Computer history - 1980 - 1990

Year	Event
1980	On January 3, Hewlett Packard introduces its HP-85. A microcomputer with 16kB of RAM and a 5-inch CRT display.
1980	John Mauchly passes away January 8, 1980 (Age: 73)
1980	IBM introduces RISC.
1980	IBM hires Paul Allen and Bill Gates to create an operating system for a new PC. The pair buy the rights to a simple operating system manufactured by Seattle Computer Products and use it as a template. IBM allows the two to keep the marketing rights to the operating system, called DOS.
1980	IBM hires Microsoft to develop versions of BASIC, FORTRAN, COBOL, and Pascal for the PC being developed by IBM.
1980	Rambus if founded.
1980	The Learning Company is founded.
1980	Micro Solutions is founded.
1980	Microsoft licenses Unix and starts to develop a PC version, XENIX.
1980	Integrated Device Technology is founded.
1980	The programming language FORTRAN 77 is created.
1980	The first Tandy Color computer is introduced.
1980	AST is founded.
1980	FASA Corporation is founded.
1980	Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back is released May 21, 1980.
1980	Steve Ballmer joins Microsoft on June 11, 1980, and became Microsoft's 30th employee, the first business manager hired by Bill Gates.
1980	Atari becomes the first company to register a Copyright for two computer games "Asteroids" and "Lunar Landar" on June 17, 1980.
1980	FIC is founded.
1980	Iomega is established.
1980	Quantum is founded.
1980	Harman is founded.
1980	Microtek is founded October 23, 1980.
1980	ARPANET experiences first major network crash causing it to go down for four hours October 27, 1980.
1980	Shawn Fanning is born November 22, 1980.
1981	Jeff Dailey, a 19-year old becomes the first person to die from computer gaming after dying from a heart attack after posting a score of 16,660 on Berzerk.
1981	Cali Lewis is born January 25, 1981.
1981	SuperSpeed is founded.
1981	Satya Pal Asija receives the first U.S. patent for a computer software program May 26, 1981.
1981	DFI is founded.
1981	Creative Technology is founded July 1, 1981.
1981	Diskeeper is founded on July 22, 1981.
1981	Microsoft buys the rights for QDOS from Seattle Computer Products (SCP) for $25,000 on July 27, 1981.
1981	MS-DOS 1.0 was released August, 1981.
1981	American National Standards Institute more commonly known as ANSI was founded.
1981	IBM joins the computer race by announcing the IBM Personal Computer on August 12, 1981, which runs the new MS-DOS operating system and has a starting price of $1,565.
1981	APC is founded.
1981	Weitek is founded.
1981	Kermit is developed at the Columbia University in New York
1981	Xerox introduces the graphical Star workstation. This computer greatly influences the development of Apples future computer models, Lisa and Macintosh, as well as Microsoft's Windows.
1981	VHDL is proposed and begins development.
1981	Virgin Interactive is founded.
1981	VMEbus is developed.
1981	Hayes Introduces the Smartmodem 300 with its standard setting AT command set and an operating speed of 300 bits per second.
1981	Adam Osborne introduces the Osborne I, the first successful portable computer, which weighs 25 pounds.
1981	Hewlett-Packard Superchip the first 32-bit chip is introduced.
1981	Commodore ships the VIC-20, which later becomes the worlds most popular computer costing only $299.95.
1981	Logitech is founded in Apples, Switzerland.
1981	Adaptec is founded.
1981	BITNET is founded.
1981	Progress Software is founded.
1981	Gemlight is founded.
1981	Hayes releases the Smartmodem 1200 with transfer rates of 1,200 bits per second.
1981	CTX is established.
1981	IBM joins the computer race by introducing IBM 5150 PC that used the 4.77-MHz Intel 8088 processor, 16 kB base memory, and PC-DOS (MS-DOS) for the OS.
