| Year | Event |
| 1980 | On January 3 Hewlett Packard introduces its HP-85. A microcomputer with 16kB of RAM and a 5-inch CRT display. |
| 1980 | IBM hires Paul Allen and Bill Gates to create an operating system for a new PC. The pair buy the rights to a simple operating system manufactured by Seattle Computer Products and use it as a template. IBM allows the two to keep the marketing rights to the operating system, called DOS. |
| 1980 | IBM hires Microsoft to develop versions of BASIC, FORTRAN, COBOL, and Pascal for the PC being developed by IBM. |
| 1980 | Microsoft licenses Unix and starts to develop a PC version, XENIX. |
| 1980 | The programming language FORTRAN 77 is created. |
| 1980 | The first Tandy Color computer is introduced. |
| 1980 | AST is founded. |
| 1980 | Atari becomes the first company to register a Copyright for two computer games "Asteroids" and "Lunar Landar" on June 17, 1980. |
| 1980 | FIC is founded. |
| 1980 | Iomega is established. |
| 1980 | Quantum is founded. |
| 1981 | Diskeeper is founded on July 22, 1981. |
| 1981 | MS-DOS 1.0 was released August, 1981. |
| 1981 | American National Standards Institute more commonly known as ANSI was founded. |
| 1981 | IBM joins the computer race by
announcing the IBM Personal Computer on August 12, 1981, which runs the new MS-DOS operating system and has a starting price of $1,565. |
| 1981 | Kermit is developed at the Columbia University in New York |
| 1981 | Xerox introduces the graphical Star workstation. This computer greatly influences the development of Apples future computer models, Lisa and Macintosh, as well as Microsofts Windows. |
| 1981 | VHDL is proposed and begins development. |
| 1981 | VMEbus is developed. |
| 1981 | Hayes Introduces the Smartmodem 300 with its standard setting AT command set and an operating speed of 300 bits per second. |
| 1981 | Adam Osborne introduces the Osborne I, the first successful portable computer, which weighs 25 pounds. |
| 1981 | Hewlett-Packard Superchip the first 32-bit chip is introduced. |
| 1981 | Commodore ships the VIC-20, which later becomes the worlds most popular computer costing only $299.95. |
| 1981 | Logitech is founded in Apples, Switzerland. |
| 1981 | Adaptec is founded. |
| 1981 | BITNET is founded. |
| 1981 | Gemlight is founded. |
| 1981 | Hayes releases the Smartmodem 1200 with transfer rates of 1,200 bits per second. |
| 1981 | CTX is established. |
| 1981 | Kensington is founded. |
| 1982 | Peter Norton creates Norton Utilities. |
| 1982 | Sony releases its first Trinitron monitor. |
| 1982 | SGI is founded. |
| 1982 | The Intel 80286 processor is first released on February 1, 1982. |
| 1982 | Maxtor is founded. |
| 1982 | Hercules is founded. |
| 1982 | Labtec is founded. |
| 1982 | Disney releases the movie Tron on July 9, 1982, the first movie to use computer generated special effects. |
| 1982 | Number Nine is founded. |
| 1982 | Symantec is founded. |
| 1982 | Jack Kilby is inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. |
| 1982 | Microsoft releases FORTRAN for the PC COBOL for MS-DOS, and Multiplan for the Apple II and CP / M machines. |
| 1982 | Microsoft establishes a subsidiary in England to begin foreign sales efforts. |
| 1982 | WordPerfect Corporation introduces WordPerfect 1.0 a word processing program that will become one of the computer markets most popular word processing program. |
| 1982 | The first luggable computer is introduced. |
| 1982 | Sun is incorporated in February 1982, with four employees. |
| 1982 | Lotus Development Corporation is founded and Lotus 1-2-3, a spreadsheet program is introduced. |
