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Communist China announces explosion of its first hydrogen bomb
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Jef Raskin writes P.h.d on GUI at Penn State
In his thesis, he uses the term "Quickdraw" for the first time. (QuickDraw later became Quicktime.) -
Period: to
How Apple was started
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The first handheld calculator invented.
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1968: Bill Fernandez introduces his high school buddy Steve Jobs to his neighbor Steve Wozniak.
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The arpanet (first internet) invented.
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The artificial heart invented.
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The ATM invented.
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The bar-code scanner is invented.
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The floppy disk invented by Alan Shugart.
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1970: Xerox opens Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), and employs the greatest minds in the field to research advances in computer science.
Raskin begins to take several trips to PARC as a visiting scholar for the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory -
1973: PARC finishes work on the $40,000 Alto.
It becomes the first true PC, and first GUI-operated computer. It also used the first laser printer, and was connected to other Altos using the first Ethernet network. -
Apollo and Soyuz spacecraft take off for US-Soviet link-up in space
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Woz begins attending meetings of the Homebrew Computer Club.
Woz becomes intrigued by the Altair 8800 often shown there. He cannot afford one so he decides to build his own microcomputer. Work begins on the Apple I. -
The liquid-crystal display (LCD) invented by James Fergason.
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: Apple Computer Company is founded by Steve Wozniak, Steve Jobs, and Ron Wayne.
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666.66 Apple I introduced at the Home Brew Computer Club meeting. Paul Terell, president of Byte Shop chain, makes 50 orders.
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Ron Wayne leaves company.
Byte Shop orders finished just one day before deadline. -
: Jobs asks his former boss, Nolan Bushnell, for information on investors. Bushnell recommends Don Valentine, who in turn recommends Mike Markkula
Mike Markkula becomes a significant person in Apple's future. -
The ink-jet printer invented.
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Apple Computer, Inc. is officially created after the company is incorporated. Mike Markkula invests $92,000 in Apple, with intent to invest $250,000.
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The Apple II is publicly introduced for $1295.
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January 3: 34-year-old Jef Raskin joins Apple Computer exactly one year after becoming incorporated.
He bcomes employee #31. -
Jobs' daughter, Lisa Nicole, is born out of wedlock.
He initially denies the possibility of being the father, but came to accept her. -
June: Apple II+ introduced for $1195.
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The Lisa Project, a $2000 Apple III-like computer, begins under Ken Rothmuller.
Expected release was March 1981. -
Apple liscenses AppleSoft BASIC from Microsoft for $21,000.
Written by Randy Wigginton, who also created MacWrite. -
September: Raskin gets approval to begin work on Macintosh Project,
It is a $500 portable computer smilar to his PITS proposal. -
October: Fylstra releases VisiCalc.
It becomes one of the most successful programs ever, being the first "killer app". -
November: Jobs takes his first visit to PARC in exchange for allowing Xerox to invest $1 million in Apple
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Cell phones invented.
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Jobs hires 15 Xerox employees to work on the Lisa Project.
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Jobs hires 15 Xerox employees to work on the Lisa Project.
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March: Lisa project revamped to include all the features of the Alto, with several more.
Rothmuller complains the specs are too much to be accomplished if they want to retain the current release schedule and keep the final price reasonable. Jobs fires Rothmuller for "not cooperating", later replaced by John Couch. -
Apple goes public. Apple's share rises 32% that day, making 40 employees instant millionares.
Jobs, the largest shareholder, makes $217 million dollars alone. Markkula makes $203 million that day, an incomprehensible 220,700% return on investment . Neither Jef Raskin, nor Daniel Kottke (one of the original Apple employees) were allowed to buy stock and so made no money during this time. -
May 19: The Apple III is released at the National Computer Conference (NCC) for $4340 to $7800 depending on configuration.
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IBM introduces the IBM PC for $1565.
With 16k RAM, a 5.25" floppy drive, running the first version of MS-DOS, it is a rather pitiful computer that rarely reached the efficiency of the Apple II released 4 years earlier. Nevertheless, it becomes an instant success. -
Jobs convinces Bill to write a BASIC interpreter for the Mac. This will become the failed MS BASIC.
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January 22: Jobs convinces Bill Jobs to write a BASIC interpreter for the Mac.