1981	Kensington is founded.
1981	Jolie O’dell is born September 16, 1981.
1981	WYSE is founded.
1981	MG Siegler is born November 2, 1981.
1982	Ben Silbermann is born in 1982.
1982	Peter Norton creates Norton Utilities.
1982	Sony releases its first Trinitron monitor.
1982	Sigma Designs is founded.
1982	SGI is founded.
1982	Signal Technology is founded.
1982	The Intel 80286 is introduced February 1, 1982.
1982	Maxtor is founded.
1982	SyQuest Technology is founded.
1982	MidWest Micro is founded.
1982	Hercules is founded.
1982	Labtec is founded.
1982	Disney releases the movie Tron on July 9, 1982, the first movie to use computer generated special effects.
1982	Number Nine is founded.
1982	Symantec is founded.
1982	Jack Kilby is inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
1982	Microsoft releases FORTRAN for the PC COBOL for MS-DOS, and Multiplan for the Apple II and CP/M machines.
1982	Microsoft establishes a subsidiary in England to begin foreign sales efforts.
1982	WordPerfect Corporation introduces WordPerfect 1.0 a word processing program that will become one of the computer markets most popular word processing program.
1982	The first luggable computer is introduced.
1982	Sun is incorporated in February 1982, with four employees.
1982	MicroProse founded.
1982	Autodesk is established.
1982	Lotus Development Corporation is founded.
1982	Compaq Computer Corp. is founded by Rod Canion and other Texas Instruments Incorporated engineers. Compaq is the first company to introduce a clone of the IBM PC (the Compaq Portable in 1983) and become IBMs biggest challenger in the corporate market.
1982	Orchid Technology is founded.
1982	The Commodore 64 an 8-bit computer with 64 kilobytes of memory and Commodore BASIC begins to be sold.
1982	ENSONIQ is founded.
1982	Diamond Multimedia is founded.
1982	Electronic Arts (EA) is founded May 28, 1982.
1982	LucasArts is founded.
1982	The movie Blade Runner is released June 25, 1982.
1982	Ryan Block is born June 25, 1982.
1982	Veronica Belmont is born July 21, 1982.
1982	A Philips factory in Germany creates the world's first compact disc August 17, 1982.
1982	The HX-20 becomes the first notebook-sized portable computer is introduced by Epson.
1982	MS-DOS version 1.25 is released.
1982	Apple Computer is the first personal computer manufacturer to hit the $1 billion mark for annual sales.
1982	Adobe is founded.
1982	Professor Scott Fahlman creates a post on bulletin board mention the idea of using a series of characters to represent a smiley face and frown face that later became known as emoticons.
1982	BTC is founded.
1982	Sony begins selling the first Audio CD players October 1, 1982.
1982	The XT bus is introduced.
1982	Rich Skrenta a 15-year old high school student creates the first known computer virus known as The Elk Cloner.
1982	The first permanent artificial heart is implanted into Barney Clark December 2, 1982.
1982	AutoCAD is introduced in December 1982.
1983	Lotus 1-2-3, a spreadsheet program is introduced January 26, 1983.
1983	Borland is founded.
1983	Mindscape is founded.
1983	Chicony is founded.
1983	Intuit is founded by Scott Cook and Tom Proulx.
1983	Apple releases the Lisa computer, the first commercial computer with a GUI.
1983	The IBM XT is first introduced on March 8, 1983.
1983	The first Apple WWDC is held.
1983	Compaq introduces the first 100% IBM compatible computer the "Compaq Portable" in March of 1983.
1983	PC World magazine first appears on newstands March 1983.
1983	John Scully becomes CEO of Apple on April 8, 1983.
1983	BSD 4.2 is released and introduces pseudo terminals.
1983	Zoran is founded.
1983	The movie Wargames is released June 3, 1983.
1983	Paul Allen leaves Microsoft.
1983	Iomega introduces the Bernoulli drive.
1983	The TIME magazine nominates the personal computer as the "machine of the year" December 26,1982, the first non-human ever nominated.
