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History of Dell computers

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing February 23, 2026February 23, 2026

The history of Dell computers is a classic story of how a little guy took on a titan of business and ended up becoming a titan himself, the kind of story Americans love to tell. Like many computer industry stories, it started with humble beginnings.

Michael Dell wasn’t a total rags to riches story. He wasn’t a pauper. He was the son of an orthodontist and a stockbroker, and showed an entrepreneurial bent starting at age 9, when he made $2,000 selling collectible stamps. As a teenager, he earned $18,000 selling newspaper subscriptions to an untapped market he found himself. Crucially, by the age of 15, he was showing an interest in computers. His parents wanted him to become a doctor.

On February 20, 2010 a VIC-20 tweeted

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing February 20, 2026February 20, 2026

Fifteen years ago, Twitter was still relevant. And nobody had ever tweeted from a Commodore VIC-20, the best selling computer of 1982, before. Syd Bolton, the curator of the Canadian Personal Computer Museum, decided to fix that. And on February 20, 2010, a VIC-20 tweeted.

Office Space released Feb. 19, 1999

Dave Farquhar Careers, Retro Computing February 19, 2026February 16, 2026

The classic black comedy Office Space debuted in theaters February 19, 1999. It was Mike Judge’s first live-action film. Judge is better known for his animated series Beavis and Butt-Head and King of the Hill, but I’ll argue Office Space shows Judge’s versatility, and for me, Office Space will always be his masterpiece.

Windows 2000 release date

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing February 18, 2026February 18, 2026

Windows 2000 was released to the public February 17, 2000 to much anticipation. It wasn’t a consumer operating system, but businesses looked forward to a step forward from Windows NT 4.0 that would bring better reliability and ease of use.

First BBS goes online Feb. 16, 1978

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing February 17, 2026February 17, 2026

On February 16, 1978, Ward Christensen and Randy Suess launched the first public dialup BBS, or bulletin board system, the predecessor of online discussion forums and web sites like Reddit and Digg.

Youtube founding date: February 15, 2005

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing February 16, 2026February 16, 2026

YouTube’s founding date was February 15, 2005. Its founders were Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim, three early employees of PayPal. It was their next project after Ebay purchased Paypal and left the three with a windfall. On October 9, 2006, YouTube was purchased by Google for $1.65 billion. The name is a reference to the cathode ray tube that was the main component in televisions until the early 2010s. A common nickname for TV during the CRT era was “The Tube.”

YouTube was not the first video-sharing site on the Internet. Vimeo launched in November 2004, though that site remained a side project of its developers from CollegeHumor so it never attained Youtube’s success.

What happened to Prodigy Internet

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing February 13, 2026February 13, 2026

Prodigy was a 1980s online service that later morphed into an Internet service provider. It survived into the early 2000s but faded as its business model disappeared. Here’s what happened to Prodigy Internet.

Deja News: Google’s first acquisition

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing February 12, 2026February 12, 2026

Google’s first acquisition was a company called Deja News. It was a small acquisition compared to things that were to come, but it was a synergistic and strategic acquisition at the time. Google acquired Deja News on Feb. 13, 2001.

The last Sony CRT ever made

Dave Farquhar CRTs February 11, 2026February 11, 2026

On February 14, 2006, Sony announced its final CRT television, the KD-34XBR970. The last Sony CRT TV was a 34-inch model, with high definition and a 16:9 screen. So it wasn’t what we typically think of when it comes to CRTs. Or maybe we should say televisions. Plural. Because at the same time, Sony also released three conventional 4:3 standard definition models: the 36-inch KD-36FS170, 32-inch KV-32FS170 and 27-inch KV27FS170.

Why Pets.com failed and became a dotcom joke

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing February 10, 2026February 10, 2026

Pets.com was a pioneering Internet startup selling pet food. Amazon even owned a significant stake in the company. So why did it stop taking orders in November 9, 2000, become the butt of a Superbowl ad joke the next year, and you see chewy.com packages all over your neighborhood instead?