by CIO Staff

This Date in IT History: Microsoft Releases the First Version of Windows

News
Jul 01, 20021 min
Consumer Electronics

1752 French silk weaver Joseph Marie Jacquard, who perfected a loom that used punch cards to program weaving patterns (including the eponymous jacquard weave), is born July 7 in Lyons.

1890 The U.S. Census Bureau on July 1 introduces mechanical calculating devices. Invented by Herman Hollerith, they count the holes field workers punch in cards.

1951 William Shockley of Bell Telephone Labs on July 5 announces the invention of the junction transistor.

1985 Microsoft releases the first version of Windows on July 2.

1991 Apple and IBM on July 3 sign a pact to develop an operating system for the RISC processor. This leads to the PowerPC.

1994 Telstar 1, the first commercial communications satellite, is launched July 10 from Cape Canaveral, Fla.

1995 IBM announces its 1995 plan to take over Lotus Development Corp. on July 5. The $3.5 billion deal was the largest to date.

1997 Web surfers view first-ever photos from Mars transmitted on July 4 by the Sojourner robot, part of the unmanned Mars Pathfinder spacecraft.