Archive for November 14, 2023
Microsoft Introduces Zune
November 14, 2006
Knock-knock
Who’s there?
Microsoft Zune.
Microsoft Zune who?
Exactly.
Microsoft releases their Zune media player, intended to compete with Apple’s iPod. Hailed by some as an “iPod-killer”, the only killing done was by Microsoft less than 5 years later when they ended production of the Zune brand. Otherwise known as simply another media player to fall to the iPod behemoth, the Zune is considered a spectacular failure when taking into account the weight of the Microsoft brand at the time. The Zune’s lack of success foreshadowed of the decline of Microsoft in The New World of Technology, once Apple introduced the iPhone and iPad effectively ending the PC Era.
Intel Bugs Out
November 14, 1997
One week after reports surfaced identifying a flaw in certain Pentium processors, Intel releases a software workaround for operating systems to avoid the commonly named “F0 bug“. A very specific invalid operation passed to the affected processors would cause the processor to lock up, causing the computer and any software running on it to freeze. Identified by Intel as the “Invalid Operand with Locked Compare Exchange 8Byte (CMPXCHG8B) Instruction Erratum” (seriously?), the flaw, while potentially a serious problem, was practically little more than a PR headache as the invalid operation that triggered the processor to lock up was never encountered in real-world operations. Additionally, the F0 bug only affected the older Pentium processors, not the Pentium II and Pentium Pro processors Intel was currently shipping at the time. However, the workaround was necessary as malicious software could have exploited the flaw and caused serious problems for PCs and servers using the affected processors.
Mariner 9 Orbits Mars; First Spacecraft to Orbit Another Planet
November 14, 1971
NASA’s Mariner 9 reaches the planet Mars and becomes the first man-made object to orbit another planet. Mariner 8 was scheduled to be the first, however due to launch problems it failed to make it out of Earth’s atmosphere. The Soviet Mars 2 and Mars 3 space probes reached the planet on November 27 and December 2 respectively.
Mariner 9 completed its mission of photographing the surface of Mars, transmitting 7,329 images covering 100% of the planet’s surface. While out of fuel, Mariner 9 still orbits Mars to this day, expected to stay in orbit until about the year 2022 when it will enter the planet’s surface and either burn up or crash into the surface.