Computer history - 1979
Major computer events in 1979
CompuServe became the first commercial online service offering a dial-up connection to anyone on September 24, 1979.
The first commercial version of SQL (Structured Query Language) was introduced in 1979 by Oracle.
New computer products and services introduced in 1979
Epson released the MX-80, an industry standard for dot matrix printers, in 1979.
The Intel 8088 was released on June 1, 1979.
86-DOS was demonstrated in June 1979.
TI (Texas Instruments) entered the computer market with the TI 99/4 personal computer that sold for $1,500.
Hayes markets its first modem that became the industry standard for modems.
The programming language DoD-1 was officially changed to Ada.
The Motorola 68000, a 16/32-bit processor, was released and later chosen as the processor for the Apple Macintosh and Amiga computers.
The Compute! magazine was released in 1979.
IBM introduced the first disk drive to feature thin-film inductive heads and an RLL (run-length limited) coding scheme (IBM 3370).
IBM announced the 4300 processor, featuring multilayer ceramic packaging and 64 Kb memory chips for the densest packaging of memory and logic circuits in intermediate-sized IBM systems.
IBM released the 3279 color display terminal.
IBM introduced the 3287 color printer.
IBM DOS/VSE was introduced in 1979 as an extended version of DOS/VS.
Chroot was first utilized in developing Unix version 7 in 1979.
Mattel released the Intellivision home game console.
Kane Kramer invented the digital audio player.
Computer and technology-related events in 1979
Robert Williams of Michigan became the first human to be killed by a robot at the Ford Motors company on January 25, 1979. Resulting in a 10 million dollar lawsuit.
Atari introduced a coin-operated version of Asteroids in 1979.
More than half a million computers were in use in the United States.
Usenet was started in 1979.
Bjarne Stroustrup, a Danish computer scientist, began working on the programming language "C with classes," which became C++.
By 1979, the TRS-80 offered users the largest software selection available for a consumer microcomputer system.
Computer companies and organizations founded in 1979
3COM was founded in 1979 by Robert Metcalfe.
AAAI was founded in 1979.
ATEN was established in 1979.
Activision was founded in 1979.
EMC Corporation was founded in 1979.
A technology consulting firm in Washington, D.C., known as Network Solutions, was established in 1979.
Inc. Magazine was founded in 1979.
The Intertec Superbrain microcomputer was released by Intertec Data Systems.
Bit 3 was founded in 1979.
Micro Center was founded in 1979.
Novell Data System was established as an operating system developer in 1979. Later, in 1983, the company became the Novell company.
Phoenix was founded in 1979.
Pixar started in 1979 as The Graphics Group.
Printronix was founded in 1979.
Saitek was founded in 1979.
SCO was founded in 1979.
Seagate was founded in 1979.
Sierra was founded in 1979.
Software Arts Incorporated in 1979, and its product VisiCalc became the first electronic spreadsheet and PC business program.
Tandberg Data was founded in 1979.
Televideo was founded in 1979.
Computer company events in 1979
Zenith acquired Heathkit and created ZDS (Zenith Data Systems) in 1979.
Computer pioneers born in 1979
Brian Tong was born on April 2, 1979.
Nathan Emberton was born on May 7, 1979.
Markus Persson was born on June 1, 1979.
David Hansson was born on October 15, 1979.
Andrew McCollum was born on December 26, 1979.
Dan Kaminsky was born in 1979.
Jawed Karim was born in 1979.
Peter Eckersley was born in 1979.
Computer pioneer deaths in 1979
Steven Coons passed away in August 1979 (Age: 67).
Herman Lukoff passed away on September 24, 1979 (Age: 56).