This will become the failed MS BASIC. -
March 1: After Jobs forces Raskin out of the Macintosh project,
he officially resigns. -
January 19: The Lisa is introduced for $9998.
The Apple IIe is introduced for $1395, later aguably becoming the most successful and most popular Apple computer. It will be produced for 10 and a half more years. -
Apple enters Fortune 500 at #411 after only five years of existence.
It becomes the fastest growing company in history. -
The Lisa and Macintosh divisions are combined to form the Apple 32 SuperMicro Division.
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Bill Gates first announces Windows, and how the GUI will revolutionize the PC.
Microsoft will not release it for 4 more years. -
December: The Apple III+ is introduced for $2995.
It replaced the defective Apple III models. -
The Apple Macintosh invented.
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Microsoft announces and released Word, Multiplan, File, Chart, BASIC, and other programs.1985
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January 24: $2495 Macintosh and $3495 Lisa 2 introduced.
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Windows program invented by Microsoft.
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September: The Apple IIGS is introduced for $999.
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September: The Apple IIc+, the last in the Apple II line, is introduced. GS/OS System 1, a Mac-like GUI for the IIGS, is introduced.
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October 2: The Apple/IBM alliance becomes official.
Among the many agreements, Apple and IBM will create PowerPC-based machines and produce two companies, Taligent and Kaleida. The former a now-defunct company that worked on the now-defunct Pink, the latter a company that produces multimedia tools. -
Steve Jobs announces NeXTstep 3.0, NeXTstep 486, a version of NeXTstep that could run on an Intel 486 simultaneously with MS-DOS, and promises 33 MHz '40 processor versions of the NeXTcube and NeXTstation/Color at the NeXTWORLD Expo in San Fransisco.
NeXT would eventually move its OS entirely to the Intel x86 platform.Coincidently, the exposition is held at the same time and in the same city as the Macworld Expo. -
February 10: Jobs lays off 280 of his 530 NeXT employees on "Black Tuesday".
Sells his hardware line to Canon, and tries to become a Microsoft-like company by concentrating only on the NeXTstep OS for the Intel x86 platform. -
: Apple releases the first PowerMacs (6100/60, 7100/66, 8100/80) using the PowerPC 601
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pril: Motorola ships the first 50 MHz and 66 MHz PowerPC 601. The first generation of PowerPCs has begun. George Crow, the last NeXT founder besides Jobs, resigns.
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April 1: Apple celebrates its 20th birthday. The 20th Anniversary Macintosh is announced to commerate the occasion.
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June: Apple releases the first PCI Mac, the $5000 PowerMac 9500/120 using the new Tsunami motherboard.
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February: Apple announces the Copland Project (defunct Mac OS 8, superceded by Rhapsody).
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DVD (Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc) invented.
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August: Apple kills Copland Project. IBM and Motorola demo their CHRP prototypes. The third generation of PowerPC processors (G3) is announced.
Motorola, Apple, and IBM predict an exponential gain in performance. -
Apple buys NeXT, Inc. for $430 million.
Development of Windows NT for PowerPC stops. -
former "advisor" Steve Jobs becomes "de facto head", announces Microsoft alliance at the Macworld Expo in Boston. .
Among the agreements are a cross-platform liscense, $150 million invested in Apple stocks, an undisclosed ammount of money for Apple (rumored to be $800 million), the production of MS Office for 5 years, and MS Internet Explorer as the default browser for the Mac OS -
The gas-powered fuel cell invented.
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uly: Apple announced their third consecutive profit, $101 million, higher than anyone had expected. "Apple is back" stories surface all over Internet, print, and TV.
Macworld Expo higlights the many features of the iMac, and reveals Apple's software and hardware strategies for the rest of the millenium. -
Iraq ends cooperation with UN arms inspectors. Clinton orders air strikes
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December: The US Justice Department forces Microsoft to stop forcing clone vendors to bundle MS Internet Explorer with Windows 95.
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Viagra invented.
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August 15: iMac is finally released to an incredibly anxious comnsumer market. Sold in numbers like nothing I've ever seen.
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October 14: Apple announces its first profitable year since 1995. Mac OS 8.5 is released to an ecstatic audience, promised Copland features appear. It is found that 43% of all iMac buyers are new to the Macintosh platform, an unimaginable number of new pr
