Computer History - 1996

Year	Event
1996	The domain imdb.com comes online January 5, 1996.
1996	Gertrude Blanch passes away in 1996.
1996	Netgear is founded January 8, 1996.
1966	Harlan Mills passes away January 8, 1996 (Age: 77)
1996	Intel releases the 200 MHz P6.
1996	Jeffrey Lee Parson is born in 1996.
1996	ACARD is founded.
1996	AOpen is established.
1996	IPv6 is introduced.
1996	3M spins of it data storage business and creates the Imation company.
1996	Telecom Act deregulates data networks.
1996	For the first time more e-mail is sent than postal mail in USA.
1996	The first Java Development Kit (JDK 1.0) codenamed oak is released January 23, 1996.
1996	Juniper Networks is founded February 6, 1996.
1996	The game Duke Nukem 3D is released January 29, 1996.
1996	The domain myspace.com comes online February 22, 1996.
1996	The movie Twister becomes the first featured film put on DVD March 25, 1996.
1996	David Packard passes away on March 26, 1996
1996	Microsoft VBScript is introduced.
1996	Cuthbert Hurd passes away.
1996	Soltek is founded.
1996	Angelfire is founded.
1996	Alexa is introduced in April 1996.
1996	DAVICOM is founded in May of 1996.
1996	Dr. Thomas Pabst starts the Tom's Hardware website.
1996	Microsoft releases DirectX 2.0a (4.03.00.1096) on June 5, 1996.
1996	A domestic sheep by the name of Dolly is born and becomes the first mammal to be cloned
1996	Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 was released July 29, 1996.
1996	Li-polymer batteries begin being used.
1996	HTTP/1.0 is specified in RFC 1945 and introduced in 1996.
1996	CREN ended its support and since then the network has cease to exist.
1996	What first started off as a Usenet, IMDb becomes incorporated as the Internet Movie Database, Ltd.
1996	Google is first developed by Sergey Brin and Larry Page.
1996	Arescom is founded.
1996	Doctor Byte is founded.
1996	KDE is started to be developed by Matthias Ettrich
1996	Macromedia purchases FutureWave and later releases Macromedia Flash 1.0.
1996	The first CSS specification, CSS 1, is published by the W3C in December 1996.
1996	The CDA amendment to the U.S. 1996 Telecommunications Act that went into effect on February 8, 1996. The law was intended to protect children from obscenity on the Internet, but many Internet users argued that its language was too vague and it violated the rights of free speech. Protesters against the law turned their web pages black and displayed blue ribbon icons downloaded from the Electronic Frontier Foundation. February 8, 1996 is more commonly known as "black Thursday."
1996	Cray Research merges with SGI.
1996	ATA-2 is approved by ANSI.
1996	IBM and Sears sell Prodigy is sold to Internet Wireless.
1996	CyberLink is founded.
1996	Microsoft releases Internet Explorer 3.0 on August 13, 1996.
1996	Gordon Brown passes away August 23, 1996 (Age: 89)
1996	AT&T introduces Worldnet.
1996	Microsoft releases DirectX 3.0 (4.04.00.0068) on June 5, 1996.
1996	AT&T spins off the system and technology unit, which later renames itself Lucent Technologies.
1996	IBM computer Deep Blue beats chess master Garry Kasparov in two chess matches for the first time on February 2, 1996.
1996	NEC merges its PC operations outside Japan with Packard Bell.
1996	Sony enters the PC market with the release of VAIO.
1996	Creative Labs introduces the 3D Blaster card its first graphics card to be released to the computer market.
1996	Apple Stock sinks to a 10-year low of less than $18.00 a share.
1996	U.S. Robotics Pilot is announced.
1996	Seagate has completed the merger of Conner Peripherals.
1996	Microsoft releases Windows CE.
1996	Tandy announces it will either sell or close all of its 17 incredible Universe stores and 19 of its Computer City stores because of low sales and losses in revenue.
1996	WebTV is introduced allowing users to browse the web from their TV July 10, 1996.
1996	MSNBC makes its debut.
1996	Microsoft introduces the IntelliMouse also known as a wheel mouse.
1996	Acer America Corporation introduces its designer home PCs.
1996	Sun Microsystems releases its line of network computers.
1996	Apple announces it will purchase NeXT for $429 million and 1.5 million shares of Apple stock on December 20, 1996 and that it will acquire Steve Jobs, Apples cofounder, as a consultant.
1996	Microsoft Windows CE 1.0 is released as a portable operating system solution.
1996	Bit 3 becomes part of SBS Technologies.
1996	Seymour Cray passes away October 5, 1996.
1996	The U.S. Postal Services releases a new stamp commemorating the 50th birthday of the ENIAC.
1996	The first Tomb Raider game is released November 14, 1996.
1996	United States patent 5,579,430 is granted November 26, 1996 for the digital encoding process of MP3 files.
1996	K56Flex is announced in November by Lucent and Rockwell.
1996	Charles Molnar passes away December 13, 1996.
1996	Carl Sagen passes away December 20, 1996.
1996	The ATSC approves of HDTV on December 24, 1996.