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Beginning of Apple
Steve Jobs and Wozniak meet each other. -
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Microsoft and Apple timeline
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Apple 1
Wozniak starts working on Apple 1. -
Beginning of Microsoft
Bill Gates starts Microsoft along with Bill Allen. MITS Computer buy first computer language program from Microsoft. -
Apple Starts
Apple is founded by Wozniak ,Jobs ,and Wayne. -
Apple I introduced at the Home Brew Computer Club meeting.
$666.66 Apple I introduced at the Home Brew Computer Club meeting. Paul Terell, president of Byte Shop chain, makes 50 orders. -
Byte Shop order finished
Byte Shop order finished 1 day before deadline. Ron Wayne leaves company. -
Apple is officially created
Apple Computer, Inc. is officially created after the company is incorporated. Mike Markkula invests $92,000 in Apple, with intent to invest $250,000. -
Jobs' daughter
Jobs' daughter, Lisa Nicole, is born out of wedlock. He initially denies the possibility of being the father, but came to accept her. -
Daniel Fylstra's bid
Daniel Fylstra writes CalcuLedger (later to become VisiCalc). Offers it to Apple and Microsoft for $1 million. Both turn him down. -
Microsoft moves
Microsoft moves from Albuquerque, New Mexico to Bellevue, Washington -
The Lisa Project
The Lisa Project, a $2000 Apple III-like computer, begins under Ken Rothmuller. Expected release was March 1981. -
The Apple III is released
The Apple III is released at the National Computer Conference (NCC) for $4340 to $7800 depending on configuration. -
IBM & Microsoft
IBM uses Microsoft OS. This was a 16 bit OS for IBM. This was IBM’s first personal computer. -
Lisa's date is changed
Mike Markkula becomes president of Apple. The original ship date for the Lisa is missed, coming out 3 years later. -
Microsoft UK
Microsoft UK is started. -
Microsoft Mouse
Microsoft Mouse is initiated. Microsoft Mouse is for the MS-DOS. This year Paul Allen resigns from his EXEC VP position, and Jon Shirley becomes president. -
Apple Releases
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. -
Sculley
Pepsico’s John Sculley is hired as CEO of Apple. -
Apple releases
$2495 Macintosh and $3495 Lisa 2 introduced. -
Macintosh XL
The design of the Macintosh XL was based on the predecessor of the original Macintosh, the Apple Lisa. Modified to run the Mac operating system, the Macintosh XL featured 1MB of RAM, a 400K disk drive, and a beautiful (for the time) 12-inch monochrome display. -
Jobs is stripped of all his duties.
Jobs is stripped of all his duties. His job description becomes "global thinker", and his remote office dubbed "Siberia". -
Jobs wants to create a new company
Jobs announces intent to create new company with other "lower-level" employees. -
Introducing Windows 1.0
Microsoft ships Windows 1.0. Now, rather than typing MS‑DOS commands, you just move a mouse to point and click your way through screens, or “windows.” Bill Gates says, “It is unique software designed for the serious PC user.” -
Apple settles law suit against Jobs
Apple settles law suit against Jobs out of court. Jobs agrees not to hire any Apple employees for 6 months, and to always make computers that are more powerful than anything Apple has to offer. -
Macintosh Plus
The first expandable Macintosh, it introduced the SCSI port to the Mac, enabling the connection of external hard drives, scanners, modems, and printers. Thanks to Apple’s new LocalTalk networking technology, anyone with PageMaker software and a LaserWriter printer could design and print documents with beautiful text and graphics. Desktop publishing was born. -
Microsoft moves
Microsoft moves to corporate campus in Redmond, Washington -
Apple celebrates its tenth birthday.
