Computer history - 2008

Updated: 02/04/2024 by Computer Hope

Major computer events in 2008

Google Android logo

On September 23, 2008, T-Mobile launched the G1 (HTC Dream), the first smartphone to use Google's new operating system for mobile devices, Android version 1.0.

Apple launched the App Store, a software market for iOS devices.

On October 11, 2008, Google launched Android Market, an online software market for Android devices. It would later be combined with two other Google markets (Google Music and Google eBookstore) to become Google Play.

Google released the first public version of the Chrome web browser on December 11, 2008.

2008 computer and technology top terms

The following are some top computer and technology-related terms in alphabetical order that were introduced or popularized during 2008.

New computer products and services introduced in 2008

The first official release of Adobe AIR, version 1.0, was released on February 25, 2008.

Microsoft released the WWT (Worldwide Telescope), an application for viewing astronomical data, on February 27, 2008.

Microsoft released Windows Server 2008 on February 27, 2008.

DirecTV launched the DXI satellite in March 2008.

Intel Q9300 Core 2 Quad CPU.

Intel released the Core 2 Quad processor Q9300 and the Core 2 Quad processor Q9450 in March 2008.

Intel released the Core 2 Duo processor E4700 (2 MB cache, 2.60 GHz, 800 MHz FSB) on March 2, 2008.

AMD released the first Phenom X3 processors (2 MB cache, 2.1 GHz to 2.5 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB) on March 27, 2008.

Intel released the Core 2 Duo E7200 (3 MB cache, 2.53 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB) on April 20, 2008.

Rockstar North released Grand Theft Auto IV for the PS3 and Xbox 360 on April 29, 2008.

Google released the Google Cloud Platform in April 2008.

Apple released the iPhone 3G and MobileMe and that .Mac would be converted to MobileMe on June 9, 2008.

The iOS App Store was launched on July 10, 2008.

Hyper-V was released by Microsoft on July 26, 2008.

Intel released the Core 2 Quad processor Q8200, the Core 2 Quad processor Q9400, and the Core 2 Quad processor Q9650 in August 2008.

Intel released the Core 2 Duo processor E7300 (3 MB cache, 2.66 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB) on August 10, 2008.

Apple introduced its latest line of Apple iMac computers on August 28, 2008.

Google released the beta version of Chrome on September 2, 2008.

Wayland was released in September 2008.

Bitcoin, a cryptocurrency, was proposed by Satoshi Nakamoto in October 2008.

Adobe Photoshop CS4 (11.0) was released on October 15, 2008.

Arduino released the Duemilanove on October 18, 2008.

Intel released the Core2 Duo processor E7400 (3 MB cache, 2.80 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB) on October 19, 2008.

Google introduced Google Market on October 22, 2008. The service became the Google Play Store (app store).

On November 12, 2008, USB 3.0 was released, allowing USB (universal serial bus) data transfer rates up to 5 Gbps.

In December 2008, gedit was released for the Windows and macOS X operating systems as open-source software.

Intel released the first Core i7 desktop processors in November 2008: the i7-920, the i7-940, and the i7-965 Extreme Edition.

The e-learning platform Canvas was released in 2008.

Microsoft released Excel 2008 for Mac in 2008.

Microsoft released Word 2008 for Mac in 2008.

The Gaikai cloud gaming service was founded in November 2008.

3GPP announced the first standard for LTE (Long-Term Evolution) networks.

The website Stack Overflow was released in 2008.

The BeagleBoard was introduced in 2008.

Google Forms was released in 2008.

Hootsuite was released in 2008.

The programming language Reia was introduced in 2008.

The Life360 smartphone app was introduced in 2008.

MagicJack was introduced in 2008.

Microsoft released the first iteration of the Arc Mouse in 2008.

Nimrod (later renamed Nim) was introduced in 2008.

Savefrom.net came online in 2008.

Tarsnap began being developed in 2008.

The Shazam app was released in 2008.

The Apple macOS feature Time Machine was introduced in 2008.

The optimization software named Bleachbit was released in 2008.

Dell released the XPS 630, XPS 730, and Studio XPS 435MT in 2008.

The Ubuntu-based operating system Zorin OS was introduced in 2008.

Computer and technology-related events in 2008

NVIDIA launched the first Tegra mobile processor, the Tegra APX 2500, on February 12, 2008.

The National Cybersecurity Center was founded in March 2008.

Amazon acquired Audible for $300 million in March 2008.

Netscape, 1994-2008.

