Intel Celeron 300A introduced August 24, 1998

Intel Celeron 300A introduced August 24, 1998

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.

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Windows 95 released August 24, 1995

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.

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Microsoft QuickBasic remembered

Microsoft QuickBasic remembered

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.

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What happened to Egghead Software

What happened to Egghead Software

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.

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When the Internet reached half of US households

When the Internet reached half of US households

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.

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Internet Explorer first released August 16, 1995

Internet Explorer first released August 16, 1995

It was 29 years ago this week that Microsoft introduced Internet Explorer. It was almost an afterthought, just one of the components in the Windows 95 Plus pack, along with additional themes and a 3D pinball game. But things change, to say the least.

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Red Hat’s successful 1999 IPO

Red Hat’s successful 1999 IPO

It was 26 years ago this week, on Aug 11, 1999, that Red Hat, the Linux vendor, conducted its IPO. It was not the biggest IPO of 1999, and it wasn’t even the biggest Linux-related IPO of 1999. But Red Hat was one of the survivors of the dotcom era, exiting as a result of an acquisition more than 20 years later. Investors may have initially been divided on the company but in the end the naysayers were wrong.

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How many IBM PCs were sold

How many IBM PCs were sold

When it comes to the question of how many IBM PCs were sold, the numbers I hear are all over the place. I’ve heard 3 million, 60 million, and several numbers in between. In this blog post, I’ll uncover the reason there are so many conflicting numbers.

But if I tell you IBM initially only expected to sell 1,000 units in its first six months after its August 12, 1981 release, you probably won’t believe me.

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The first pirated MP3

The first pirated MP3

MP3 piracy was born August 10, 1996. That day, a pirate using the handle of Netfrack released a copy of Metallica’s Until it Sleeps for free download on IRC, an Internet protocol intended for chat, not file sharing.

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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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