Netscape: The IPO that went boom on its way up and down

Netscape: The IPO that went boom on its way up and down

The early star of the dot-com boom wasn’t Amazon or Ebay, it was Netscape, a company who produced a web browser of the same name. It went boom high and it went boom fast as it rose. And when it fell, it went boom hard and loud. Its IPO on August 9, 1995 launched the dot-com bubble. In this blog post, I’ll explain why it was pretty much doomed by the time it went public.

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Why Microsoft invested $150 million in Apple in 1997

Why Microsoft invested $150 million in Apple in 1997

On August 6, 1997, Apple and Microsoft reached a truce, to the tune of $150 million. At an Apple event, the two companies announced Microsoft invested $150 million in Apple, leaving everyone wondering why. The whole event had a weird vibe to it and probably was just as confusing today as it is now. In this blog post, I’ll explore what was in the deal for both of them.

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Ebay’s 1995 debut

Ebay’s 1995 debut

The eBay domain name was registered 31 years ago today, on August 4, 1995. But the site we know today as Ebay didn’t launch until almost month later, September 3, 1995, under a different name. Auctionweb, the original name for Ebay, was a side project. From these humble beginnings came one of the few survivors of the dotcom era.

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Radio Shack’s TRS-80: Introduced Aug 3, 1977

Radio Shack’s TRS-80: Introduced Aug 3, 1977

When Radio Shack announced its TRS-80 Model 1 on Aug 3, 1977, designer Steve Leininger thought they could sell 50,000 units. Tandy executives didn’t believe him. But the response overwhelmed the company, and 250,000 people put their money where their mouth was, paying $100 to get on a waiting list to buy one.

At the time, the median price of a Radio Shack product was $30. A TRS-80 bundled with a CRT display and tape drive cost $599 and was the most expensive product they had ever sold.

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The Caldera-SCO merger of 2000

The Caldera-SCO merger of 2000

On August 2, 2000, a second-tier Linux vendor acquired a struggling Unix vendor. The merger received some press, but if you weren’t really following Linux at the time, it would have been easy enough to miss. But the merger of Caldera and SCO created a litigation monster.

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Windows NT 4.0: Released to Manufacturing July 31, 1996

Windows NT 4.0: Released to Manufacturing July 31, 1996

It was 30 years ago this week, on July 31, 1996, that Microsoft released Windows NT 4.0 to manufacturing. The workstation version appeared on store shelves a month later, with the server version following in September. In many ways, version 4 was a breakthrough release for the technology. Let’s take a moment to look back at what made Windows NT 4.0 such a breakthrough.

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When Nintendo sued Blockbuster

When Nintendo sued Blockbuster

Here’s a late ’80s memory you may not have thought about in a while. Do you remember going to the video rental store to rent a video game and getting the cartridge but not getting the instruction booklet? The reason video stores would rent you a cartridge without instructions dates back to events that started in late July 1989, when Nintendo sued Blockbuster.

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Clive Sinclair: a US perspective

Clive Sinclair: a US perspective

Who did more than any other person in history to make computers affordable? My nomination goes to Sir Clive Sinclair, who was born July 30, 1940. And I’m an American who never used one of his computers.

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IBM PS/2 E: The first Energy Star computer

IBM PS/2 E: The first Energy Star computer

On June 29, 1993, IBM released the first energy star computer, the IBM PS/2 E. The “E” stood for energy. But while it was undeniably more efficient than other desktop PCs, arguably it was a PS/2 in name only. To make the PS/2 E more efficient, IBM used a mashup of technology, including but not limited to borrowing technology from its Thinkpad laptops. To celebrate its green nature, IBM adorned it with a big green stripe across the front. Yes, the stripe was green, not the traditional IBM blue.

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Advantages and disadvantages of Windows NT 3.1

Advantages and disadvantages of Windows NT 3.1

I’ve talked a lot about the advantages and disadvantages of old milestone operating systems. But what were the advantages and disadvantages of Windows NT 3.1, first released July 27, 1993? That’s a fair question, and there are valid reasons it proved transformational even though it initially did anything but take the world by storm.

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