Computer history - 2002

Updated: 08/16/2024 by Computer Hope

Major computer events in 2002

The "digital information age" was said to have begun in 2002, when the total amount of digitized information in the world exceeded traditional analog information.

The merger between Hewlett-Packard and Compaq was completed on May 3, 2002. The merged HP-Compaq company was officially launched on May 7, 2002.

eBay logo

PayPal was acquired by eBay on October 3, 2002.

2002 computer and technology top terms

The following are some top computer and technology-related terms in alphabetical order that were introduced or popularized in 2002.

New computer products and services introduced in 2002

Hewlett-Packard decided on January 2, 2002, to no longer offer the Apollo printer line.

In February 2002, Google released its first hardware device called the Google Search Appliance.

Valve released Valve Anti-Cheat for its Steam client.

Adobe Photoshop 7.0 was released in March 2002.

Gentoo was released on March 31, 2002.

According to a study released by consulting firm Gartner, approximately 1 billion PCs were shipped worldwide since the mid-'70s,

Microsoft released Excel 2002 in 2002.

Intel released the ATX (Advanced Technology eXtended) 2.1 revision in June 2002.

OpenOffice.org 1.0 was released in 2002.

Perl 5.8 was released on July 18, 2002.

Apple introduced macOS X 10.2, code-named Jaguar, and became available on August 23, 2002.

Blizzard announced StarCraft: Ghost on September 22, 2002.

The first code, which would later become Mozilla Firefox, was made available on September 23, 2002.

Rockstar North released Grand Theft Auto: Vice City for the PS2 and Xbox on October 29, 2002.

AOL (America Online) announced that AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) and ICQ would work together on November 3, 2002.

Microsoft released the Xbox Live service on November 15, 2002.

In December 2002, Google introduced Froogle, which allows users to search for stuff to buy. The service would later be renamed to Google Shopping.

The MKV (Matroska Multimedia Container) project began on December 6, 2002.

Microsoft released DirectX 9 on December 19, 2002.

On April 10, 2002, the SSL (Space Sciences Laboratory) at UC Berkeley launched BOINC (Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing). The middleware, an expansion of the SETI@home project, enables users all over the world to help solve important problems in science and mathematics.

The Arch Linux operating system was released in 2002.

A DSO (Data Source Object) exploit was discovered by GreyMagic Software on February 25, 2002, that dynamically inserts HTML (HyperText Markup Language) without using any active scripting.

Jira was introduced by Atlassian in 2002.

IBM introduced the eServer z800, a lower-priced, entry-class mainframe that fundamentally changed the economics of mainframe computing.

IBM announced the eServer p650, the world's most powerful eight-way Unix server.

IBM announced the IBM eServer i890, featuring mainframe-class technology and the company's game-changing POWER4 microprocessor.

Intuit introduced QuickBooks in 2002.

The programming language Io was introduced by Steve Dekorte in 2002.

10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GE, 10 GbE, or 10 GigE), also known as 802.3ae, was published in 2002.

TeamSpeak was released in 2002.

Computer and technology-related events in 2002

David Smith was sentenced on May 1, 2002, for the Melissa virus.

PCI Express was approved as a standard in 2002.

The first trackback was used on Movable Type in 2002.

A cartoon turtle named "Dewie" was introduced to help promote Internet safety and security.

FireWire 800 was released in 2002.

Iomega discontinued the Jaz drive in 2002.

Creative Commons flexible Copyright was introduced in 2002.

MMS (Multimedia Message Service) became supported by cell phones in 2002 with the release of the Sony Ericsson T68i.

Openbox was released for the X Window System in 2002.

The Scalix suite for Linux servers was released in 2002.

Ludicorp was founded in 2002 by Stewart Butterfield, Caterina Fake, and Jason Classon.

Computer companies and organizations founded in 2002

Aero Cool was established in 2002.

ASRock was established in 2002.

Be quiet! was founded in 2002 in Germany.

BullGuard was launched in 2002.

Carbon Black was founded in 2002.

GoPro was founded by Nick Woodman in 2002.

HyperX was founded as a division of Kingston Technology in 2002.

Major League Gaming was founded in 2002.

OCZ Technology was founded in 2002.

Proofpoint was founded in 2002.

Sonos was founded by Craig Shelburne, John MacFarlane, Tom Cullen, and Trung Mai in 2002.

Scythe was founded in 2002.

Computer company events in 2002

Valitek closed on February 2, 2002.

Sierra changed its name to Sierra Entertainment on February 19, 2002.

Excite@Home, one of the largest ISPs, filed for bankruptcy and closed its doors on March 2, 2002.

Napster filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on June 3, 2002.

WorldCom, the number 2 long-distance telephone and data service company, filed for bankruptcy on June 21, 2002.

Symantec acquired SecurityFocus on July 21, 2002, for approximately $75 million.

IBM purchased PwC (Pricewaterhouse Coopers) Consulting for $3.5 billion on July 30, 2002.

3D Labs was acquired by Creative Technology in June 2002.

PGP corporation announced PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) desktop and wireless assets were purchased from Network Associates on August 25, 2002.

Caldera International renamed itself into The SCO Group, Inc. in August 2002.

Dell entered the printer business with the help of Lexmark on September 29, 2002.

Roxio acquired the Napster name and logo in a bankruptcy auction on November 25, 2002.

Hitachi closed a deal to purchase IBM's hard drive operation for $2.05 billion on December 31, 2002.

ELSA Technology went out of business in 2002.

In 2002, Ontrack became part of Kroll.

OPTi went out of business in 2002.

Internet domains that came online in 2002

Linkedin.com domain was created on November 2, 2002.

Computer-related TV shows and movies released in 2002

In 2002, the movie S1m0ne was released, where a producer used a digitally created actress as a substitute for the star of a movie. The digital substitute was an overnight sensation everyone thought was real.

Discontinued products and services in 2002

The last episode of Computer Chronicles about the rise of the personal computer that was on air since 1983 was shown in 2002.

Computer pioneer deaths in 2002

Rudolf Hell

Rudolf Hell passed away on March 11, 2002 (Age: 101).

Ole-Johan Dahl passed away on June 29, 2002 (Age: 70).

John Cocke passed away on July 16, 2002. (Age: 77).

Edsger Dijkstra passed away on August 6, 2002 (Age: 72).

Kristen Nygaard passed away on August 10, 2002 (Age: 75).

Geoffrey Dummer passed away on September 9, 2002 (Age: 93).

Bob Wallace passed away on September 20, 2002 (Age: 53).

Keith Uncapher passed away on October 10, 2002 (Age: 80).

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