A Timeline of Significant Events
in
Information and Communication Technology
© Bobbi A. Kerlin
- 100 Most Important People of the 20th Century
- Global Networking: A Timeline by Dr T. Matthew Ciolek
- History of the Internet
- Time Warp: 1900 vs Now
- World History Chronology
DATE EVENT 45,000 - 3501 BC
Media History Project Timeline
3500-59 BC
Media History Project Timeline
3rd Century A.D.
The abacus which uses moveable counters to speed calculations is developed
1 - 1099 AD
Media History Project Timeline
1100 - 1399
Media History Project Timeline
1400s
Paper becomes readily available (4)
1488
The moveable-type printing press is invented by Johann Gutenburg (8)
1400 - 1599
Media History Project Timeline: 1400 - 1599
1600 The slide rule is developed (4)
Media History Project Timeline: 1600s
1640
Blaise Pascal, a young French mathematician develops the slide rule, a simple mechanical device for the addition of numbers. It consists of several toothed wheels arranged side by side, each marked from 0 to 9 at equal intervals around its perimeter. The important innovation is an automatic 'tens-carrying' operation: when a wheel completes a revolution, it is turned past the 9 to 0 and automatically pulls the adjacent wheel on its left, forward one tenth of a revolution, thus adding, or 'carrying'. This machine becomes the forerunner of today's high-speed electric calculators (4)
1690
Gottfried von Leibniz develops a machine similar to Pascal's, with the added features of multiplication and division (4)
1700s
Media History Project Timeline: 1700s
1798
Paper-making machine is invented by N. L. Robert (8).
1800s
The Age of Mechanization in which the symbol of mechanical power is the steam engine (1) Media History Project Timeline: 1800s
1801
Joseph-Marie Jacquard develops the punch card system which programs and thereby automates the weaving of patterns on looms (3)
1811
Steam-powered Printing Press is invented by Frederick Koenig (8)
1815
August Ada Byron, Countess of Lovelace: 1815-1852 More articles about Ada Lovelace
1823
Charles Babbage begins work on the first of his machines, the "Difference Engine" (4), to mechanize solutions to general algebra problems (1). The importance of his work is recognized by Ada Lovelace, Lord Byron's daughter who, gifted in mathematics, devises a form of binary arithmetic which uses only the digits 1 and 0 (4)
Visit the Binary Homepage and look at all the things you can do with Binary!
1825
The first railway is opened for public use (1)
1826
Photography is invented by Benoit Fourneyron (8)
1837
Telegraph, Samuel F. B. Morse (8)
1860s
American logician, Charles Sanders Pierce begins lecturing on the work of George Boole and Boolean algebra (1)
1861
Steam elevator patented by Elisha Otis
1868
Christopher Latham Sholes (Milwaukee) invents the first commercial typewriter (2)
A Brief History of Typewriters
The Classic Typewriter Page
1871
Charles Babbage dies (1)
1872
One of the first large-scale analog computers is developed by Lord Kelvin to predict the height of tides in English harbors (4)
1876
Telephone is invented (2); Alexander Graham Bell demonstrates the use of the first telephone.
History of Telephone Sets
1877
Gramaphone, Thomas Edison (8)
1880s
Pierce realizes that Boolean algebra can be used to model electrical switching circuits (1)
1881
Bell and Tainter invent the first commercial dictating machine (2) New York City, YMCA's Central Branch establishes typing classes for women (2)
1884
Linotype Machine, Ottmar Mergenthaler (8)
1885
Allan Marquand, a student of Pierce, designs an electric logic machine (1) Charles S. Tainter invents the dictaphone (8)
1887
Talbot Lanston invents the Monotype Machine (8)
1888
National Geographic Society founded in Washington, DC. Tainter Treadle Dictating Machine is introduced (2)
E. J. Marey invents the Motion Picture Camera (8)
September 4: Eastman patents the first box camera, moving photography from the hands of professionals to the general public.
