Businessland posts a loss of US$43 million, and files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
protection.
June
Microsoft DOS 5.0 is released. It
adds a full-screen editor, undelete and unformat utilities, and task swapping.
GW-BASIC is replaced with Qbasic, based on Microsoft's
QuickBASIC.
Tandy introduces its low-cost CD-ROM drive for PCs. At US$400, including
drive and controller card, it is about half the price of other drives.
July
Sega of America ships the Time Traveler holographic video game to arcade
centers.
Apple Computer and IBM
sign a technology sharing agreement, to integrate the Mac into IBM's
enterprise systems, to allow future RISC-based Macs to use IBM's
Power PC chip, to work together on common multimedia standards, and to
cooperatively produce a new object-oriented operating system.
Apple Computer, Motorola,
and IBM officially sign an accord on technology
sharing. Apple and IBM will jointly develop
the PowerOpen Specification, based on IBM's
AIX operating system.
Apple Computer launches the largest
product introduction in its history. Products include the Macintosh Classic
II (replacing the Macintosh Classic), Macintosh Quadra 700 and 900, and
Macintosh PowerBook 100, 140, and 170.
MIPS Technologies officially introduces
the R4000, its 64-bit RISC processor.
Quote from IBM's Lee Reiswig: "We will
be enhancing OS/2 until the late 1990s."
Insite Technology begins shipping its 21 MB 3.5-inch floppy disk drive
to system vendors. The drive uses "floptical" disks, using optical technology
to store data.
Sun Microsystems begins licensing the
new chipset used in the SPARCstation 2.
November
IBM and Intel
sign a 10-year joint development agreement to create a series of integrated
processors.
Microsoft announces the Multimedia
Edition of Microsoft Works 2.0 for
Windows, on CD-ROM.
(summer) Ad Lib announces the Ad Lib Gold series of PC sound cards at the
Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago, Illinois.
(month unknown)
The US Federal Trade Commission begins an investigation of Microsoft
Corp., for alleged monopolistic practices in the PC software market.
(month unknown)
Quote by Aaron Goldberg, of International
Data Corp.: "I don't know if anyone has tried to run Windows on a 286
machine, but frankly I'd rather have knitting needles in my eyes.".
(month unknown)
S3 introduces the 911 graphics chip, incorporating
GUI acceleration with VGA compatibility.
(month unknown)
Commodore unveils the Amiga 3000UX, with a Motorola
MC68030 25-MHz processor, 68882 math coprocessor, UNIX System V Release
4, Open Look, and Ethernet support. Cost is US$5000, without a monitor.
Creative Labs introduces the Sound Blaster
Pro Deluxe, the first stereo PC sound card.
1992
January
IBM reports a year-end loss, for the first
time, of US$564 million, on revenues of US$64.8 billion.
NeXT announces that a version of the
NextStep OS will be made for Intel PCs.
February
The PowerOpen Association is formed, with the goal of producing specifications
for an open software/hardware platform that can run all UNIX, DOS/Windows
(via emulation), and Macintosh applications.
March
Apple Computer announces a powerful
new Macintosh LC II, replacing the Macintosh LC.
Microsoft launches its first TV
advertising campaign, for Windows.
Microsoft buys Fox Software for
1.36 million shares of Microsoft's
common stock.
Intel announces clock doubler technology
for its microprocessors, allowing CPU MHz speeds to continue increasing,
without requiring faster motherboard components.
Hewlett-Packard announces an expansion
of its HP 9000 series, with the midrange Model 735 workstation for US$37,400,
deskside Model 755 for US$59,000, as well as low-end Model 715/33 for US$5,000
and Model 725/50 for US$17,900.
Sun Microsystems announces the low-end
SPARCclassic workstation for US$4300 and high-end SPARCcenter 2000 multi-processor
server.
Novell buys AT&T's
UNIX Systems Laboratories, gaining all rights to the UNIX source code,
for US$150 million.
(month unknown)
Novell purchases Digital Research
Inc. for US$80 million.
