CB Simulator

cbsimadThe very first online chat service was offered by CompuServe and was called the CB Simulator. Released in 1980, the feature used familiar citizen’s band radio concepts to describe it’s functions such as using “bands” or “channels” to describe the different categories. This quickly became a popular product with virtually no marketing and eventually many more channels were added. CompuServe continued to enhance and add more features to CB Simulator over the years, including multiplayer games, pictures, and more. It was used for one of the first online conferences in 1995 and hosted one of the first real-time online weddings in 1991.

In 1983, CBSIM CB Simulator code was made publicly available, allowing BBS operators and private hobbyists to install and run their own chat system. It was  the first to allow user to create their own channels, and could support up to 32 users. Software vendors used the open source code to create other popular BBS-based chat systems, paving the way for the stylized chat rooms that came later with AOL and other ISPs.

SuperCalc

In 1980, software company Sorcim introduced SuperCalc, a spreadsheet program with major improvements over VisiCalc. It was able to run on any system that supported the popular CP/M operating system. The Osborne-1 included a free copy of the financial software along with it’s bundle of programs, a big boost to the popularity of the machine. Later versions of the software for DOS and Apple were introduced.

SuperCalc was one of the first spreadsheets capable of iteratively solving circular references. The company was later purchased by Computer Associates in the mid 80s where it was marketed as CA’s line of SuperCalc products. It would eventually be eclipsed by more powerful programs such as Excel and Lotus 1-2-3.

Commodore VIC-20

vic-20A few years after the PET, Commodore released the VIC-20 in June, 1980. The system was the result of their efforts to build a computer that sold for less than $300. The machine was reportedly born mostly from an oversupply of parts. Aiming to compete with game consoles and intended as a lower-end model in comparision to the PET, which was sold through authorized dealers, the VIC was put in discount and toy stores. They launched a massive marketing campaign to support the product, including using William Shatner from Star Trek as a spokesperson, who asked audiences “Why buy just a video game?”.

The VIC came with 5kb RAM, a PET Datassette, a serial bus that supported various devices including an Atari joystick, and was compatible with hundreds of programs on the market. It’s ease of use and easily programmable BASIC language along with affordable modems gave it a library of share/freeware, which was posted on BBS’s and online services. The system was discontinued in 1985.

The VIC was the first computer to sell over a million units, and at it’s peak 9,000 a day were being produced. 2.5 million total were sold before production ended.

OS/2

os2logo-2In 1980, IBM and Microsoft joined forces. IBM, the venerable computer manufacturer, wanted Bill Gates and Paul Allen, founders of Microsoft, to design an operating system for its PCs. IBM decided to let Microsoft keep the rights to the MS-DOS operating system, allowing Gates and Allen to sell it to other computer manufacturers.

Before long, MS-DOS swept through the computer universe, and the young upstarts of Microsoft started raking in huge profits. Microsoft became an operating system Goliath to IBM’s David, an unexpected role reversal. Still, the companies continued to develop operating systems together until 1990. At that point, Microsoft pursued its Windowsand DOS line of operating systems, and IBM continued with OS/2, a graphical operating system it developed in 1985 with Microsoft.

OS/2 is comparable with Windows 95 (Win95), but there are significant differences. For starters, OS/2 is a true 32-bit operating system, making it more powerful than a 16-bit operating system such as Windows 3.1 or than one built on 16-bit code as Win95 is. OS/2, however, still can run 16-bit applications. In fact, OS/2 can run most programs designed for Windows 3.1 or Win95. The OS/2 GUI (graphical user interface) looks a bit different from Win95’s, but its operation is basically the same. Users click icons to open and run programs. One also can drag icons to perform various functions. OS/2 developed a reputation as a robust operating system that outdid Windows at tasks such as helping several applications work together.

Philips Electronics

philips-logoFrom Philips “History”
The foundations for what was to become one of the world’s biggest electronics companies were laid in 1891 when Gerard Philips established a company in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, to manufacture incandescent lamps and other electrical products. The company initially concentrated on making carbon-filament lamps and by the turn of the century was one of the largest producers in Europe.

Science and technology underwent tremendous development in the 1940s and 1950s, with Philips Research inventing the rotary heads which led to the development of the Philishave electric shaver, and laying down the basis for later ground-breaking work on transistors and integrated circuits. In the 1960s, this resulted in important discoveries such as CCDs (charge-coupled devices) and LOCOS (local oxidation of silicon). Philips also made major contributions in the development of the recording, transmission and reproduction of television pictures, its research work leading to the development of the Plumbicon TV camera tube and improved phosphors for better picture quality.

It introduced the Compact Audio Cassette in 1963 and produced its first integrated circuits in 1965.  The flow of exciting new products and ideas continued throughout the 1970s: research in lighting contributed to the new PL and SL energy-saving lamps; other key breakthroughs came in the processing, storage and transmission of images, sound and data where Philips Research made key breakthroughs, resulting in the inventions of the LaserVision optical disc, the Compact Disc and optical telecommunication systems.

Philips established PolyGram in 1972, and acquired Magnavox (1974) and Signetics (1975) in the United States. Acquisitions in the 1980s included the television business of GTE Sylvania (1981) and the lamps business of Westinghouse (1983). The Compact Disc was launched in 1983, while other landmarks were the production of Philips’ 100-millionth TV set in 1984 and 300-millionth Philishave electric shaver in 1995.

The 1990s was a decade of significant change for Philips. The company carried out a major restructuring program to return it to a healthy footing. And more recently it has been concentrating on its core activities. Today, Philips is at the leading edge of the digital revolution, introducing world-class products that are helping to improve people’s lives as we continue into the new millennium.

Optical Disks

The storage media of most optical storage systems in production today are in the form of a rotating disk. In general the disks are preformatted using grooves and lands (tracks) to enable positioning an optical pickup and recording head to access information on the disk. A focused laser beam emanating from the optical head records information on the media as a change in the material characteristics.

To record a bit, the laser generates a small spot on the media that modulates the phase, intensity, polarization, or reflectivity of a readout optical beam; that beam is subsequently “read” by a detector in the optical head. Drive motors and servo systems rotate and position the disk media and the pickup head, thus controlling the position of the head with respect to data tracks on the disk. Additional peripheral electronics are used for control and for data acquisition, encoding, and decoding. As for all data storage systems, optical disk systems are characterized by their storage capacity, data transfer rate, access time, and cost.