Apple celebrates its tenth birthday. A coffee table book, So Far, later chronicles the experiences of the last ten years. -
Macintosh II
The Macintosh II featured a new modular design that could support a much broader range of displays — including some that offered color. With the simple addition of a video card, the Macintosh II could display 256 glorious colors from a palette of 16.7 million. -
Microsoft releases the second version of Windows
Microsoft releases Windows 2.0 with desktop icons and expanded memory. With improved graphics support, you can now overlap windows, control the screen layout, and use keyboard shortcuts to speed up your work. Some software developers write their first Windows–based programs for this release. -
Microsoft becomes
Microsoft becomes the world’s largest PC software company based on sales. Computers are starting to become a part of daily life for some office workers. -
Macintosh IIx
The Macintosh IIx wasn’t just a follow-up to the previous model. It introduced the 1.44MB floppy disk to the Mac line, nearly doubling the capacity compared to earlier computers. This floppy disk would become the standard in personal computers over the next decade. -
Macintosh Portable
The Macintosh Portable was Apple’s first battery-powered computer. Weighing almost 16 pounds, it wasn’t nearly as portable as today’s notebooks. But that didn’t stop it from being the first off-the-shelf notebook to be taken into space, aboard the space shuttle Atlantis in 1991. Among other things, it was used to send the very first email from space. -
Windows 3.0
Microsoft announces Windows 3.0, followed shortly by Windows 3.1 in 1992. Taken together, they sell 10 million copies in their first two years, making this the most widely used Windows operating system yet. -
Macintosh LC
The Macintosh LC dramatically lowered the price of a color-capable Mac, making it available to many more people. Color opened a new world of possibilities, letting users create things they could only imagine before. This computer also introduced built-in audio input to the Mac, making it easier to treat sound as a powerful creative tool. -
Apple/IBM alliance becomes official
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. -
Windows NT
Microsoft meets an important milestone: the completion of a project begun in the late 1980s to build an advanced new operating system from scratch. "Windows NT represents nothing less than a fundamental change in the way that companies can address their business computing requirements," Bill Gates says at its release. -
Sculley
Sculley resigns from Apple, joins the ailing Spectrum -
Macintosh TV
Not to be confused with today’s Apple TV, this was the first Macintosh with built-in television capabilities. It was an early example of Apple designers combining multiple devices into one, and was the only black Macintosh desktop until the introduction of the new Mac Pro. -
Internet Explorer
In the summer of 1995, the first version of Internet Explorer is released. The browser joins those already vying for space on the World Wide Web. -
Windows 95
Microsoft releases Windows 95, selling a record-setting 7 million copies in the first five weeks. It’s the most publicized launch Microsoft has ever taken on. -
Flight Simulator for Windows 95
Microsoft releases Flight Simulator for Windows 95—the first time in its 14-year history that it’s available for Windows. -
Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh
This Macintosh, celebrating Apple’s 20th birthday, wasn’t like other computers of the day. In fact, it wasn’t like any other Macintosh. It was personally delivered and set up by a white-glove concierge service. With its unique form and custom Bose sound system, it represented a futuristic vision of the desktop computer. -
The return of Jobs
Jobs returns to Apple after being fired a few years earlier. -
Windows Me
Designed for home computer use, Windows Me offers numerous music, video, and home networking enhancements and reliability improvements compared to previous versions. -
Apple "stores within stores" open
Apple "stores within stores" open in all of the 149 CompUSA locations across the country, answering the cry of many Mac users who loathe the patheticly small, incomplete, and out of stock Apple sections most retail computer stores provide. -
Windows 98
Windows 98 is the first version of Windows designed specifically for consumers. With Windows 98, you can find information more easily on your PC as well as the Internet. Other improvements include the ability to open and close programs more quickly, and support for reading DVD discs and universal serial bus (USB) devices. -
iMac
The original iMac marked the beginning of a new chapter for Apple and computers. The lowercase i in its name signaled something new and important — the Internet — and showed that the iMac was built for the next age of communication. It was the first computer to do away with floppy disks and popularize the USB port. Its egg-shaped, all-in-one design wasn’t like anything anyone had seen before. The translucent shell came in an eye-catching Bondi Blue, with other colors added later. But the most be -
