Computers

February 1, 1982

The Intel 80286 processor is introduced in 6 and 8 MHz versions. It was employed for the IBM PC/AT, introduced in 1984, and then widely used in most PC/AT compatible computers until the early 1990s. The “286”, as it was most commonly called, paved the way for the PC (and now Macintosh) as we know it today.

January 30, 2007

Six years after the launch of Windows XP, the infamous operating system, Windows Vista, was released to an unsuspecting public. For various reasons, the launch of Vista was marred by numerous incompatibility, stability, and otherwise onerous problems. While Microsoft actually made Vista much more palatable after 2 Service Pack upgrades, the damage was already done. Vista’s reputation never recovered. Many wonder if this is why Microsoft so quickly followed only two years later with Windows 7.

January 30, 1982

Richard Skrenta writes the first PC virus code, which is 400 lines long and disguised as an Apple II boot program called “Elk Cloner“.

January 28, 1998

Radio Shack partners exclusively with Compaq rather than IBM to sell PCs throughout their 7,000 stores. Six years later, IBM sold its PC division to the Chinese company Lenovo. Compaq was the exclusive PC sold in Radio Shack stores for many years.