1890
Herman Hollerith, from Buffalo, New York, designs a punch card tabulating machine which is used effectively in the census of this year (1)
1891
Thomas Edison develops the Motion Picture Projector (8)
1892
The world's first electric streetcars began running in Toronto
1896
Guglielmo Marconi develops the Radio Telegraph (8)
1899
Val Demar Poulsen develops the Magnetic Recorder (8)
1900 - 1909
Media History Project Timeline: 1900s
1900
Rene Graphen develops the Photocopying Machine (8)
1901
Reginald A. Fessenden develops the Radio Telephone (8)
1910 - 1919
Media History Project Timeline: 1910s
1911 Herbert Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980)
Born in Edmonton, Alberta, CanadaCIOS McLuhan Website
A comprehensive resource on the life and work of Marshall McLuhan
Audio quotes from Marchall McLuhanMcLuhan Quote-O-Rama
Access random quotes of Marshall McLuhanThe McLuhan Probes
From the Herbert Marshall McLuhan Foundation, this site includes links to a listserv discussion group and an online monthly publicationA Brief Look at McLuhan's Theories
This site has been developed by Tim Guay at Simon Fraser UniversityDigital Humanism: The Processed World of Marshall McLuhan
This is an excerpt from Arthur Kroker's book, Technology and the Canadian Mind: Innis/McLuhan/Grant
1912
Alan Turing (1912-1954) is born The Alan Turing Internet Scrapbook: Who Invented the Computer?
1913
Thomas Edison invents Talking Motion Pictures (8)
1918
The first automatic typewriter company (2)
1920s
Media History Project Timeline: 1920s
1920
Shanghai, China: An Wang ("Peaceful King"), born on February 7th, the eldest of five children. As a four year old, An Wang begins to learn the English alphabet from his father (3)
1923
V. K. Zworykin invents Television (8)
1924
Computing-Tabulating-Recording becomes International Business Machines (1)
1925
J. P. Maxfield develops the All-electric Phonograph (8)
1926
An Wang and family move to Kun San, a year before the northern expedition reached Shanghai. Here, An begins his education in the private school where his father taught English. Because there was no kindergarten, first or second grade, he began his schooling as a third grader (3) 1st public demonstration of television
1927
Dunbarton Bridge, first bridge in the Bay Area, opens
1930s
Media History Project Timeline: 1930s
1930
Vannevar Bush of MIT built the differential analyzer, the first major computer developed in Cambridge (3)
1932
American Automatic Typewriter Company markets the autotypist (2)
1933
IBM introduces the first commercial electric typewriter (2) Edwin H. Armstrong develops FM Radio (8)
An Wang becomes a student at the Shanghai Provincial High School that has one of the best academic reputations in China. Here students are forced to use American textbooks (3)
1934
Lanier Company is founded (2)
1936
An Wang graduates from high school at age sixteen and is accepted by Chiao Tung University (the MIT of China), in Shanghai (3) Robert A. Watson-Watt develops Radar (8)
Benjamin Burack builds the first electric logic machine (1)
Alan Turing publishes his paper, "On Computable Numbers"
In his thesis, Claude Shannon demonstrates the relationship between electrical circuitry and symbolic logic.
1937
Japan seizes Peking and later this year invades Shanghai (3)
1938
Dave and Lucile Packard move into house at 367 Addison Avenue, Palo Alto, California. Bill Hewlett rents the cottage behind the house and Bill and Dave begin part-time work in the garage with $538. Their first product is the resistance-capacity audio oscillator (HP200A), an electronic instrument used to test sound equipment which represents a breakthrough in technology from existing oscillators in size, price and performance. Walt Disney becomes their first major customer, ordering 8 oscillators for the movie Fantasia (5) Chester Carlson develops Xerography (8)
1939
January 1: Hewlett and Packard create a partnership and a coin toss decides the company name (5)
1940s
Media History Project Timeline: 1940s
1940
An Wang graduates from Chiao Tung University and spends the next year as a teaching assistant at the university, in electrical engineering (3) John Atanasoft and Clifford Berry design a computer with vacuum tubes as switching units (1)
1941
Summer: Wang and some of his classmates go to Kweilin to design and build transmitters and radios for the government troops with the Central Radio Corporation (3)
1943
Dr. Howard Aiken and colleagues at Harvard, funded by IBM, produce the Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (later nicknamed the Mark I), an electro-mechanical machine designed to solve complex algebraic equations. Fifty-one feet long and eight feet high, it is the first binary computer built in the U.S. that is operated by electricity (3) John Mauchley, J. Presper Eckert, and John von Neumann spend the next three years building ENIAC, the first all-electronic digital computer (1)