1983	The 414s, a group of hackers are caught by the FBI.
1983	Belkin is founded.
1983	Interplay is founded.
1983	Ultima Electronics Corp. (Artec) is founded.
1983	Novell introduces Netware.
1983	The Apple IIe is introduced. The computer contains 64 kilobytes of RAM one megahertz 6502 processor and running Applesoft BASIC and sells for $1,400.
1983	ARPANET standardizes TCP/IP.
1983	Tandy, Epson and NEC all sell notebook computers however only the Tandys model 100 becomes popular because of its low price of $499.
1983	THX is established.
1983	More than 10 million computers are in use in the United States.
1983	Cabletron Systems is founded.
1983	MS-DOS 2.0 was released March, 1983.
1983	Alexis Ohanian is born April 24, 1983.
1983	Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi is released May 25, 1983.
1983	Wacom is founded July 12, 1983.
1983	True BASIC is created and is a compiled, structured language. It doesn't require line numbers, as the original BASIC did, and includes the advanced control structures necessary for structured programming.
1983	Macrovision is founded.
1983	The QIC Standard becomes the first standard in the computer history for tape drives.
1983	Soviet jets shoot down a civilian Korean Air Lines Flight 007 flying from New York to Seoul and kill all 269 passengers and crew. As a result of this mistake President Ronald Regan orders the U.S. military to make Global Positioning System (GPS) available for civilian use.
1983	The GNU operating system is first announced by Richard Stallman September 27, 1983.
1983	IAB is founded in 1983.
1983	IBM announces the PCjr (PC junior) computer November 1, 1983.
1983	Genius is founded November 3, 1983.
1983	Microsoft Windows was announced November 10, 1983.
1983	The largest BBS Exec-PC goes online November 28, 1983.
1984	The AT&T company we know today officially starts, expiring the famous Bell logo January 1, 1984.
1984	Docutel/Olivetti introduce the Olivetti PC, compatible with the IBM PC on January 3, 1984.
1984	On January 4th Netherlands Antilles issues a 45-cent postage stamp of a computer making a newspaper.
1984	The now famous Apple "1984" commercial is aired during Super Bowl XVIII January 22, 1984.
1984	Quantex is founded.
1984	On January 24, 1984 the Apple Macintosh is introduced.
1984	Hitachi announces it has developed the first memory chip capable of holding 1MB on January 5th.
1984	Albatron is founded.
1984	IBM's AT computer is introduced.
1984	The MUD was known as MAD becomes the first global MUD and runs across BITNET.
1984	IBM PC Division (PCD) introduces its first portable computer, the IBM Portable weighing in at 30 pounds.
1984	Prodigy is founded.
1984	Justine Ezarik is born March 20, 1984.
1984	Microsoft creates a new hardware and peripheral division March 29, 1984.
1984	ESS Technologies is founded.
1984	Mark Zuckerberg is born May 14, 1984.
1984	The game Tetris is first released in the USSR June 6, 1984.
1984	Guillemot is founded.
1984	Amiga is purchased by Commodore Business Machines on August 15th.
1984	Primax is founded.
1984	Artecon is founded.
1984	NTI is founded.
1984	Egghead Software is founded.
1984	Bill Gates is featured on the cover of TIME magazine.
1984	Atmel is founded.
1984	ASN.1 is first defined.
1984	The 3.5-inch floppy diskette is introduced and later becomes an industry standard.
1984	Dell Computer is founded May 3, 1984 in Austin Texas.
1984	Dustin Moskovitz is born May 22, 1984.
1984	Fox Software FoxBASE is introduced.
1984	Paul Mockapetris and Jon Postel introduce DNS.
1984	The now famous Apple commercial is shown during the Super Bowl, the commercial introduces the Apple Macintosh, a computer with graphical user interface instead of needing to type in commands. In six months sales of the computer reach 100,000.
