Computer History Project

Z1

Jan 1, 1938

LinkThe Z1 was designed as a mechanical calculator driven by binary. It had limited programmibility, reading instructions from punched tape.

First Video Game

Jan 1, 1947

LinkThe Cathode ray tube amusement device is recognized as the first video game. It used a cathode ray tube to aim at a plane in time by turning knobs.

ENIAC

Jul 29, 1947

LinkElectronic Numerical Integrator And Computer, developed by University of Pennsylvania. It was a big as a room and cost $500,000.

701 Invented

Jan 1, 1956

LinkThe IBM 701 was IBM's first comercial scientific computer. It used electrostatic storage, and used punchcards for input and output.

ARPANET

Jan 1, 1969

LinkARPANET was the world's first operational packet switching network. It was the precursor to today's internet. It was funded by the Department of Defense.

Tymnet

Jan 1, 1972

LinkTymnet was an international network used to connect computers all over the world. It hosetd computers for thousands of large companies, educational institutions, and government agencies.

Apple I

Apr 11, 1976

LinkThe Apple I was designed and hand-built by Steve Wozniak. The introductory price was $666.66 because Steve liked repeating numbers.

MS-DOS

Jan 1, 1982

LinkMS-DOS is an operating system for x86-based computers. It was the most commonly used of the DOS operating systems.

Macintosh 128K

Jan 24, 1984

LinkTha Macintosh 128K, released as the "Apple Macintosh", is the original Apple Personal Computer. It was released with a 9 inch monitor, keyboard, and mouse. It had a starting price of $2,495, which was cheap, considering the same machine would have cost $10,000 a decade before.

Windows 3.0

May 22, 1990

LinkWindows 3.0, a graphical enviornment, was the third major release from Mircosoft. It was the first widley successful version of Mircosoft and was a rival to the Apple Macintosh.

Windows 95

Aug 24, 1995

LinkWindows 95 was the 4th major OS release from Microsoft. It was a consumer-oriented GUI-based OS. It integrated MS-DOS and other seperate Microsoft programs.

Windows XP

Oct 25, 2001

LinkWindows XP is a OS created by Microsoft for use on personal computers. It is the 2nd most popular version of Windows, based on installed user base.

Windows Vista

Nov 30, 2006

LinkWIndows Vista is the 6th Major OS realease from Microsoft, which was considered to be a flop. It had many security issues and was criticized for having high requirements.

Windows 7

Jul 22, 2009

LinkWindows 7 is the current release of Windows, which is the 7th major OS release from Microsoft. It is much more focused than Windows Vista, which is often criticized for security reasons.

IPv6

Jun 6, 2012

LinkIPv6 is the latest version of the IP adress, solving the problem proposed by IPv4. IPv4 could only have 4,294,967,296 unique addresses worldwide, while IPv6 allows for around 4.8×1028 addresses per person, a number unlikely to ever run out.