1944
Wang and classmates are evacuated to Chungking prior to the Japanese invasion of Kweilin (3) Howard Aiken, with $500,000 from IBM, completes the Mark I (1)
1945
July: Vannevar Bush (1890-1974) publishes As We May Think in the Atlantic Monthly, in which he predicted development of the Xerox machine, Polaroid camera, Fortran and most noteably, Memex - a "writing, reading, filing, and communication system contained in a desk and including a screen and keyboard. This device would allow an individual to accumulate and develop his own personal library of materials." (9) An Wang's sister, Hsu, dies during the Japanese invasion of Shanghai. Wang is accepted into a two-year apprenticeship program to send highly trained Chinese engineers to the U.S. (3) The ENIAC, (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator) the first computer to employ the binary system, is developed. It weighs 30 tons, is 18 feet high and 80 feet long. Containing 18,000 vacuum tubes and over 500,000 soldered connections, it costs $487,000. While it could perform five thousand additions in one second, the circuitry in ENIAC could now be contained on a panel the size of a playing card (4)
June: Wang arrives in Newport News, Virginia (3)
September: Wang is accepted and enrolls at Harvard graduate school (3)
Lazarenko, Klingberg invents the Photo Typesetting Machine (8)
1946
Sony begins manufacturing and selling dictating machines (2) Wang receives Master's Degree from Harvard (3)
November: Wang accepts a job with the Chinese Government Supply Agency in Ottawa, Canada, but dislikes the cold climate (3)
1947
February: Wang returns to Cambridge as a Ph.D. student (3) May: Wang chooses thesis topic in Nonlinear Mechanics (3)
August 18: Hewlett-Packard incorporates (5)
December: Two days before Christmas the transistor is perfected (1)
1948
First tape recorder is sold Spring: Wang graduates from Harvard with a Ph.D. in applied physics (3)
Dr. Howard Aiken and his Harvard team completes work on the Mark III, an electromechanical computer that uses magnetic drum memory (3)
May: Wang begins work May 18th, under Dr. Howard Aiken at the Harvard Computation Laboratory, researching the development of digital computers, in particular, the Mark IV which will be Dr. Howard Aiken's first purely electronic computer (3)
Wang develops a well-defined way to read and rewrite data to the magnetic core memory which is eventually used in the Mark IV (3)
1949
A quotable quote from the 1949 edition of Popular Mechanics:
Where a computer like the ENIAC is equipped with 18,000 vacuum tubes and weighs 30 tons, computers in the future may have only 1,000 vacuum tubes and weigh only 1 1/2 tons.June: An Wang and colleague, Way Dong Woo present a paper on magnetic memory storage which receives a good deal of attention at a meeting of the American Physics Society (3)August 10: The world's first commercial passenger airplane is built in Canada by Avro.
October 21: Wang files a patent for his "pulse transfer controlling devices" which includes thirty-four claims for the structure and use of memory cores (3)
1950s
Media History Project Timeline: 1950s
1950
Harvard begins to de-emphasize computer research as the technology approaches the point of having commercial applications (3) Hewlett-Packard (HP) has 146 employees and 70 different products (5)
December: Electronic Research Associates sells first Atlas I, a stored program computer, to U.S. government (3)
1950s
The switching units in computers which up until this time have been mechanical relays, are starting to be replaced with vacuum tubes; these tubes have their own set of problems related to size and heat generation (1)
1951
March: U.S. Census Bureau takes delivery of the first UNIVACS originally developed by Eckert and Mauchly (3) April: Wang gives his notice to leave the Harvard Computation Laboratory (3)
June 22: Dr. An Wang establishes Wang Laboratories as a sole proprietorship, in Boston (3)
June: In first six months of operation, Wang earns $3,253.60 (3)
July: Within three weeks, Wang is selling magnetic memory cores at $4 each (At that price a 64K semiconductor chip which today sells for about 75 cents would have sold for $256,000) (3)
December: Wang demonstrates memory cores and digital devices at the Institute for Radio Engineering exhibition and conference in New York City (3)
1955
May 17: Wang is issued Patent Number 2,708,722, including 34 claims for the magnetic memory core (3) June 30: Wang Laboratories becomes a corporation (3)
During this year Shockley Semiconductor is founded in Palo Alto (1)
1956
March 6: Dr. A. Wang assigns Patent Number 2,708,722 to IBM in exchange for a payment of $500,000 which included eight conditions under which the final $100,000 would be withheld. IBM is 10,000 times larger than Wang (3) John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and William Shockley share the Nobel Prize in physics for the transistor (1)