1984	Apple AppleTalk networking protocol is introduced.
1984	Dhrystone is developed.
1984	IBM develops EGA.
1984	The computer Museum opens in downtown Boston.
1984	Microsoft introduces MS-DOS 3.0 for the IBM PC AT and MS-DOS 3.1 for networks.
1984	The Tandy 1000 personal computer is introduced and becomes the best-selling IBM-compatible computer of the year.
1984	IBM introduces the Enhanced Graphics Adapter (EGA) video card with higher resolution, more colors, and a quicker response then previous video cards.
1984	University of Southern California professor Fred Cohen creates alarm when he warns the public about computer viruses in his Computer Virus - Theory and Experiments paper.
1984	The term cyberspace is first used and coined by William Gibson in his book Neuromancer.
1984	Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak are awarded the National Medal of Technology
1984	The beginning of the greatest adventure computer gaming series is released by Sierra. Kings Quest 1: Quest for the crown is released to the public.
1984	The Yellow book of CD-ROM standards is written.
1984	The original Terminator movie is released October 26, 1984.
1984	SETI is founded November 20, 1984.
1984	Cisco is founded.
1984	Cirrus is established.
1984	ISA is expanded to 16-bit capability.
1984	Helmut Schreyer passes away December 12, 1984 (Age: 72)
1985	The WELL is founded in February 1985 by Stewart Brand and Larry Brilliant.
1985	On January 4th at CES, Commodore introduces the Commodore 128 PC with 8502 processor 128 kB of RAM and ROM cartridge port.
1985	Ontrack is founded.
1985	AMI is Established by S. Shankar in 1985.
1985	On January 4th at CES, Atari introduces the Atari 130XE, 130ST, 260ST, 520ST, 65XE, 65XEM, and 65XEP computers.
1985	The first Internet domain name symbolics.com is registered by Symbolics, a Massachusetts computer company on March 15, 1985.
1985	Charles Hamblin passes away May 14, 1985.
1985	The GNU manifesto is published by Dr. Dobb's Journal
1985	Software Arts assets are sold to Lotus. Software Arts is most well known for its VisiCalc program.
1985	The Amiga aka A1000 is introduced..
1985	Westwood Studios is founded.
1985	The first Gamepad is introduced by Nintendo.
1985	PNY Technologies is founded.
1985	Dell releases its first computer, the "Turbo PC."
1985	Titus Interactive is founded.
1985	Microtek introduces the world's first 300-dpi black-and-white sheetfed scanner.
1985	Quantum Computer Services is founded, this company later becomes AOL.
1985	Microsoft and IBM begin collaboration on the next-generation operating system (OS/2).
1985	The computer company Gateway 2000 is founded in Siox City, Iowa on September 5, 1985.
1985	Alliance Semiconductor is founded.
1985	CAT1 wiring is introduced.
1985	NeXT is founded.
1985	Intel introduces the 80386 in October.
1985	Digi is founded.
1985	Turtle Beach Systems is founded.
1985	Soyo is founded.
1985	Systemax is founded.
1985	Exabyte is founded.
1985	Novalogic is founded.
1985	Sophos is founded.
1985	Paul Brainerd of Aldus Corporation introduces Pagemaker for the Macintosh, a program that lets users mix type and graphics on the same page. The combination of this software and the new Apple LaserWriter laser printer helps create the desktop publishing field.
1985	The Mach Project begins at the Carnegie Mellon University.
1985	IBM develops NetBEUI.
1985	Microsoft Windows 1.0 is introduced in November, 1985 and is initially sold for $100.00.
1985	ATI is founded.
1985	DriveSavers is founded.
1985	Microsoft releases first version of QuickBASIC on August 18, 1985.
1985	Steve Jobs quits Apple September 16, 1985.
1985	Boca is established.
1985	IBM introduces the Baby AT motherboard form factor.
1985	Corel is founded.
1985	The first C++ reference guide is published by Bjarne Stoustrup October 14, 1985.
1985	The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is released in North America October 18, 1985.
1985	Microsoft releases the first version of Microsoft Excel on the Apple Macintosh November 30, 1985.
1985	Gravis is founded.
1986	The Hacker Manifesto is published in Phrack (Volume One, Issue 7, Phile 3 of 10) on January 8, 1986.
1986	The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is formed January 16, 1986.
1986	The space shuttle Challenger explodes January 28, 1986 during take off, resulting in the death of the seven crew members.