| 1982 | Compaq Computer Corp. is founded by Rod Canion and other Texas Instruments Incorporated engineers. Compaq is the first company to introduce a clone of the IBM PC (the Compaq Portable in 1983) and become IBMs biggest challenger in the corporate market. |
| 1982 | The Commodore 64 begins to be sold with 64 kilobytes of random-access memory and containing Microsoft BASIC and dropping in price from $600 to $200 allows it to become the best-selling computer of all time. |
| 1982 | Diamond Multimedia is founded. |
| 1982 | The HX-20 becomes the first notebook-sized portable computer is introduced by Epson. |
| 1982 | MS-DOS version 1.25 is released. |
| 1982 | Apple Computer is the first personal computer manufacturer to hit the $1 billion mark for annual sales. |
| 1982 | Adobe is founded. |
| 1982 | BTC is founded |
| 1982 | The XT bus is introduced. |
| 1982 | Rich Skrenta a 15-year old high school student creates the first known computer virus known as The Elk Cloner. |
| 1983 | The IBM XT is first introduced on March 8, 1983. |
| 1983 | The first Apple WWDC is held. |
| 1983 | Compaq introduces the first 100% IBM compatible computer the "Compaq Portable" in March of 1983. |
| 1983 |
BSD 4.2 is released and introduces
pseudo terminals. |
| 1983 | Zoran is founded. |
| 1983 | Paul Allen leaves Microsoft. |
| 1983 | The Time magazine nominates the personal computer as the "machine of the year", the first non-human ever nominated. |
| 1983 |
The 414s, a group of hackers are caught by the FBI. |
| 1983 | Interplay is founded. |
| 1983 | The Apple IIe is introduced. The computer contains 64 kilobytes of RAM one megahertz 6502 processor and running Applesoft BASIC and sells for $1,400. |
| 1983 | ARPANET standardizes TCP/IP. |
| 1983 | Tandy, Epson and NEC all sell notebook computers however only the Tandys model 100 becomes popular because of its low price of $499. |
| 1983 | THX is established. |
| 1983 | More than 10 million computers are in use in the United States. |
| 1983 | MS-DOS 2.0 was released March, 1983. |
| 1983 | True BASIC is created and is a compiled, structured language. It doesn't require line numbers, as the original BASIC did, and includes the advanced control structures necessary for structured programming. |
| 1983 | The QIC Standard becomes the first standard in the computer history for tape drives. |
| 1983 | Microsoft Windows was announced November, 1983 |
| 1984 | Docutel/Olivetti introduce the Olivetti PC, compatible with the IBM PC on January 3. |
| 1984 | On January 4th Netherlands Antilles issues a 45-cent postage stamp of a computer making a newspaper. |
| 1984 | Hitachi announces it has developed the first memory chip capable of holding 1MB on January 5th. |
| 1984 | IBM's AT computer is introduced. |
| 1984 | The MUD was known as MAD becomes the first global MUD and runs across BITNET. |
| 1984 | IBM introduces its first portable computer, the IBM Portable weighing in at 30 pounds. |
| 1984 | SETI is founded. |
| 1984 | ESS Technologies is founded. |
| 1984 | Guillemot is founded. |
| 1984 | Amiga is purchased by Commodore Business Machines on August 15th. |
| 1984 | Bill Gates is featured on the cover of Time magazine. |
| 1984 | The 3.5-inch floppy diskette is introduced and later becomes an industry standard. |
| 1984 | Dell Computer is founded May 3, 1984 in Austin Texas. |
| 1984 | Paul Mockapetris and Jon Postel introduce DNS. |
| 1984 | The now famous Apple commercial is shown during the Super Bowl, the commercial introduces the Apple Macintosh, a computer with graphical user interface instead of needing to type in commands. In six months sales of the computer reach 100,000. |
| 1984 | Apple AppleTalk networking protocol is introduced. |
| 1984 | Dhrystone is developed. |