1957
Fairchild Semiconductor founded (1) USSR launches Sputnik, the first earth satellite
1958
Philips Business Systems begins manufacturing and selling dictating machines (2)
1958-1959
Wang sells various types of control units under the brand name, WEDITROL (Wang Electronic Digital Control Units) (3) During the late 1950s, the transistor begins to have enormous effect on the digital electronics industry. Phototypesetting is a relatively new field, with hot metal type casting still the standard (3)
1959
Lee Felsenstein fails in his first attempt to design a personal computer (1)
1960s
Media History Project Timeline: 1960s
Early 1960s
Mainframe computers are used to perform sophisticated calculations. Desk top calculators are made by companies such as Olivetti, Victor, Monroe and Friden, but are cumbersome to use (3) The X Number World
This site by James Redinis devoted to information about calculators including an historical timeline and links to online calculatorsDoug Engelbart establishes the Augmented Human Intellect Center at SRI. UCLA, UCSB,the University of Utah and SRI are the four original members of Arpanet
1961
IBM introduces the Selectric typewriter and begins manufacturing dictating machines (2)
1962
Tandy Corporation buys a chain of Radio Shack electronics stores (1) HP makes the Fortune 500 list for the first time, #460 (5)
1963-64
Doug Englebart invents the computer mouse, first called the X-Y Position Indicator
1964
Magnetic Tape Selectric Typewriter (MT/ST) is introduced (2) Sales at Wang exceed $1,000,000 for the first time, largely due to development of LINASEC, a semiautomated, justifying typesetter that is vastly cheaper than competing fully automated systems (3)
John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz of Dartmouth College develop the first BASIC (1)
HP has 7500 employees and 1500 different products (5)
1965
Ulrich Steinhilper of the IBM German Office Products Division coins the term TEXT PROCESSING (2) Wang introduces the LOCI (logarithmic calculating instrument), a desktop calculator at the bargain price of $6700, much less than the cost of a mainframe. In six months, Wang sells about twenty units. Desk top calculators are a great novelty this year (3)
Wang introduces the Model 300 desk top calculator which has the added feature of a rounding function so that 2 x 2 = 4, not 3.999999999. It sells for $1695 while the Friden calculator costs $2195 (3)
1966
Wang averages sales of ten LOCI per month while sales of the Model 300 are $578,000 during the last six months of the year. The Model 300 plays a significant role in Wang's transition from a scientific to business oriented company (3) Hewlett-Packard enters the computer market with the HP2116A real-time computer. It is designed to crunch data acquired from electronic test and measurement instruments. It has 8K of memory and costs $30,000 (5)
An IBM 1401 is used for the first time at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) (6)
1967
OISE purchases a PDP-9 system and a UNIVAC-1004 with printer and card reader is connected by phone line to the University of Toronto and the Ministry of Education (6) August 23: Wang goes public with shares selling at $40.50 each and rising to $120 by year end (3)
December: Wang sells $4,259,000 worth of calculators, by the end of the year representing 62% of sales (3)
1968
Wang is awarded the patent for the basic processing unit of the LOCI (3) June 20: Wang acquires Philip Hankins Inc. for 102,000 shares of stock (at $73/share) (3)
Late Summer: Wang launches the 3300 BASIC which requires huge ribbons of paper tape be fed into the machine to load BASIC, a process that takes forty minutes. Wang also introduces the 4000 general purpose computer and starts development of the 700 which evolves into a programmable calculator. The 700 is the last successful product to use magnetic memory cores (3)
Photo of a 1968 Wang Calculator
Hewlett-Packard announces their HP 9100 series calculator with CRT displays selling for about $5000 each (3)
Intel is founded (1) and begins marketing a semiconductor chip that holds 2,000 bits of memory. Wang is the first to buy this chip, using it in their business oriented calculators called the 600 series (3)
Ed Roberts founds an electronics company called Micro Instrumentation Telemetry Systems (MITS) (1)
1969
Magnetic Card Selectric Typewriter (MC/ST) is introduced (2) Wang introduces the 700 calculator for engineering applications (3)
Intel receives a commission to produce ICs for a line of Japanese calculators and decides to build the first microprocessor, the 4004 with Ted Hoff, Stan Mazer, Robert Noyce and F. Faggin executing the project (1)
Lee Felsenstein leaves Ampex to write for the BERKELEY BARB (1)