AOL (America Online) ended support for the Netscape Internet browser on March 1, 2008.

Intel announced the Atom family of low-voltage CPUs (central processing unit) on March 2, 2008.

The video streaming service Hulu, owned by NBC, was launched on March 12, 2008.

As of April 2008, ISATAP (Intra-Site Automatic Tunnel Addressing Protocol) was implemented in the Linux operating system kernel, beginning with Linux-2.6.25.

IBM launched its 115,000-square-foot "greenest" data center in Boulder, Colorado, on June 17, 2008.

The ATSC approved H.264 to be broadcast over television in July 2008.

On August 14, 2008, the W32.Gammima.AG worm snuck itself onto the International Space Station and became the first known computer virus to travel into space.

Computer scientist Leonard Kleinrock was awarded the National Medal of Science on September 29, 2008, for his contributions to packet switching, ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network), and developing the Internet.

On June 30, 2008, technology publisher CNET was acquired by CBS Interactive for $1.8 billion.

The the external version of the iSight camera was discontinued on October 13, 2008.

Iona Technologies was acquired by Progress Software in 2008.

Polaroid discontinued its instant film cameras in 2008 when digital cameras took over.

Sigmatel was purchased by Freescale Semiconductor in 2008.

SteelSeries acquired Ideazon in 2008.

Wi-Fi Direct was created in 2008.

Computer companies and organizations founded in 2008

GitHub was founded in April 2008.

Airbnb was founded in August 2008.

Asana was founded in 2008.

GELID Solutions was founded in 2008 by Gebhard Scherrer and VC Tran.

Instructure was founded by Brian Whitmer and Daley in 2008.

LastPass was introduced in 2008 by Marvasol.

Livedrive was founded in December 2008 by Andrew Michael.

RescueTime was founded in 2008.

Spotify was introduced in 2008.

Espressif was founded in 2008.

Telikin was founded in 2008.

Twilio was founded in 2008.

Computer company events in 2008

Acer officially acquired Packard Bell on January 31, 2008.

Nokia acquired Symbian, and most of Symbian OS's source code was released under the open-source EPL (Eclipse Public License). In 2011, the source was placed under the proprietary Nokia Symbian License.

EMC announced it would acquire Iomega on April 8, 2008.

Maxdata filed insolvency proceedings at the Local Court in Essen on Wednesday, June 25, 2008.

Linspire was acquired by the Xandros, Inc. company on July 2, 2008.

Activision announced it had agreed to a merger with Blizzard on July 8, 2008, to form Activision Blizzard, a deal estimated at $18.9 billion.

In July 2008, Phoenix Technologies acquired General Software Inc.

On September 11, 2008, Sony announced it took over NEC's 45% share, making Optiarc a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony, to be called Sony Optiarc.

AMD announced on October 7, 2008, it planned to go fabless.

Infogrames completed its takeover of Atari Inc. on October 9, 2008.

XM and Sirius completed its merger and began broadcasting both services as one November 12, 2008.

Tweeter filed for bankruptcy in November 2008.

Universal ABIT was officially closed on December 31, 2008, and ceased to exist on January 1, 2009.

AddThis was acquired by Clearspring Technologies.

Activision announced Sierra was closed and up for sale in 2008.

Amptron went out of business in 2008.

In 2008, Enterasys became part of Siemens.

Gericom was bought by Quanmax in 2008.

In 2008, Vivitar became a brand of Sakar International, Inc.

In 2008, Microsoft attempted to purchase Yahoo! for over $44 billion. The deal would fall through after it was believed that the offer was too low. Yahoo! would later sell to Verizon for less in 2017.

Discontinued products and services in 2008

The HD player war ended when HD DVD called it quits, making Blu-ray the victor on February 19, 2008.

The first social networking site bolt.com, officially shut down in October 2008.

Intel last revised Viiv in 2008 with its release of 1.7 and announced it had no further plans for development.

Computer pioneer deaths in 2008

Joshua Lederberg

Joshua Lederberg passed away on February 2, 2008 (Age: 73).

Joseph Weizenbaum passed away on March 5, 2008 (Age: 85).

Arthur C. Clark passed away on March 19, 2008 (Age: 91).

Morgan Sparks passed away on May 3, 2008 (Age: 91).

Arthur Walter Burks passed away on May 14, 2008 (Age: 93).

Randy Pausch passed away on July 25, 2008 (Age: 47).

Edwin Turney passed away on October 15, 2008 (Age: 79).

Oliver Selfridge passed away on December 3, 2008 (Age: 82).

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