| 1984 | IBM develops EGA. |
| 1984 | The computer Museum opens in downtown Boston. |
| 1984 | Microsoft introduces MS-DOS 3.0 for the IBM PC AT and MS-DOS 3.1 for networks. |
| 1984 | The Tandy 1000 personal computer is introduced and becomes the best-selling IBM-compatible computer of the year. |
| 1984 | IBM introduces the Enhanced Graphics Adapter (EGA) video card with higher resolution, more colors, and a quicker response then previous video cards. |
| 1984 | University of Southern California professor Fred Cohen creates alarm when he warns the public about computer viruses in his Computer Virus - Theory and Experiments paper. |
| 1984 |
The term cyberspace is first used and
coined by William Gibson in his book Neuromancer. |
| 1984 | The beginning of the greatest adventure computer gaming series is released by Sierra. Kings Quest 1: Quest for the crown is released to the public. |
| 1984 | The Yellow book of CD-ROM standards is written. |
| 1984 | Cirrus is established. |
| 1984 | ISA is expanded to 16-bit capability. |
| 1985 | On January 4th at CES, Commodore introduces the Commodore 128 PC with 8502 processor 128 kB of RAM and ROM cartridge port. |
| 1985 | On January 4th at CES, Atari introduces the Atari 130XE, 130ST, 260ST, 520ST, 65XE, 65XEM, and 65XEP computers. |
| 1985 | The GNU manifesto is published by Dr. Dobb's Journal |
| 1985 | Software Arts assets are sold to Lotus. Software Arts is most well known for its VisiCalc program. |
| 1985 | The Amiga aka A1000 is introduced.. |
| 1985 | PNY Technologies is founded. |
| 1985 | Dell releases its first computer, the "Turbo PC." |
| 1985 | Titus Interactive is founded. |
| 1985 | Microtek introduces the world's first 300-dpi black-and-white sheetfed scanner. |
| 1985 | Quantum Computer Services is founded, this company later becomes AOL. |
| 1985 | Microsoft and IBM begin collaboration on the next-generation operating system (OS/2). |
| 1985 | The computer company Gateway 2000 is founded in Siox City, Iowa on September 5, 1985. |
| 1985 | CAT1 wiring is introduced. |
| 1985 | Intel introduces the 80386 in October. |
| 1985 | Paul Brainard of Aldus Corporation introduces Pagemaker for the Macintosh, a program that lets users mix type and graphics on the same page. The combination of this software and the new Apple LaserWriter laser printer helps create the desktop publishing field. |
| 1985 | The Mach Project begins at the Carnegie Mellon University. |
| 1985 | IBM develops NetBEUI. |
| 1985 | Microsoft Windows 1.0 is introduced in November, 1985 and is initially sold for $100.00. |
| 1985 | The Nintendo Entertainment System makes its debut. |
| 1985 | ATI is founded. |
| 1985 | Boca is established. |
| 1985 | Corel is founded. |
| 1985 | Gravis is founded. |
| 1986 | The Hacker Manifesto is published in Phrack (Volume One, Issue 7, Phile 3 of 10) on January 8, 1986. |
| 1986 |
The term vaporware is first used by
Philip Elmer-DeWitt in a TIME magazine article. |
| 1986 | Gigabyte is founded. |
| 1986 | Pixar is co-founded by Steve Jobs. |
| 1986 | Apple introduces the Mac Plus. The computer contained one megabyte of RAM, new keyboard that contained cursors and numeric keypad and sold for $2,600. |
| 1986 | The AT or 101 key keyboard is introduced by IBM. |
| 1986 | Compaq introduces the first 386-based PC compatible computer. |
| 1986 | The NCSA opens. |
| 1986 | Microsoft is listed on the New York Stock Exchange selling shares to the public at $21 each, making Bill Gates one of the worlds youngest billionaires. |
| 1986 | More than 30 million computers are in use in the United States. |
| 1986 | MS-DOS 3.2 was released April, 1986. |
| 1986 | IMAP is developed by Stanford University. |
