In the mid-late 1990s and into the early 2000s, you could purchase CD-ROM discs containing thousands of shareware apps, games, pictures, and otherwise. These CDs were gateways to numerous hours of cheap entertainment. Here’s …
40 years ago—in September 1981—DARPA published the finalized specifications of the TCP/IP protocol suite, which defines the basic rules for how the internet works. While TCP/IP didn’t become widely adopted until 1983, thi…
In the days before multitasking PCs, gaming at work could be dangerous: The boss might walk in and catch you at any moment. But by pressing a boss key—a panic button that quickly hid your game behind a fake work document—…
40 years ago, IBM published the world’s first commercial IBM PC game, Microsoft Adventure. As a port of a mainframe classic that spawned the adventure game genre (and Microsoft’s first published game), its release represents …
Forty years ago today—on August 12, 1981—IBM introduced the very first IBM Personal Computer, also known as the IBM PC (Model 5150). It sold well and set standards that are still with us today. Here’s what it was like to …
Thirty years ago today—on August 6, 1991—Tim Berners-Lee posted about his World Wide Web project on the alt.hypertext newsgroup, inviting the public to take a look at the world’s first website. The invitation eventually l…
In the 1980s, Radio Shack parent Tandy Corp. released a graphical user interface called DeskMate that shipped with its TRS-80 and Tandy personal computers. It made its PCs easier to use and competed with Windows. Let’s take a…
On July 22, 1996, Microsoft announced its first mouse with a scroll wheel: the Microsoft Intellimouse. It wasn’t the very first wheel mouse, but it set standards and made a huge impact. Here’s why it was so loved….
Fifty years ago, IBM introduced the first-ever floppy disk drive, the IBM 23FD, and the first floppy disks. Floppies made punched cards obsolete, and its successors ruled software distribution for the next 20 years. Here’s a …
In 1984, Brøderbund Software released “The Print Shop,” a pioneering desktop publishing app that allowed anyone with a PC to easily make large banners, signs, and greeting cards at home for the first time. Here’s what made i…
After revolutionizing PC gaming with Wolfenstein 3D and Doom, id Software pulled off a hat trick with Quake, released on June 22, 1996. Quake mixed polygonal 3D graphics, networking, and grunge into a groundbreaking hit with …
Over the past three-plus decades, the icons of Microsoft Windows have evolved alongside improvements in screen resolutions and color depth. Here’s a look at how the size and style of Windows icons have changed over time….
In June 1981, Texas Instruments released the TI-99/4A, a 16-bit home computer and gaming platform that became a huge cultural success in America after selling 2.8 million units, although it resulted in a business loss for TI….
On January 14, 1984, Apple released the first version of its Macintosh operating system, System 1.0. Despite being almost four decades old, many of its features resemble today’s macOS. We’ll take you on a brief tour of this h…
It’s a crazy idea: Give your software away for free and hope that people like it enough to send you money. That was the idea behind shareware, a popular commercial software model in the 1980s and 1990s. Here’s what made it un…
For a few decades, many computer system operators used devices called teletypes to interact with computers using a typewriter-style keyboard and output printed on spools of paper. Here’s why.
You’ve probably heard it before: There’s a “bug” in the software, causing something to malfunction or misbehave. What exactly is a computer bug and where did the term come from? We’ll explain.
In 1981, Commodore released the VIC-20, a low-cost mass-market home computer that served up great video games and taught a generation of kids how to program. It sold millions of units and inspired a generation of programmers….
When it comes to Microsoft and writing, Microsoft Word wasn’t always the only game in town. In 1993, Microsoft released a wacky word processor for kids called Creative Writer. Here’s what made it memorable….
You may have heard the term “CRT,” and you might know that it has something to do with TVs, monitors, video games, or computers, but what does “CRT” actually mean? We’ll explain.
Hamburger Menu—or Hamburger Icon—is a term commonly used when talking about apps. It might make you hungry, but it has nothing to do with food. Where did this silly name come from, and what does the menu do?…
If you’ve never encountered a recordable CD before, you can be forgiven for not knowing what the term “burn a CD” means. Does it involve fire? Is anything actually burned in the process? We explain how the process works, why …
Throwback alert! Microsoft’s vintage File Manager program, which originally shipped with Windows 3.0 in 1990, has been ported to Windows 10, and it’s available for free from Microsoft. Here’s how to get it….
As a hobby, vintage computing is on the rise. A generation that grew up with classic PCs is looking back and revisiting the glory days of the ’80s, ’90s, and 2000s with the authentic machines. But what’s the best way to get t…
Before Microsoft and Intel dominated the PC market with a common platform, the CP/M operating system did something similar for small business machines in the late 1970s and early 1980s—until MS-DOS pulled the rug out from u…
