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Seagate ST-506
Until 1980 hard drives were massive. In 1980 Seagate Technologies created the ST-506, a hard disk drive scaled down to 5.25 inches. By 1983, hard drives had been scaled down again to 3.5 inches, a form factor still in use today. The ST-506 only offered 5MB of storage then, but it was small. -
IBM 5150 Personal Computer
Introduced in August of 1981, the 5150 was developed by IBM to compete against the Commodore PET, the Apple II, and the TRS-80 in the small computer market. Don Estridge and 12 IBM engineers designed the 5150 in around a year, and is the grandfather of the desktop PCs we see today. -
Flash Memory
Fujio Masuoka. an engineer with Toshiba, invented the idea of flash memory in 1984. By 1989 Toshiba released and implemented NAND flash memory. Flash memory has the ability to be used, erased, and reused again, and can be found in many applications today. -
Microsoft Windows 1.0
Microsoft Windows is the most widely used computer operating system today. Microsoft released the first version of Windows in 1985 to replace MS-DOS, which had a non-graphical user interface. Windows was designed to be user friendly. Windows 1.0 has since evolved into Windows 10. -
NAV1000
The DOD launched the first GPS satellite called NAVSTAR in 1978. Although originally for military use only, in 1983 the U.S. allowed for civilian use. Called the NAV1000, Magellan Navigation Inc developed and released the first commercial handheld GPS receiver in 1988. As a result, today we have detailed mapping and positioning for automobiles, aviation, scientific, and recreational use. -
World Wide Web
In 1980 Sir Tim Berners-Lee, a British computer scientist created Enquire, which connected computers together through an emerging technology called hypertext. In 1989 Sir Berners-Lee would envision and invent the World Wide Web, without which we would not have the modern conveniences we have now.
