David L. Farquhar on technology old and new, computer security, and more
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.
On September 17, 1993, just seven and a half months before it went bankrupt, Commodore trotted out one last new product: the Amiga CD32. It was a 32-bit game console based on the Amiga 1200. Was this yet another case of Commodore ineptitude, or did Commodore actually have a good idea this time that failed for other reasons?
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.
On September 12, 2007, the music pirate group Rabid Neurosis, or RNS, started unraveling with an FBI raid on 35-year-old Bennie Lydell “Dell” Glover, of Shelby, North Carolina. They weren’t the first MP3 pirate group, but they were one of the most prolific. Nearly two years later, on September 9, 2009, four members were indicted with conspiracy to commit copyright infringement.
The Atari 2600 was first released on September 11, 1977, along with nine titles. It wasn’t the first home video game console to connect to a TV and it wasn’t even the first one to use cartridges, but it was the first one to gain widespread success, selling 30 million units over its long lifetime. Let’s take a look at the nine Atari 2600 launch titles.
Tengen was a video game publisher in the 1980s and 1990s. What platform you remember them for probably depends on which part of the world you grew up in. In the United States, we remember Tengen as a Nintendo NES publisher. Europeans may remember them as a Megadrive or Amiga publisher. Thickening the plot, they had a direct connection to another storied video game company. On September 10, 1992, Tengen lost one of its multiple lawsuits with Nintendo. It ended Tengen as an NES publisher, but not from the game industry entirely.
It was 22 years ago this week, on Semptember 8, 2003, that the Recording Industry Association of America started suing individuals for pirating MP3 files. One of the people caught up in a lawsuit was a 12-year-old honors student who lived in public housing.
On September 6, 2001, HP announced its intention to acquire Compaq for $25 billion. It was a stunning end for what still seemed to be one of the rising stars of the PC industry. I also think it proved that bigger isn’t always better. The HP-Compaq merger arguably made sense at the time, but both companies had alternatives that would have suited them better. On May 23, 2012, HP announced the end of the Compaq brand, a stunning end for what had been the largest technology merger in history.
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.
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.