HISTORY OF THE PC: PRE-1981

10-20 BILLION YEARS AGO: The Big Bang starts it all off.

SOMETIME LATER: Homo sapiens begins counting on fingers and toes.

500 B.C.: Earliest known calculating device, the abacus, is developed in China.

1632: Slide rule created.

1700

1820s: Englishman Charles Babbage proposes the first “computer,” a machine that automates the construction of mathematical tables called the Difference Engine.

1940

1946: ENIAC, which is 1,000 times faster than its contemporaries, is unveiled to the public. It covers 1,000 square feet of floor space.

1950

1960

1970

1975: Altair 8800 kit computer debuts in January edition of Popular Electronics.

1976: Apple I is introduced.

1980

August 12, 1981: IBM introduces its first PC. Cost: $1,565 to $4,500

HISTORY OF THE PC: 1982-1989

1982: Time magazine dubs the computer “Machine of the Year.”

Disney releases movie “Tron.”

1983

Apple launches Lisa, the first consumer PC with a graphical user interface. Cost: $10,000

Compaq introduces first PC “clone.”

1984

Apple introduces Macintosh with famous ad during Super Bowl.

1985

Business Week reports: “The organization man is dead. He thrived when smokestack America thrived. When airlines, banks were highly regulated. When Japan built shoddy cars. When computers were huge and an apple was something you ate.”

1986

Aldus PageMaker debuts, launching desktop publishing revolution.

1987

The first virus to invade PCs--the Brain virus--originates in Pakistan.

1988

IBM ships its 1-millionth PC.

1989

Researcher Tim Berners-Lee develops HyperText Markup Language, the foundation for the World Wide Web.

HISTORY OF THE PC: 1990-1995

1990

Microsoft releases Windows 3.0, the first successful version of Windows. Meanwhile, Federal Trade Commission looks into possible collusion between IBM and Microsoft but drops action in 1993 after commissioners deadlock.

1991

The World Wide Web makes its public debut on the Internet.

1992

1993

Apple introduces Newton, the first PDA with handwriting recognition. It fails to catch on and is withdrawn in 1998.

NCSA Mosaic, software to browse the WWW, is distributed.

1994

Myst debuts, becomes 1st computer game to sell more than a million units. It spawns two sequels.

1995

First version of Netscape Navigator launches.

Microsoft releases Windows 95.

Amazon.com launches Web site, quickly becomes biggest Internet retailer (photo from 1997).

HISTORY OF THE PC: 1996-2001

1996

Forbes magazine names Bill Gates the richest man in the world. He has a reported net worth of $18 billion.

1997

Palm Pilot debuts, quickly dominates PDA market.

1998

IBM’s Big Blue defeats world chess champion Gary Kasparov.

1999

IBM debuts “wearable” PC.

2000

Despite the anticipated Y2K glitch, computer clocks around the world change from Dec. 31, 1999, 11:59:59 to Jan. 1, 2000, 12:00:00 mostly without crashing. Many hoarded food and water in preparation for a calamity that never came.

Dot-com dot-bombs as Nasdaq begins plunge.

2001

The PC turns 20.