Windows 2000 Professional
More than just the upgrade to Windows NT Workstation 4.0, Windows 2000 Professional is designed to replace Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows NT Workstation 4.0 on all business desktops and laptops. Built on top of the proven Windows NT Workstation 4.0 code base, Windows 2000 adds major improvements in reliability, ease of use, Internet compatibility, and support for mobile computing. -
New releases
MAC OS X is released. -
Windows XP
Windows XP is released with a redesigned look and feel that's centered on usability and a unified Help and Support services center. It’s available in 25 languages. From the mid-1970s until the release of Windows XP, about 1 billion PCs have been shipped worldwide. -
iMac G5
The iMac G5 was a completely new design, with the logic board mounted behind the flat-panel display and the computer elevated above the desk on an aluminum foot. A remote, which could magnetically attach to the side, gave users one-click access to their photos, music, and videos from anywhere in the room. This was also the first Mac with a built-in iSight camera, integrated with iChat, so anyone could start video chatting right out of the box. -
New releases
Xbox 360 & MacBook released. -
Windows Vista
Windows Vista is released in 2006 with the strongest security system yet. -
MacBook Pro
The change to an Intel processor gave this Mac notebook such a massive boost in performance, it needed a new name: MacBook Pro. With up to quadruple the speed of the PowerBook G4, professionals were no longer chained to their desks and had the freedom to create anywhere with a notebook. -
iMac
The redesign of the iMac was radical in every way. It was housed in a stunningly slim enclosure of pure glass and aluminum. In fact, only one screw was visible, and that was on the bottom. Despite its thin profile, it was an incredibly powerful computer for both work and home. -
MacBook Air
MacBook Air was the first unibody notebook, crafted from a single piece of aluminum. Instead of a removable battery, it had a streamlined, built-in one. The popularity of downloadable music meant an optical disc drive was no longer needed. And the ubiquity of Wi-Fi networks made an Ethernet port unnecessary. The result of all this? The world’s thinnest notebook. -
Windows 7
Windows 7 includes new ways to work with windows—like Snap, Peek, and Shake—that improves functionality and makes the interface more fun to use. It also marks the debut of Windows Touch, which lets touchscreen users browse the web, flip through photos, and open files and folders. -
iMac
This was the year widescreen came to the desktop. The iMac was also the first Mac to come with the Magic Mouse, which enabled the use of Multi-Touch gestures to intuitively scroll through documents, pan across web pages, and swipe through photos. -
New release
IPad is released. -
MacBook Air
This year saw a complete rethinking and reengineering of the MacBook Air. It was the first notebook designed entirely around flash storage, which made it faster and more durable and allowed more space for a longer-lasting battery. And for the first time, the MacBook Air came in a compact 11-inch version weighing just 2.3 pounds. -
MacBook Pro
This MacBook Pro was the first computer with Thunderbolt technology, a new I/O standard for connecting to next-generation peripherals with blazing-fast data transfer speeds. This year also saw the introduction of the Mac App Store, which made getting apps for the Mac easier than ever. No boxes, no discs, no installation — people could just download and go. -
Windows 8
Windows 8 is a reimagined operating system, from the chipset to the user experience, and introduces a totally new interface that works smoothly for both touch and mouse and keyboard. -
MacBook Pro
This was the first Mac that featured the Retina display. It provided a stunning 2880-by-1800 resolution, where individual pixels couldn’t be discerned with the human eye. This display let Mac users see more detail than ever before, and it had a huge impact on photography, design, and moviemaking. -
Windows 8.1
Windows 8.1 advances the Windows 8 vision of providing a powerful collection of apps and cloud connectivity on great devices; it’s everything people loved about Windows 8, plus some enhancements. -
iMac
Introduced in late 2012 and updated the following year, the iMac was just 5 millimeters at its edge and made everything behind its display seem to disappear. It was the culmination of years of design exploration, attempting to distill the iMac down to its most essential form — a big, beautiful display with nothing to distract from it. The result was a deeply immersive experience.
