COMPUTER CHRONICLES REVISITED 87 — MICROSOFT EXCEL, TRAPEZE, WORDS AND FIGURES, AND PREDICT!
On May 2, 1985, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs held a joint press conference at Tavern on the Green, the famous restaurant in New York City’s Central Park.
CHRONICLES REVISITED PODCAST 2 — ONE TAX PROGRAM TO RULE THEM ALL
In 1987, three small software companies appeared on “Computer Chronicles” to demonstrate their income tax preparation programs.
COMPUTER CHRONICLES REVISITED 86 — LOTUS HAL, WHAT'SBEST!, VP-PLANNER, JAVELIN PLUS, AND SILK
In 1978, Harvard Business School student Dan Bricklin started thinking about creating an electronic spreadsheet program.
COMPUTER CHRONICLES REVISITED 85 — WORDSTAR 4.0, WORDPERFECT 4.2, MICROSOFT WORD FOR MS-DOS 4.0, AND OFFICEWRITER 5.0
The history of computer word processing applications can be divided into three main periods, each tied to a specific platform transition.
CHRONICLES REVISITED PODCAST 1 — THE FORGOTTEN DESKTOP PUBLISHING APP
PageMaker was the program that defined desktop publishing for the Macintosh platform back in 1985.
CCR SPECIAL 11 — THE MATTEL ELECTRONICS HORSE RACE ANALYZER
In the studio introduction for a March 1987 Computer Chronicles episode on computers and gambling, Stewart Cheifet showed Gary Kildall a hand-held, calculator-like device that claimed to help people pick winning race horses.
COMPUTER CHRONICLES REVISITED 84 — COMPUTER SPORTS WORLD, THOROUGHBRED HANDICAPPING SYSTEM, AND POINTSPREAD ANALYZER
On April 28, 1988, Mark Herbst of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, went to the offices of the Pennsylvania Lottery to redeem the winning “Super 7” ticket from a July 1987 drawing.
COMPUTER CHRONICLES REVISITED 83 — THE LANGUAGE EXPERIENCE PROGRAM AND PALS
Dr. Edward Fry, then a professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey, said in a 1987 report that young school children should be taught keyboard typing as opposed to cursive writing.
COMPUTER CHRONICLES REVISITED 82 — INVISIBLE CITIES, DOM, THEATERGAME, AND TERPSICHORE
The topic of “computers and the arts” today largely focuses on the use of artificial intelligence to suck up the work of artists–often without their permission–and regurgitate it based on text prompts.
COMPUTER CHRONICLES REVISITED 81 — THE TRS-80 MODEL 102, NEC MULTISPEED, ZENITH Z-181, TOSHIBA T3100, AND THE DYNAMAC
Unlike many people who cover computer history, I generally avoid talking about prices “adjusted for inflation” when discussing older products.