Recalling Bill Gates’ ‘Internet Tidal Wave’ memo, seminal document of the unfolding digital age
Twenty-five years ago tomorrow, Bill Gates sent a lengthy internal memorandum to senior staff at Microsoft Corporation, declaring the internet “a tidal wave” that “changes the rules.” It was a … Continue reading
Contrived ballyhoo: Recalling Microsoft’s rollout of Windows 95
No prominent event of 1995 — a watershed year in ways serious and significant — was more hyped or contrived than Microsoft’s official release of the Windows 95 computer operating … Continue reading
Once-dominant and much-loathed, IE turns 20
Internet Explorer, the buggy, disliked, yet once-dominant Web browser, this weekend reaches the 20th anniversary of its initial release. It’s an important occasion in Internet history that probably will go … Continue reading
Microsoft warns Netscape in prelude to the ‘browser war’ of 1995-98
Before they were locked in a death struggle known as the “browser war,” the software giant Microsoft and Web upstart Netscape made nice, at least for a while. Representatives of … Continue reading
When Secret Service officers wore rubber gloves to greet gay officials
Is it “different enough”? One of the tests for conducting research into the recent past is whether the period under scrutiny is “different enough” from the present. With the passage … Continue reading
‘The Internet Tidal Wave,’ 20 years on
Twenty years ago this week, Bill Gates sent a lengthy internal memorandum to senior staff at Microsoft Corporation, announcing an embrace of the Internet that was to help shape the … Continue reading
‘1995 was watershed moment,’ says Intel CEO
The year “1995 was a watershed moment in consumer technology,” the CEO of Intel Corporation, Brian M. Krzanich, declared the other day in the keynote speech to the Consumer Electronics Show … Continue reading
Hype and hoopla in a watershed year: Launching Windows 95
It’s hard to think of 1995 as a turbulent or troubled time. Not when Seinfeld and Friends were among the year’s most-watched TV shows. Not when Mars Inc. ran a … Continue reading
The 1995 Blog 