Data General releases the Nova (1)
Late 1960s
DEC introduces the PDP-8 minicomputer in competition with the mainframes. DEC has the 'mini' market all to itself (3) IBM sells over 30,000 mainframe computers based on the 360 family which uses core memory (3)
Semi-conductor technology emerges from laboratories, diminishing the use of core memory (3)
1970s
Early in this decade, over one dozen automatic and mechanical text-editing manufacturers enter the word processing market (2) The average 250-word business letter costs $3.31 to produce (3)
Commodore, a Canadian electronics company moves from Toronto to Silicon Valley and begins selling calculators assembled around a Texas Instruments chip (1)
OISE faculty use computer primarily for statistical analysis (6)
Media History Project Timeline: 1970s
1970
Doug Englebart patents his X-Y Position Indicator mouse Wang employs 1400 people this year and sales grow to about 27 million dollars (3)
HP employs 16,000 people (5)
OISE moves to 252 Bloor St., Toronto and introduces its first time-sharing system (6)
February: Wang introduces application software at the annual convention of the National Association of Auto Dealers which allows dealers to compute monthly payments for an auto loan, on the spot (3)
1971
The price of the Wang Model 300 series calculator drops to $600. Wang introduces the 1200 Word Processing System (3) Intel develops the 8008 (1)
Stephen Wozniak and Bill Fernandez build their "Cream Soda computer" (1)
November: Wang announces entry into word processing market with the 1200 'automatic typewriter', the IBM Selectric as a terminal, a tape cassette and printer. This system cuts the average cost of a business letter in half. Problems eventually result with this machine because a carriage stabilizing spring, (included in all the machines IBM produces for its own markets), is missing from those machines purchased by Wang. It also lacks a CRT (3)
December: Bowmar Instruments Corporation introduces the LSI-based (large scale integration) four function (+, -, *, /) pocket calculator with LED at an initial price of $250 (3)
1972
Willow Grove, Pennsylvania: International Word Processing Association (IWPA) is formed as the first professional word processing organization (2) Wang ships the first 2200 computing calculators, (general purpose computers), a CRT terminal using magnetic tape cassettes, (soon replaced by floppy disks) and an early version of EPROM (erasable, programmable read only memory). This machine marks a turning point in Wang history, which increasingly becomes a business, rather than a scientific and technically oriented company (3)
Gary Kildall writes PL/I, the first programming language for the 4004 (1)
People's Computer Company (PCC) is founded (1)
Bill Gates and Paul Allen form Traf-O-Data (which eventually becomes Microsoft) (1)
Stephen Wozniak and Steven Jobs begin selling blue boxes (1)
1973
Stephen Wozniak joins Hewlett-Packard (1) RADIO ELECTRONICS publishes an article by Don Lancaster describing a "TV Typewriter" (1)
July: Vydec introduces the cathode ray tube (CRT), first to use the 'floppy disk' as a new medium (2)
July: IBM introduces Mag Card II (2)
1974
Intel invents the 8080 (1) John Torode and Gary Kildall begin selling a microcomputer and disk operating system (1)
RADIO ELECTRONICS publishes an article calling the Mark 8, "your personal computer"
October: Xerox introduces new text-editing product (2)
1975
This year the Dec-10, the first computer to do significant statistical processing at OISE is installed. Its text editor allows users from different departments to access word processing facilities (6) January: This issue of Popular Electronics goes to press featuring a flashy cover photo of an empty metal box masquerading as a computer, the original computer to be photographed for the cover, being lost by Railway Express on its way to New York (1)
February: Lanier introduces microcassette pocket recorder (2)
March 5: Homebrew Computer Club, which is to become the spawning ground of many Silicon Valley microcomputer companies, holds its first meeting in the San Francisco garage of Gordon French (1)
Microsoft writes the first BASIC for the Altair (1)
Amateur Computer Group of New Jersey founded (1)
A new company is formed under the name of Processor Technology (1)
Southern California Computer Society holds its first meeting (1)
Dick Heiser opens the first retail personal computer outlet, The Computer Store, in Los Angeles (1)
The first issue of Byte Magazine is published (1)
Paul Terrell opens the first Byte Shop in Mountain View, California (1)
1976
Charles Spurgeon's Ethernet page depicts a 1976 drawing of the first Ethernet system by its inventor, Dr. Robert M. Metcalfe. February: IBM introduces a total information processing system. The system includes diskette storage, magnetic card reader/recorder, and CRT. The print station contains an ink jet printer, automatic paper and envelope feeder, and optional electronic communication (2)
