Archive for April 20, 2024
Windows 98 is Plug and … Whoa?
April 20, 1998
During the COMDEX Spring ’98 and Windows World shows in Chicago, a public demonstration of the soon-to-be released Windows 98 goes awry when Bill Gates’ assistant causes the operating system to crash after plugging in a scanner. Instead of showing the plug-and-play capabilities they were trying to demonstrate, a “Blue Screen of Death” is visible by the entire audience which immediately erupts in laughter. After several seconds, Bill Gates famously responded, “That must be why we’re not shipping Windows 98 yet.”
Ironically, the assistant, Chris Capossela, has moved up the executive ranks at Microsoft, all the way to Executive VP and Chief Marketing Officer. For Microsoft’s sake, hopefully he’ll present a much better marketing image then he did that fateful day!
Demonstration of First Practical Electron Microscope
April 20, 1940
Vladimir Zworykin, research director at RCA, holds a public demonstration of the first practical electron microscope. While the electron microscope had originally been invented in 1931, the first model was only able to produce a magnification of 400X. RCA’s model was the first to create a magnification of 100,000X, which was truly the first practical application of an electron microscope. This early model was 10 feet high and weighed half a ton. That thing was huge, especially considering it was meant to magnify really tiny things!
Vladimir Zworykin is also famous for being one of the inventors of the television.