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Microsoft Word 1.0 for DOS
September 29, 1983 Microsoft releases their first software application, Microsoft Word 1.0. For use with MS-DOS compatible systems, Word was the first word processing software to make extensive use of a computer mouse. Not coincidentally, Microsoft had released a computer mouse for IBM-compatible PCs earlier in the year. A demo version was also included for…
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Apple Asks Us to Think Different
September 28, 1997 Just a little over two weeks after naming Steve Jobs interim CEO, Apple launches their “Think Different” ad campaign. Designed to reintroduce the Apple brand, the campaign was nearly universally praised by the press, general public, and advertising industry, winning several awards along the way. Looking back in context, Think Different was…
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Google’s Fake Birthday
September 27th, 1998 For some peculiar reason, Google has at times chosen the date of September 27th as their birthday, even though it is more officially September 4th or 7th. Google has no explanation for celebrating their birthday on different days over the years other than to say: Google opened its doors in September 1998.…
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Concorde Breaks Atlantic Crossing Speed Record
September 26, 1973 The supersonic aircraft Concorde makes its first non-stop Atlantic crossing and sets a new speed record in the process. Flying from Washington D.C. to Paris, France in 3 hours 32 minutes at an average speed of 954 miles-per-hour, the Concorde cut the old speed record in half. This Day in Tech History…
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The First Android Introduced
September 23, 2008 Google and T-Mobile introduce the T-Mobile G1 (also known as the HTC Dream), the world’s first Android-based smartphone. By raw sales numbers, today Android is the world’s most popular smartphone platform. Previous post: Computer Code Protected by Copyright Next post: CompuServe Launches MicroNET This Day in Tech History Tech History provided by…
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CompuServe Launches MicroNET
September 24, 1979 CompuServe launches the first consumer-oriented online information service, which they called MicroNET. This marked the first time a consumer had access to services such as e-mail. The service was not favored internally within the business-oriented CompuServe, but as the service became a hit, they renamed the service CompuServe Information Service, or CIS.…
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Galileo Completes Jupiter Mission
September 21, 2003 After fourteen years in space, eight of those as the first man-made object orbiting Jupiter, the unmanned NASA spacecraft Galileo is sent into the atmosphere of the giant planet. NASA decided to end Galileo’s mission in this manner in order to avoid any possibility of it colliding with one of Jupiter’s moons…
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NASA Unveils Enterprise
September 17, 1976 NASA rolls out the first Space Shuttle, Enterprise, from its assembly facility to a waiting crowd. Included in the crowd was a delegation of actors from the Star Trek TV series. Originally to be named Constitution, a write-in campaign by Star Trek fans convinced President Gerald Ford and NASA to rename the Space Shuttle.…
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Turn That Frown … Sideways
September 19, 1982 In a posting made to a Carnegie Mellon bulletin board, Professor Scott Fahlman proposes the first known use of emoticons (also known as smilicons or smileys). While the use of emoticons became widespread during the 80′s and 90′s, their origin remained unknown until September 10, 2002, when the original message was retrieved…
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NeXTSTEP OS Released
September 18, 1989 NeXT Computer releases version 1.0 of NeXTSTEP, an object-oriented, multitasking operating system. Originally designed to run on NeXT’s brand of computers, it was later ported to other architectures such as the Intel x86. Often considered years ahead of its time, NeXTSTEP brought to market many advanced features that were not seen together in…