1986	MSI is founded.
1986	D-Link is founded in March of 1986.
1986	Beny Alagem buys the Packard Bell name from Teledyne and starts the Packard Bell computer company.
1986	The term vaporware is first used by Philip Elmer-DeWitt in a TIME magazine article.
1986	Gigabyte is founded.
1986	Chaintech is founded in November 1986.
1986	Amptron is founded.
1986	Antec is founded.
1986	Pixar is co-founded by Steve Jobs.
1986	Apple introduces the Mac Plus. The computer contained one megabyte of RAM, new keyboard that contained cursors and numeric keypad and sold for $2,600.
1986	The AT or 101 key keyboard is introduced by IBM.
1986	Compaq introduces the first 386-based PC compatible computer.
1986	Bethesda Softworks is founded.
1986	Mustang is founded.
1986	PKWARE is founded.
1986	The NCSA opens.
1986	Microsoft is listed on the New York Stock Exchange selling shares to the public at $21 each, making Bill Gates one of the worlds youngest billionaires.
1986	More than 30 million computers are in use in the United States.
1986	JVC is founded.
1986	BIOSTAR is founded.
1986	Leadtek is founded.
1986	Codemasters is founded.
1986	Heinz Nixdor passes away March 17, 1986 (Age: 61)
1986	SBS Technologies is founded.
1986	The domain ibm.com comes online March 19, 1986.
1986	MS-DOS 3.2 was released April, 1986.
1986	IBM becomes the first company to use a one megabit chip in the IBM Model 3090.
1986	IMAP is developed by Stanford University.
1986	Eric Thomas develops the first Listserv.
1986	NSFNET is created.
1986	BITNET II is created.
1986	IBM PC Division (PCD) announces it's first laptop computer, the PC Convertible, weighing 12 pounds, which is 18 pounds lighter than the earlier portable computer.
1986	CD-i format is specified.
1986	Paradise Systems is founded.
1986	Tandy announces the Color Computer 3 July 30, 1986.
1986	Aztech is established.
1986	Ubisoft is founded.
1986	Avid is established.
1986	Vintech is founded.
1986	Unisys is founded in September of 1986.
1987	Steve Wozniak ends his employment with Apple on February 6, 1987.
1987	The domain apple.com comes online February 19, 1987.
1987	The AdLib sound card and first mass market PC sound card is released.
1987	Oak Technology is founded.
1987	CompuServe introduces the GIF standard and images.
1987	Robert Noyce is awarded the National Medal of Technology.
1987	Microsoft purchases Forethought Incorporated. The company that developed the presentation software PowerPoint.
1987	Microsoft introduces Microsoft Works.
1987	SiS is founded.
1987	Dolby AC-1 is introduced.
1987	VIA Technologies is founded.
1987	Microsoft and IBM release OS/2 1.0.
1987	The Mac SE is introduced at $2,900.
1987	Chipsets begin to be found on computer motherboards.
1987	IBM introduces the PS/2 personal computer that has improved graphics, a 3.5-inch diskette drive, and proprietary bus to help prevent clone makers competition, and a bidirectional 8-bit port.
1987	IBM sends clone manufacturers letters demanding retroactive licensing fees.
1987	IBM develops 8514/A.
1987	MS-DOS 3.3 was released April, 1987.
1987	The domain cisco.com comes online May 14, 1987.
1987	ALi is founded.
1987	Brodxent is founded.
1987	McAfee is founded by John McAfee.
1987	Konexx is founded.
1987	Microsoft acquires Forethought on June 29, 1987, the developer of what we know today as Microsoft PowerPoint.
1987	IBM introduces MCA.
1987	The first ARM processor computer, the Acorn Archimedes is released.
1987	Microsoft Shares hits $100 per share.
1987	Apogee is founded, Apogee is well known for its computer games as well as the company who first released a 'Shareware' game.