March: IBM introduces Series III Model 20: a high speed copies at a rate of 75 pages per minute (4,500 per hour) (2)
The First World Altair Computer Conference is held in Albuquerque, NM (1)
Spring: Lanier Business Products introduces new computerized CRT text-editing device (2)
April 21: One hundred shares of Wang (Class B) stock sell for $1250 (3)
June: Wang introduces the WPS screen-based word processing system at the Syntopican trade show in New York City. The hard disk version of the system has a list price of $30,000. With the success of this system, Dr. Wang separates the sales of word processing from other sales and appoints son, Fred to head this division of the company. The role of women in the company expands as 4 out of the five top sales people in this department are women (3)IMSAI begins shipping its first computers (1)
Bill Gates publishes an "Open Letter to Hobbyists" lamenting software piracy (1)
MicroStuf is founded by George Morrow (1)
World Altair Computer Conference is held (1)
Gary Kildall founds Intergalactic Digital Research (later Digital Research) (1)
Trenton, N.J. Computer Festival is held (1)
Kentucky Fried Computers is founded (1)
Midwest Area Computer Club conference is held (1)
Work begins on Radio Shack's first microcomputer (1)
The first sale of CP/M occurs this year (1)
Michael Shrayer creates a word processing package for the personal computer called the Electric Pencil (1)
1977
Jonathan Rotenberg founds the Boston Computer Society (1) David Bunnell begins publishing PERSONAL COMPUTING (1)
The first Computerland franchise store opens in Morristown, N.J. under the name ComputerShack (1)
Apple Computer opens its first offices in Cupertino and introduces the Apple II (1)
Commodore introduces the PET computer (1)
Tandy/Radio Shack announces its first TRS-80 microcomputer (1)
January: Arnold Rosen and Rosemary Fielden author the first textbook in the field entitled, WORD PROCESSING, Prentice-Hall (2)
Spring: The first West Coast Computer Faire is held in San Francisco (1)
Fall: Rose Avenue Public School becomes the home of the first microcomputer to be used at the elementary level in the Toronto area as a result of the initiative of one teacher, Joe Vayda. Radio Shack donates a single TRS-80, with a whopping 4k of memory, to the inner city school for use by his grade six, gifted students. Without software, teacher and students work together to develop some very simple programs (7)
October: Wang introduces the VS (virtual storage) line of computers designed for office use in large corporations. VS allows users to run programs whose size may exceed the internal memory of the machine (3)
1978
Apple introduces and begins shipping disk drives for the Apple II and initiates the LISA research and development project (1) January: Wang runs its first televised advertising campaign during the Super Bowl raising its recognition level from 4.5 to 16 percent. In two years, with 50,000 users, Wang is now the largest supplier of small business computers in North America (3)
February: QYX Intelligent Typewriter Systems, (a Division of Exxon Enterprises), introduces the world's first truly electronic typewriter with five levels of machine capability, for less than $3000 (2)
June: IBM and Olivetti enter the electronic typewriter market to compete with QYX. IBM introduces Models 50 and 60. Olivetti introduces the 401 Electronic Typewriter (2)
September: Joe Vayda and his students take delivery of six Pets in from the then all Canadian company, Commodore. Although the memory limitations of these machines is double that of the TRS-80, there is little in the way of pre-packaged software that can be used with them. The two available programs consist of Big Bad Math Mac and a blackjack game, both of dubious educational value. With this limited software and only one or two books available at the time, Joe, and his students begin what is to become a productive adventure in writing their own software. Word processing is best characterized by line editing programs such as Word Pro 1.1, a very slow, tape-driven program. Joe and his students work within this limited environment for almost a year before he approaches Commodore for a disk drive, printer, and six chips to upgrade the Pets (7)
December: Wang introduces first intelligent printer which uses fiber-optics technology to print 50 times faster than typewriters (2)
1979
Processor Technology closes (1) Tandy/Radio Shack announces the TRS-80 Model II (1)
MicroPro releases WordStar (1)
Personal Software introduces VisiCalc (1)
February: IBM introduces the IBM 6670 laser printer, a system which receives and transmits documents over ordinary telephone lines so that users can link word and data processing functions (2)
