[Up: timeline] [Robot Wisdom home page]

IBM timeline

1896: Herman Hollerith forms the Tabulating Machine Company [cite]

1911: TMC merges with Computing Scale Company and International Time Recording Company to form Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company [cite]

1914: Thomas J Watson joins CTR [cite] rises to general manager

1924: CTR becomes International Business Machines (IBM) [cite]

1930: IBM Model 01 typewriter [pix]

1935: US Social Security Act; IBM wins contract for 'biggest accounting operation of all time' [cite]

1943: IBM sponsors development of Harvard Mark 1 computer (electromechanical relays) [cite]

1946: Thomas J Watson Jr returns to IBM from WW2 [anecdote]

1946: IBM Model 04 typewriter [pix]

1948: IBM Model A typewriter [pix]

1948: 604 electronic calculator introduced [cite]

1948: Selective Sequence Electronic Calculator runs stored program (12k radio valves) [cite]

1952: Thomas Watson Jr becomes president [cite]

1952: IBM introduces 701 (its 1st large computer based on vacuum tubes) 17k instructions per second [cite] ships 1953? [cite]

1953: 1st magnetic tape device, IBM 726 [cite]

1954: 650 medium-sized computer introduced [cite]

1954: IBM 704 w/1st operating system, developed by Gene Amdahl [cite]

1954: IBM Model B typewriter [pix]

1956: US Govt antitrust case rules IBM must sell and not just lease machines [cite]

1957: IBM introduces FORTRAN (FORmula TRANslation) [cite] 1st high-level computer language [cite]

1959: IBM 7090 (fully transistorized mainframe) 229k calculations per second [cite]

1959: 1401 introduced (10k sold) [cite]

1959: 1st transistorised (2nd generation) computers, 1620 and 1790 [cite]

1959: IBM Model C typewriter [pix]

1961: Stretch computer runs multiprogramming (1st to use 8-bit bytes) [cite]

1961: time-sharing on IBM 709 and 7090 [cite]

1961: IBM Selectric typewriter [pix]

1962: IBM proposes GPSS (1st general-purpose simulation language) [cite]

1962: 1311 uses removable disks [cite]

1964: Magnetic Tape Selectric Typewriter (MT/ST) [pix]

1964: 07Apr: IBM intros System/360 (IBM's $5B gamble) [cite] 1st family of compatible computers [cite]

1965: System 360 is shipped (3rd generation, integrated-circuit based computer) [cite]

1966: Selectric Composer typewriter [pix]

1967: Mag Tape Selectric Composer (MT/SC) [pix]

1967: IBM Model D typewriter [pix]

1969: System/3 minicomputer line introduced [cite]

1970: System 370 (4th generation computer) [cite]

1971: 370/135 and 370/195 mainframes introduced [cite]

1971: floppy disks 1st used to load IBM 370 microcode [cite] [cite]

1971: IBM Selectric II typewriter [pix]

1973: IBM's supermarket checkout station uses laser to read prices [cite]

1973: IBM 3614 Consumer Transaction Facility (early ATM) [cite]

1973: IBM introduces "Winchester" disks [cite]

1973: IBM Correcting Selectric II typewriter [pix]

1973: Dec: 1st production run of Intel 8080 [cite]

1974? AT&T decides to supply Unix-source free to academia [cite]

1974: 1st CP/M (Control Program/Monitor) from Kildall's MAA (Microcomputer Applications Associates) for 8080 family [cite] [cite] [manuals] [source] [bkgd]

commands copied from DEC's RT-11?[cite]

1974: IBM Memory Typewriter [pix]

1975: Electronic Selectric Composer typewriter [pix]

1975: 29Nov: Gates uses the name "Micro-soft" in letter to Allen, referring to their partnership (60/40 split) [cite] (trademark app says 12Nov)

1976: 01Jul: Microsoft refines and enhances BASIC to sell to other customers including DTC, General Electric, NCR, and: Citibank [.doc]

1976: Dec: Shugart introduces 5.25" floppy (size based on cocktail napkin) [cite]

1977: 01Jul: FORTRAN-80, Microsofts second language product, is available [.doc]

1978: Mag Card Selectric Composer typewriter [pix]

1978: IBM Electronic Typewriter [pix]

1978: 08Jun: Intel releases 16-bit 8086 [cite] [tech] [critique] designed in ten weeks as stopgap [cite]

1979: Jan: 1st design of Seattle's 8086 board [cite]

1979: Mar: MS has 48 OEM customers for 8080 BASIC, 29 for FORTRAN, and 12 for COBOL [cite]

