | AMD releases anAthlon clocked at 750 MHz. |
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