June: With the announcement of IIS (Integrated Information Systems) Wang outlines strategy for the 1980s based on a concept of distributed data processing which contrasts with batch processing typical of mainframes (3)
Wang expands product lines with multifunction units. OIS/125 supports up to 14 work stations and peripherals (2)
Wang Institute of Graduate Studies receives state approval to grant Master's Degrees in software engineering (3)
The next eight months mark a period in which word processing curriculums and courses continue to expand in hundreds of schools (2)
October: Lanier introduces shared-resource equipment (2)
November: IBM introduces the Audio Typing Unit, a system which aids visually impaired typists by "speaking back" typed information after it is entered via keyboard (2)
By year's end, articles that enable users to key programs into the microcomputer begin to appear in magazines. Cursor Magazine comes out with a monthly cassette tape that can be loaded into the microcomputer and advertising for word processing programs begins to appear in Transactor, the Commodore magazine as well as Compute (7)
Commodore is very interested in what they see happening in Joe Vayda's sixth grade Toronto classroom. The company develops a videotape of the students working with the PETS and uses it for promotional purposes on cable and television networks. Advertising also begins to appear in newspapers. The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), makes a movie of these students at work, entitled Pearls in the Alphabet Soup. This massive advertising blitz helps to intensify the awareness and interest of parents in other parts of the city who begin visiting this classroom to see if such school activities might benefit their own children (7)
1980s
Media History Project Timeline: 1980s
1980
Hewlett-Packard releases the HP-85 (1) The Apple III is announced (1)
Microsoft signs a consulting agreement with IBM to produce an operating system (1)
January: Dictaphone Corporation enters text-editing market with the acquisition of the Artec International Co. The product is a dual display text-editing device (2)
June: IBM introduces the Displaywriter, a low-cost visual display word processor that can check spelling of 50,000 words (2)
September: Dictaphone introduces Dictamation, a user-friendly desk-top dictation/transcription unit that doubles as a telephone message center (2)
In Toronto, Joe Vayda begins to run courses, not just for parents, but for teacher groups, and principals alike. He and his students start an intensive fundraising campaign, selling soup and hot dogs in the school cafeteria every Friday. With the proceeds from these two activities, he is able to buy three more computers for the classroom. Carl Ried, one of Joe's students begins to play with the idea of developing a program that would allow a person to write memos. Joe, using the principles of writing developed by Donald
Graves, develops with his students, the concept of collaborative writing which stresses conferencing, sharing and understanding the perspective of the audience as one develops and revises a piece of writing. His students are accustomed to this 'manual' version of word processing in which they utilize coloured pencils to sort out revisions of their work. It is not long before the idea of the 'memo writer' and word processing merges in the minds of two of Joe's students, Carl and Dylan Yolles. These two students, from vastly different backgrounds, Carl from an inner city neighbourhood and Dylan from the upperclass residential area of Rosedale, begin to develop their own word processor, Story Writer. For months these two collaborate on the work and as parents, teachers and other visitors pass through the classroom, they are given free copies of the program. By the end of 1980, hundreds of copies, all in various stages of development, are given away. Story Writer's Main Menu consists of six items: Start, Write/Edit, Load, Save, Print and Exit. Attention is given to turning off unused keys such as the repeat function on the space bar, so as not to create unnecessary confusion for young authors (7)
December: Wang introduces WANGWRITER, a low-cost, standalone display system (2)
Sony enters office automation business with the introduction of TYPECORDER, a noiseless, portable, battery-driven word processor, that is compact enough (8 1/2 x 11 inches) to fit in a briefcase (2)
1981
Osborne is incorporated and soon thereafter announces the Osborne 1, the first portable computer (1) BITNET (Because It's Time Network) protocol for electronic mail, listserv servers, file transfer is established as a cooperative enterprise by the City University of New York and Yale University.
dBase II, developed by Wayne Ratliff, is marketed by George Tate.
Steve Wozniak is injured in a plane crash.