1987	The SPARC processor is first introduced by Sun.
1987	The first e-mail from China is sent to its connection in Germany September 20, 1987.
1987	Star Trek: The Next Generation TV show premiers for the first time.
1987	IBM introduces VGA.
1987	RealTek is founded October 1987.
1987	Walter Brattain passes away October 13, 1987.
1987	I.R.I.S. is founded.
1987	Sonic Solutions is founded.
1987	Larry Wall introduces Perl 1.0.
1987	On November 22, 1987 a Chicago PBS affiliate WTTW-11 TV broadcast gets hacked by a person wearing a Max Headroom mask.
1987	Microsoft introduces Windows 2.0 in December 9, 1987.
1987	Kingston is founded.
1987	Larry Wall releases the first version of Perl on December 18, 1987, version 1.0.
1987	Elitegroup Computer Systems is established.
1988	Edmund Berkeley passes away March 7, 1988.
1988	Apple files a copyright infringement against Microsoft for Windows 2.03 and Hewlett Packard for New Wave in comparison with their Macintosh operating system.
1988	About 45 million PCs are in use in the United States.
1988	SNMP is introduced.
1988	Robert Morris releases the Morris worm November 22, 1988, becoming one of the first major worms to infect roughly 6,000 computers over the Internet and helps establish the CERT Coordination Center.
1988	First T-1 backbone is added to ARPANET.
1988	Xircom is founded.
1988	SanDisk is founded.
1988	Cyrix is founded.
1988	Compro is founded.
1988	Bitnet and CSNET merge to create CREN.
1988	Trend Micro is founded.
1988	Creative Labs introduces the SoundBlaster, a sound card for the PC that contains an 11-voice FM synthesizer with text-to-speech, digitized voice input/output, a MIDI port, a joystick port and bundled software.
1988	Jarkko Oikarinen develops IRC
1988	EISA is announced in September as an alternative to MCA.
1988	Motorola releases the 88000 processor.
1988	NTP is introduced.
1988	APS Tech is founded.
1988	Linksys is founded.
1988	AXLE is founded.
1988	Mustek is founded.
1988	Intel 80386SX is introduced.
1988	Sierra Entertainment's Kings Quest IV becomes first game to support AdLib.
1988	Promise is founded.
1988	ARCHOS is founded.
1988	OSF is founded.
1988	Morphing is first introduced in the movie Willow.
1988	MS-DOS 4.0 was released July, 1988.
1988	MS-DOS 4.01 was released November, 1988.
1988	Andrei Ershov passes away December 8, 1988.
1989	GriD Systems Corporation introduces the first pen-based computer.
1989	PCMCIA trade association is founded.
1989	ActionFront is founded.
1989	The Gif89a standard is introduced.
1989	Softex is founded.
1989	Plextor is founded.
1989	ABIT is founded.
1989	XFX is founded.
1989	SQL Server is introduced.
1989	Antoni Kilinski passes away May 6, 1989.
1989	Fred Cohen is awarded the Information Technology Award.
1989	Intel releases the 486DX processor, with more than 1 million transistors and multitasking capabilities.
1989	Orange book is released by Philips and Sony.
1986	Robert Morris becomes first person indicted under the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act on July 26, 1989.
1989	The first release of Microsoft Office for the Apple Mac is released on August 1, 1989.
1989	William Shockley passes away August 12, 1989.
1989	Poqet announces the Poqet PC the first pocket-sized MS-DOS compatible computer.
1989	Microid Research is founded.
1989	Tyan is founded.
1989	Asus is founded.
1989	Iwill is founded.
1989	General Software is founded.
1989	KingMax is founded.
1989	AC-2 is introduced.
1989	The networking routing protocol OSPF is introduced.
1989	Citrix is founded.
1989	S3 Inc. is founded.