1979: Motorola introduces 68000 16-bit CPU [info] no restartable instructions, so Unix must swap (no paging) [cite] [more]

1979: IBM prototypes PC using still-scarce 68000 (will substitute cheaper 8088, used in DisplayWriter) [cite]

1979: May: 1st prototype of Seattle's 8086 board [cite][cite] Paterson ports MS Basic to 8086

1979: 01Jun: Intel introduces 8088 as discount 8-bit version of 8086 [cite] IBM will choose 8088 for 'short run' PC [info]

1979: Nov: Seattle ships os-less 8086 cards w/MS BASIC [cite]

1979? Microsoft begs Western Electric for high-volume commercial license [BillG] [date] source-license for $2M? [cite]

1979? MS orders PDP-11 Xenix from HCR [cite]

1979??? MS markets 1st Xenix? [cite] not released until 1983? [cite]

1979: IBM Electronic Typewriter II [pix]

1980: Displaywriter word processor [pix]

1980: IBM Selectric III typewriter [pix]

1980: Feb: MS starts development of 8086 Xenix? [cite] [SCO?]

1980: Apr: Seattle decides to give up on delayed CP/M-86 [cite]

24yo Tim Paterson starts writing QDOS [cite] [tech] pure CP/M 1.4 ripoff? [cite]

1980: 22Jul: IBM's Jack Sams approaches MS tentatively [1981??] [cite]

1980: Aug: Seattle starts shipping QDOS 0.10 and 0.11 (Quick and Dirty) [cite] 50% finished [cite]

EDLIN written in two weeks [cite]

1980: 25Aug: Microsoft's 1st-ever os 'Xenix' announced for 8086, Z8000, 68000, and PDP-11, based partly on BSD [cite] [cite] [history] 1.0 based on v6 [cite]

1980: late: IBM gets serious with MS [cite]

no-date: MS fails to suggest memory-management mods to support Unix [cite]

"with the slightest modifications to the original PC design, a very simple protected memory environment could have been created with offset and limit registers"

1980: Oct: Microsoft starts developing DOS? [cite]

no-date: Kildall balks at the IBM nondisclosure agreement? (or his wife? cite)

1980: Dec: Seattle renames 86-DOS, v 0.33 [cite] system calls changed [cite] Paterson suspects MS has deal with IBM

1981: Jan? Digital releases CP/M-86 for $500 [cite] [Byte]

1981: Feb: 86-DOS runs on IBM prototype [cite]

1981: Apr: Seattle's 86-DOS 1.0 [cite] 4000 lines of assembly [cite]

1981: May: Paterson moves from Seattle to MS [cite] 11 months refining PC-DOS (adding CP/M-style prompts)

MS 'Revenue Bomb' projects:
Multiplan (Electronic Paper): Doug Klunder (later Excel)
C compiler: Brodie, summer 1981
Word: Brodie, summer 1982

1981: Jun: Byte magazine article on Xenix by MS product-mng [cite]

1981: 25Jun: Microsoft reorganizes into a privately held corporation with Gates as president and chairman of the board and Allen as executive vice president. Microsoft becomes Microsoft, Inc., an incorporated business in the state of Washington [.doc] Gates 53%, Allen 31%, Ballmer 8%, Raburn 4%, Simonyi & Letwin 1.5% each [cite]

1981: Jul: Sun's 68000 workstations shipping with UniSoft or MS Xenix? [cite] [history&tech] (other Sun-board boxes by Codata, Cyb, Pacific, Callan, and Forward?)

1981: 27Jul: Microsoft buys 86-DOS from Seattle Computer for $25k ($50k? cite), changes name to MS-DOS, charges $40 [cite] [cite] [cite]

1981: 12Aug: IBM announces PC [cite] choice of $40 PC-DOS or $240 CP/M-86 [cite] 4.77MHz 8088, 64k, floppy drive, for $3000 [cite] Gates & Allen are not invited to the rollout [cite]

MS-DOS 1.0 is 4000 lines of assembly-language, runs in 8k [cite]

1981: Oct: IBM ships PC [hardware info]

1981: Nov: Paterson made technical product manager for MS-DOS [cite] works on 1.1 update

1982: 01Feb: Intel intros 80286 with protected memory mode [cite] [critique]

1982: IBM Electronic Typewriter [pix]

1982: Feb: Gates and Allen are already planning GUI for IBM [cite]

1982: 01Apr: Paterson quits MS having finished PC-DOS 1.1, returns to Seattle [cite] replaced by Mark Zbikowski for DOS 2.0