Xerox releases the 8010 Star and 820 computers (1)
IBM announces its Personal Computer (1)
January: Wang Institute for Graduate Studies begins classes with an initial enrollment of 5 students (3)
June: IWP changes name to International Information/Word Processing Association (2)
Summer: A very talented grade 12 student, Chris Capon, formerly from Quebec, comes to work for the Toronto Board of Education during the summer. Joe Vayda approaches him to see whether he is able to code Story Writer so that there are no errors or unexpected program crashes. Living on his own at this time, the $150 remaining in the hot dog fund, is money that can be well used by Chris. He agrees to work on the coding, eliminating the bugs and even developing a word wrap feature. Chris develops codes that allow Story Writer to control peripheral devices and he creates user friendly features that prevent system crashes. Chris works hard on the development of the coding and by Christmas of 1981, the program reaches its final stage of development. Its most significant feature, other than the fact that it is developed completely by students, is that this totally error free program completely controls the computer and does not allow the user to break out to the programming level (7)
With the development of Story Writer and the widespread enthusiasm it generates, the board sees the importance of this new technology in educational settings. Both the quantity and quality of student writing show visible improvements through the use of this program. By the end of 1981, due in large part to the efforts of Joe Vayda, the Toronto Board establishes central funding procedures for computer technology (7)
1982
The Toronto Board waits until January 1982 to place a copyright on the program and within one week, is receiving requests for Story Writer from across Canada. For many, Story Writer is the vehicle by which they are first introduced to computers. It offers users a safe, reliable program which is free of frustrating error messages. In recognition of Chris' effort, Joe obtains additional funding from various departments throughout the Toronto board (7) Apple announces the Lisa (1)
DEC announces a line of personal computers (1)
HP introduces the HP 9000 technical computer with 32-bit "superchip" technology - it is the first "desktop mainframe", as powerful as room-sized computers of the 1960s (5)
Lotus 1-2-3 enters the market with a one million dollar advertising campaign.
1983
IBM announces the PCjr (1) Osborne Computer Corporation files Chapter 11 (1)
Apple Computer announces the Macintosh (1)
FidoNet is developed by Tom Jennings.
HP introduces the touch-screen personal computer, the HP 150 (5)
1985
The Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link' aka The WELL begins operating
1986
HP employs 82,000 people and has 10,000 products (5) The one hundred shares of Wang (Class B) stock of ten years ago, becomes 2,000 shares worth $40,000 this year. Wang employs 30,000 people. IBM is reduced from 10,000 to 20 times the size of Wang (3)
January: The space shuttle CHALLENGER, using backup computers based on core memory, tragically explodes (3)
Underbidding IBM, Wang is awarded a $480 million contract to install MIS systems at U.S. Air Force bases around the world (3)
1987
Bill Hewlett retires from HP as the company is listed at #49 on the Fortune 500 list (5) 165,000 Fax machines are sold in Canada this year, compared to 3,000 during 1986 when they were introduced.
1988
The Computing Services Group (CSG) at OISE now has 12 full time members. This group supports 4 VAXes 11/750 with approximately 150 terminals; 20 IBMs and 10 Macintoshes (6). An 8K personal pocket computer the size of a playing card sells for $49.75 and includes security code protection. It has a date timer, alarm clock and also determines currency exchange rates.
July 19: Apple Computer Inc., profits are up 71%, rising to $91.3 million in the latest quarter because of strong demand for the Macintosh line and strong foreign sales. Net sales reach $993 million in the three months ending July 1, 1988 (Toronto Star)
1990s
Media History Project Timeline: 1990s
SOURCES
- Freiberger, Paul and Swaine, Michael. (1984). Fire in the Valley, the Making of the Personal Computer. Osborne/McGraw-Hill, Berkeley, California.
- Rosen, Arnold and Fielden, Rosemary. (1982). Word Processing. Second Edition. Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, N.J., (I: 16-19).
- Wang, Dr. A., with Eugene Linden. (1986). Lessons, An Autobiography. Wang Institute of Graduate Studies. Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc., Don Mills, Ontario.
- Rusch, Richard B. (1969). Computers: Their History and How They Work. Simon & Shuster, Inc.. New York.
- Hewlett-Packard Company Public Relations (1988). Highlight of Hewlett-Packard Company History. Palo Alto, CA.
- Teles, Lucio and Ragsdale, Ronald. (1988). The Impact of Word Processing on Writing Behaviour: Graduate Education Faculty and Their Secretaries. Department of Measurement, Evaluation, and Computer Applications, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.
- Vayda, Joe. (1988). Personal interview. Toronto.
- From the Dead Media Project by Bruce Sterling and Richard Kadrey. This is a wonderful site with many beautifully displayed historical photographs and some quotable quotes including one from Bill Gates, 1981: "640K ought to be enough for anybody."
- Hiltz, R. and Turoff, M. (1978). The Network Nation, Human Communication by Computer, p. 63.
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