The Silicon Underground

It was on September 28, 1998 that Internet Explorer passed Netscape in market share for the first time. It took just under three years for it to go from an afterthought in the Microsoft Plus pack to the dominant browser. And that was the beginning of the end for Netscape. Internet Explorer held the position until April 30, 2012, when Chrome passed it for the first time. They jockeyed for position until May 14, 2012, when Chrome emerged with the lead.

I keep flip-flopping on whether controlling the browser matters as much now as it did in 1998. But it mattered for different reasons in 1998.

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Irving Gould, born September 26, 1919, was a Canadian financier and chairman of Commodore International. Although it’s an oversimplification, journalist Robert X. Cringely dismissed the once high-flying computer company, which had 60% of the market in 1984, as Irving Gould’s stock scam.

Gould was a bit of an odd fit to be running a computer company. He knew finance, but admitted in 1988 that he didn’t know how to use a computer.

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On September 25, 1928, Motorola was founded. Retro computer enthusiasts think of Motorola as a CPU manufacturer, and to a lesser degree, perhaps as a computer manufacturer. But its primary line of business for the majority of its existence was another electronic device: radio.

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On September 24, 1998, Ebay held its IPO at $18 per share, reaching $53 per share in its first day, making founder Pierre Omidyar and president Jeffrey Skoll instant billionaires. Ebay’s first annual report listed the company’s dependence on the continued strength of the Beanie Baby market as a risk factor. Needless to say, Ebay overcame both the Beanie Baby bubble bursting and the dotcom bubble bursting, coming out on the other side as one of the few survivors of the dotcom era.

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The NEC V20 was an Intel 8088-compatible CPU that ran slightly faster. It was a niche CPU in the 1980s and 1990s but had a following as a cheap upgrade for power users, especially in instances where motherboard swaps were impractical. It’s popular with retro computing enthusiasts today, as a period-correct upgrade. On September 22, 1986, NEC prevailed over Intel in court, clearing the way to sell it.

The NEC V20 was pin-compatible with the Intel 8088 but included some unique forward and backward compatibility features. It included the 80186 instruction set and could also emulate the Intel 8080, in addition to being faster than the 8088.

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On September 15, 1998, Diamond Multimedia introduced an MP3 player, the Diamond Rio PMP300. It wasn’t the first MP3 player, but it made the MP3 player mainstream. I had one. It wasn’t exactly great, but I understand why the RIAA was afraid of it. That’s one of the main reasons I spent $200 to get one. I got mine so early the RIAA hadn’t been able to sue Diamond Multimedia yet.

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Apple fired Steve Jobs on September 16, 1985. Apple appointed him interim CEO exactly 11 years later, on September 16, 1996. Of course, Jobs later became permanent CEO, a position he held until 2011 when he resigned for health reasons.

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On September 16, 1975, the 6502 CPU made its debut. It was a simple, inexpensive processor designed and priced for everyone. The 6502 cost $25 when Intel’s closest equivalent cost $370. Unsurprisingly, its low price made it an immediate success and it ended up powering numerous computers and game consoles from the 1970s and 1980s.

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