DOS 2.0 team includes Paul Allen, Aaron Reynolds, Chris Peters, Mani Ulloa, and Nancy Panners [cite]

1982: May: MS-DOS 1.1 [cite] supports 320k floppies

no-date: MS claim DOS 1.25 will include Xenix-compatible pipes, process forks, multitasking, multi-user support, and networking [cite]

1982: Jun: MS-DOS 1.24
1982: Jul: MS-DOS 1.25 for OEMS [cite] (supports 720k floppies?) Gates charges $50-100k to gain market share over CP/M [cite]

no-date: following IBM's example, MS increases ratio of software testers to programmers from 1:20 to almost 1:1 [cite]

1982? Allen resigns for health reasons [cite]

1983: IBM Personal Selectric typewriter [pix]

1983: IBM explores merging DOS with Xenix [cite]

1983: spring: IBM XT w/8086 [cite]

1983: spring: CP/M-86 finally available for IBM for $240? [cite] (too much too late)

1983: Mar (09Apr?): MS-DOS 2.0 rewritten from scratch, copies Unix directory structure but reverses slashes because forward-slashes were already used [cite] copies Unix surface w/o understanding logic [cite]

installable device-drivers; undocumented background processing [cite]

1983: Apr: MS Xenix 3.0 [cite] for 8086? [cite]

1983: Apr: faked Windows (Interface Manager) demo [cite]

1983: Jun: Unix Review compares six Unix-compatibles for IBM PCs [summary] (no Xenix!?)

1983: Jul: Byte announces Xenix 3.0 'soon' for Altos and in November for IBM PCs [cite]

1983: autumn? MS changes direction, hands off 68000 Xenix to SCO, incl System III port [cite] SCO already a licensee for 808x port

1983: 10Nov: offical announcement of MS Windows [cite]

1983: Dec: Byte magazine article on MS Windows [multi]

1984: IBM debating DOS-successor, finally chooses OS/2 [cite]

1984? at IBM, CP/88 rewritten as CP/286 [cite]

1984: AT&T divested, Unix becomes commercial product; source code restricted

1984: May: Phoenix BIOS reverse-engineered [cite]

1984: Aug: IBM AT w/286; SysReq key for switching OSes (esp to IBM's own TopView) [cite]

MS re-grabs Xenix-286 development from SCO for IBM AT (System V) [cite] SCO races MS to finish Tandy port first (System III, later switched to System V based on MS's buggy port, took 9 months to fix)

1984: Aug: IBM's PC/IX for ATs [cite] renamed Interactive? [cite] done by Interactive Systems [cite]

1984: Dec: IBM Xenix Software Development Guide [cite]

1985: Jan: MS's Mac expert moved to 2-years-late Windows [cite]

1985: 25Jun: Gates tries to convince Apple to allow Mac clones [cite]

1985: 17Oct: Intel 80386DX can address 4 gigs [info] [cite] [critique]

1985: 20Nov: Windows 1.0 ships [tour]

1985: Dec: comparison of IBM Xenix 1.0 and PC/IX [net.micro.pc]

1985? MS Xenix System V begins new numbering scheme: IBM calls it IBM Xenix 2.0, SCO calls it SCO Xenix 2.0 [cite] [date]

IBM version released sooner than Tandy (SCO) but buggier w/bad docs [cite]

1985: SCO Xenix-286 [cite]

1986: 13Mar: MS IPO [cite] Gates worth $300M [cite]

1986: MS Xenix 286

1986: IBM's AIX for 386 [cite] and RT/PC [cite] done by Interactive Systems [cite]

1988: Mar: Apple files look-and-feel lawsuit [cite]

1988: MS starts development of NT [cite] still working full-bore on Windows 3.0

1988: OS/2 1.0 (Dec87? cite)

1988: 16Jun: Intel's 80386SX with 16-bit bus [cite]

1988: Aug (31Oct?): MS hires DEC's Cutler [cite]; Xenix phased out for MS inhouse use? [Slashdot thread]

1990: 22May: Windows 3.0, supports 386 [cite]

1991:27Mar: IBM spins off Lexmark (printers) [timeline]

1992: OS/2 2.0

1992: MS announces Windows NT

typewriters

You can submit a new URL or any other suggestion for this page by typing it into the box below. It will instantly become visible to anyone at this comments page. I should get around to checking it out and updating it above within a week or three, at which point I'll delete it from the comments page.

If you want credit, include your name and email (otherwise it's anonymous). You can use HTML but you don't have to.

[Up: tech] [Site map] [Robot Wisdom home page]

Hosting provided by instinct.org. Content may be copied under Open Web Content License.