Retro Computing Archives

Google incorporated September 4, 1998

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing September 4, 2025September 4, 2025

On September 4th, 1998, Google incorporated in California. Even if you are not a fan, and make no mistake, I am not, you have to admit Google left its mark on the Internet. It fundamentally changed the Internet in numerous ways, some of them bad, but some of them very good.

Google’s highly anticipated 2004 IPO valued the company at over $23 billion and it marked the beginning of the recovery from the dotcom bust.

Dave Farquhar

David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He has written professionally about computers since 1991, so he was writing about retro computers when they were still new. He has been working in IT professionally since 1994 and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He holds Security+ and CISSP certifications. Today he blogs five times a week, mostly about retro computers and retro gaming covering the time period from 1975 to 2000.

dfarq.homeip.net

Wayne Green, computer journalism pioneer

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing September 3, 2025September 3, 2025

Computer journalism pioneer Wayne Green was born 103 years ago on this day, September 3, 1922. Green founded several different magazines, computer and otherwise, some of which ended up competing with each other.

Dave Farquhar

dfarq.homeip.net

Anandtech shut down abruptly, August 30, 2024

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing August 29, 2025June 29, 2025

At the end of August 2024, Anandtech shut down rather suddenly and unexpectedly, ending a run that dated back to April 3, 1997. I thought about writing something at the time, but really needed longer to collect my thoughts. Now that a year has passed, I think it’s time.

Dave Farquhar

dfarq.homeip.net

TEAC founded in 1953, sort of

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing August 28, 2025August 28, 2025

On August 29, 1953, the Tokyo Television Acoustic Company was founded. Later in the decade it merged with the Tokyo Electro-Acoustic Company, and the combined company took the name TEAC. The combined company specialized in designing and manufacturing tape recorders. But retro computer enthusiasts know TEAC for its awesome floppy disk drives.

Dave Farquhar

dfarq.homeip.net

Digg v4 and lessons not learned

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing August 27, 2025August 27, 2025

Digg was a high flying news aggregation site from the early web 2.0 era that still exists today, but really in name only. It serves as a cautionary too for why high profile websites tend not to make major changes overnight. A major update, Digg v4, introduced August 25, 2010, caused the site to implode over the course of about 6 weeks during the late summer of 2010. Contemporary tech CEOs would do well to read up on it lest they repeat history.

Digg went from concept to being worth $200 million in about three years and was more popular than Reddit, which is now a $15 billion company. One ill fated change wiped out 90% of its value and its user base in a matter of six weeks.

Dave Farquhar

dfarq.homeip.net

Intel Celeron 300A introduced August 24, 1998

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing August 26, 2025April 15, 2026

On August 24, 1998, Intel introduced its Celeron 300A processor. It wasn’t the first Celeron, but depending on who you ask, it was the first one worth having. The Celeron was a cut-down Pentium II, designed in response to pricing pressures from AMD. But it turned out not just to be a budget CPU. It drew a surprising response from enthusiasts.

Dave Farquhar

dfarq.homeip.net

Windows 95 released August 24, 1995

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing, Windows August 25, 2025August 25, 2025

It was on August 24, 1995 that Windows 95 was released, amidst much anticipation. It was the most widely anticipated Windows release of all time, and the runner up really isn’t close. The idea of people lining up for blocks for a Microsoft product sounds like a bit of a joke today, and the more time goes on, the bigger of a joke it becomes. But I’m serious that in 1995 it happened.

Dave Farquhar

dfarq.homeip.net

Microsoft QuickBasic remembered

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing August 21, 2025August 21, 2025

Microsoft QuickBasic was a commercially available programming language for MS-DOS, initially released August 18, 1985. Qbasic, the Basic interpreter included with MS-DOS versions 5 and 6, was a cut-down version of QuickBasic. Most notably, the bundled version lacked the ability to compile programs into standalone executable files. But otherwise, the two were compatible.

Dave Farquhar

dfarq.homeip.net

What happened to Egghead Software

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing August 19, 2025December 24, 2025

Egghead Software was a US retail store that sold computer software from 1984 to 2001. It declared bankruptcy 24 years ago this week, on August 18, 2001, after an attempted transition to selling online failed.

Dave Farquhar

dfarq.homeip.net

When the Internet reached half of US households

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing August 18, 2025June 19, 2025

August 17, 2000 was a major milestone for the Internet. You could argue it’s the day the Internet went mainstream, completing the transition from something computer science students used in college to something their parents would use to buy books and offbeat collectibles. It was the day Nielson announced that the Internet had reached half of US households.

Dave Farquhar

dfarq.homeip.net