(month unknown)
Creative Labs introduces the Sound Blaster
16 with Advanced Signal Processor, a 16-bit stereo PC sound card.
(month unknown)
Commodore introduces the Amiga 600: 4096 colors, stereo sound, full pre-emptive
multitasking operating system (Workbench 2.05), PCMCIA slot, Motorola 68000
CPU, for a base price of $500.
Apple Computer shows off test versions
of its Newton Personal Digital Assistants at the Winter Consumer Electronics
Show.
IBM reports a year-end loss, of US$4.96
billion, on revenues of US$64.5 billion. This is the highest single-year
loss for any US company in history.
Stac Electronics files a lawsuit against
Microsoft over inclusion in MS-DOS
6.0 of file compression, which it claims infringes on Stac's patents.
February
Apple Computer makes its largest product
announcement in its history, and makes it in Japan: the Macintosh Color
Classic, Macintosh LC III, Macintosh Centris 610 and 650, Macintosh Quadra
800, and PowerBook 165c.
Apple Computer discontinues the Macintosh
IIci and the Quadra 700.
Apple Computer ships the 10 millionth
Macintosh computer.
IBM announces nine new systems in its
RS/6000 line, priced between US$4000 and US$25000.
NeXT announces that it will drop its
hardware line, to focus on becoming a larger player in the object-oriented
software industry.
The US Federal Trade Commission decides to take no action against Microsoft,
after two years of investigating complaints of anticompetitive behavior.
The US Department of Justice begins its own antitrust investigation of
Microsoft.
March
Intel introduces its 60-MHz Pentium
processor. It uses 32-bit registers, with a 64-bit data bus, and incorporates
3.2 million transistors. Initial price is US$878.
Microsoft introduces the MS-DOS
6.0 Upgrade, including DoubleSpace disk compression.
Microsoft ships Microsoft
Encarta, the first multimedia encyclopedia for a computer.
Apple Computer introduces the Macintosh
Quadra 840AV and Macintosh Centris 660AV. These computers integrate telecommunications,
video and speed technologies on the desktop for the first time.
The US Federal Trade Commission decides to take no action against Intel,
after three years of investigating complaints of forcing exclusive dealing
practices.
IBM introduces its clock-tripled 25/75MHz
Blue Lightning 486-based processor.
Digital Equipment creates the Digital
Personal Computer Business unit, to focus on PC sales.
August
Apple Computer's Newton MessagePad is
introduced at Macworld. 50,000 units are sold in the first 10 weeks.
IBM creates the Ambra Computer Corporation,
a subsidiary of the IBM PC Company, to
sell a new low-cost line of PCs.
Compton's New Media Incorporated receives a patent on multimedia search
and retrieval technology, from the U.S. Patent and Trade Office. The Office
reversed the decision a year later, annulling the patent.
September
Symantec acquires Fifth Generation
Systems, maker of backup and security utilities for various operating systems.
Gateway 2000 introduces the industry's
first VESA system.
IBM debuts and ships its first PowerPC-based
RS/6000 systems, the RS/6000 Model 250, using a single PowerPC 601 chip.
October
John Sculley announces his resignation from Apple
Computer.
Motorola produces the first copies of
the PowerPC 603, the second chip in the PowerPC family.
Apple Computer announces Macintosh TV,
which combines an Apple Macintosh, television, and CD-ROM.
NEC Technologies unveils the first triple-speed
(450KBps) CD-ROM drive.
Apple Computer renames the Centris 610
and 650 as Quadras.
Benny S. Lee, of Everex Systems, Inc. is sentenced to one year in prison
for manufacturing and selling counterfeit MS-DOS software. This is the
first time a prison sentence is handed down for software counterfeiting
in the U.S.
December
SunSoft Incorporated (a subsidiary of Sun
Microsystems) ships the first version of WABI, providing Microsoft
Windows application compatibility on Solaris, Intel,
and Sparc versions of UNIX.
IBM posts a year-end loss of US$8.1 billion,
on total sales of US$62.7 billion.