| 1986 | Eric Thomas develops the first Listserv. |
| 1986 | NSFNET is created. |
| 1986 | BITNET II is created. |
| 1986 | IBM PCD announces it's first laptop computer, the PC Convertible, weighing 12 pounds. |
| 1986 | CD-i format is specified. |
| 1986 | Aztech is established. |
| 1986 | Avid is established. |
| 1987 | Oak Technology is founded. |
| 1987 | CompuServe introduces the GIF standard and images. |
| 1987 | RealTek is founded October 1987. |
| 1987 | Robert Noyce is awarded the National Medal of Technology. |
| 1987 | Microsoft purchases Forethought Incorporated. The company that developed the presentation software PowerPoint. |
| 1987 | Microsoft introduces Windows 2.0 in December 9, 1987. |
| 1987 | Microsoft introduces Microsoft Works. |
| 1987 | VIA Technologies is founded. |
| 1987 | Microsoft and IBM release OS/2 1.0. |
| 1987 | The Mac SE is introduced at $2,900. |
| 1987 | Chipsets begin to be found on computer motherboards. |
| 1987 | IBM introduces the PS/2 personal computer that has improved graphics, a 3.5-inch diskette drive, and proprietary bus to help prevent clone makers competition, and a bidirectional 8-bit port. |
| 1987 | IBM sends clone manufacturers letters demanding retroactive licensing fees. |
| 1987 | IBM develops 8514/A. |
| 1987 | MS-DOS 3.3 was released April, 1987. |
| 1987 | IBM introduces MCA. |
| 1987 | Microsoft Shares hits $100 per share. |
| 1987 | Apogee is founded, Apogee is well known for its computer games as well as the company who first released a 'Shareware' game. |
| 1987 | The SPARC processor is first introduced by Sun. |
| 1987 | IBM introduces VGA. |
| 1987 | Larry Wall introduces Perl 1.0 |
| 1987 | Elitegroup Computer Systems is established. |
| 1988 | Apple files a copyright infringement against Microsoft for Windows 2.03 and Hewlett Packard for New Wave in comparison with their Macintosh operating system. |
| 1988 | About 45 million PCs are in use in the United States. |
| 1988 | SNMP is introduced. |
| 1988 |
Robert Morris, a twenty-three year old programmer releases a
worm onto ARPANET
that disables roughly 6,000 computers. |
| 1988 | First T-1 backbone is added to ARPANET. |
| 1988 | Xircom is founded. |
| 1988 | Bitnet and CSNET merge to create CREN. |
| 1988 | Trend Micro is founded. |
| 1988 | Creative Labs introduces the SoundBlaster, a sound card for the PC that contains an 11-voice FM synthesizer with text-to-speech, digitized voice input / output, a MIDI port, a joystick port and bundled software. |
| 1988 | Jarkko Oikarinen develops IRC |
| 1988 | EISA is announced in September as an alternative to MCA. |
| 1988 | Motorola releases the 88000 processor. |
| 1988 | NTP is introduced. |
| 1988 | Intel 80386SX is introduced. |
| 1988 | Promise is founded. |
| 1988 | OSF is founded. |
| 1988 | Morphing is first introduced in the movie Willow. |
| 1988 | MS-DOS 4.0 was released July, 1988. |
| 1988 | MS-DOS 4.01 was released November, 1988. |
| 1989 | GriD Systems Corporation introduces the first pen-based computer. |
| 1989 | PCMCIA trade association is founded. |
| 1989 | ActionFront is founded. |
| 1989 | EPoX is founded. |
| 1989 | The Gif89a standard is introduced. |
| 1989 | ABIT is founded. |
| 1989 | Fred Cohen is awarded the Information Technology Award. |
| 1989 | Intel releases the 486DX processor, with more than 1 million transistors and multitasking capabilities. |
| 1989 | Orange book is released by Philips and Sony. |
| 1989 | Poqet announces the Poqet PC the first pocket-sized MS-DOS compatible computer.../history/198090.htm |
| 1989 | Asus is founded. |
| 1989 | The networking routing protocol OSPF is introduced. |
| 1989 | Citrix is founded. |
| 1989 | S3 Inc. is founded. |
