Computer History - 1997

Year	Event
1997	HTTP/1.1 is specified in RFC 2616 and officially released in January 1997.
1997	Mosaic development and support officially discontinued on January 7, 1997.
1997	On January 7th Microsoft releases the final version of Internet Explorer 3.0 for the Apple Macintosh.
1997	The PNG standard is introduced on January 10, 1997.
1997	Jean Hoerni passes away January 12, 1997 (Age:73)
1997	Internet2 consortium is established.
1997	The world learns of Dolly, the first successfully cloned mammal February 22, 1997.
1997	The domain facebook.com comes online March 28, 1997.
1997	IEEE releases 802.11 (WiFi) standard.
1997	The Mars Pathfinder successfully lands on Mars July 4, 1997.
1997	Microsoft releases DirectX 5.0 (4.05.00.0155) on July 16, 1997.
1997	Intel introduces the MMX chip.
1997	The CD burning software Nero is first released.
1997	Unwired Planet develops HDML.
1997	Intel introduces the Slot 1 processor and slot.
1997	Connectix introduces Virtual PC.
1997	ABBYY is founded.
1997	Network Associates is formed after merger between McAfee and Network General.
1997	Leoptics is founded.
1997	Yahoo! introduces Yahoo Mail.
1997	ATA-3 is approved by ANSI.
1997	Several computer manufactures introduce sub 1,000 computers, computers that cost less than $1,000.00.
1997	AOL faces several lawsuits from subscribers who are upset about the difficulties encountered when attempting to connect to its services.
1997	The dancing baby becomes one of the Internets first fads. The dancingbaby is a short 3D animation of a small baby wearing diapers dancing. It was first created by Michael Girard and later tweaked by Ron Lussier at LucasArts who released it on a CompuServe forum as chacha.avi.
1997	Altavista introduces its free online translator Babel Fish.
1997	A cult known as the Heaven's Gate that earns its money from designing web sites commits a mass suicide on March 27, 1997.
1997	Digital Video Discs aka Digital Versatile Discs (DVDs) first go on sale.
1997	Microsoft announces plans to buy WebTV Networks in April for $425 million. The deal is later approved and completed in August.
1997	CompUSA joins Dell and Gateway in selling build-to-order PC computers.
1997	Ligos is founded.
1997	Netflix is established.
1997	Winamp is released April 21, 1997.
1997	Intel Pentium II is introduced on May 7, 1997.
1997	IBMs Deep Blue computer defeats world champion chess player Garry Kasparov May 11, 1997 in their second six-game showdown, winning the tie-breaking game in only 62 minutes.
1997	Perl 5.004 is released May 15, 1997.
1997	Kaspersky is founded.
1997	Carsten Haitzler releases Enlightenment.
1997	E ink is established.
1997	CD-RW drives and media are introduced.
1997	Bill Gates is now the worlds richest businessman.
1997	The NASA Pathfinder Web site, which is running real-time images sent from the Pathfinder on Mars receives more than 100 million hits during its first four days, in response to the high popularity NASA sets up 25 mirror pages to handle the traffic. The site sets a new popularity record.
1997	Microsoft begins working on its own search engine.
1997	The TRUSTe organization is founded.
1997	Microsoft saves Apple with a $150 million investment August 6, 1997.
1997	The google.com domain name is registered after Sergey Brin and Larry Page decide to change the name of their BackRub search engine to Google September 15, 1997.
1997	The domain craigslist.com comes online September 24, 1997.
1997	Microsoft releases Internet Explorer 4.0 in September of 1997.
1997	Microsoft releases Microsoft Office 97.
1997	The first paywall is introduced by the Wall Street Journal.
1997	Microsoft announces Windows 98.
1997	3Com buys U.S. Robotics for $6.6 billion making the consolidation the largest in the history of computer companies.
1997	Apple releases MAC OS 8.
1997	Nullsoft is founded by Justin Frankel.
1997	Webroot Software is founded.
1997	Microsoft invests $150 million in Apple Computers Inc. and agrees to continue creating software for Apple computers, in agreement Apple makes Microsoft Internet Explorer its browser of choice for Macintosh computers.
1997	The Li-Ion battery begins being used for commercial uses.
1997	The Intel Pentium II 233 MHz processor is released.
1997	IEEE introduced 802.11 the wireless network standard in June 1997.
1997	Advanced Graphics Port or AGP designed for Video cards. Designed by Intel is released August of 1997.
1997	Microsoft Windows CE 2.x is released.
1997	The Slashdot website launches.
1997	Steve Jobs rejoins Apple September 16, 1997.
1997	Cyrix is established.
1997	Riven, the sequel to Myst is released in October 1997.
1997	The domain netflix.com comes online November 10, 1997.
1997	Microsoft acquires Hotmail a free e-mail service in December 1997.
1997	Cyril Cleverdon passes away December 4, 1997 (Age: 83)
1997	John Pinkerton passes away December 22, 1997 (Age: 78)