25 random geek tech facts
1. The first personal computer was the Berkeley Enterprises "Simon" which sold for $300 in 1950.
2. Seagate Technology (STX) was originally named Shugart Technology.
3. The precision quartz clock in a computer cannot keep accurate time.
4. Windows was originally named Interface Manager.
5. IBM which stands for International Business Machines, was an exaggerated name derived from NCR, National Cash Register.
6. Floppy disks in the late 1970s were 8 inches in diameter.
7. The VIC-20 computer from Commodore sold for $299 in 1980 with 5K of RAM.
8. The world's first one gigabyte disk drive was announced in 1980. It weighed 550 pounds and had a price tag of $40,000.
9. Many consider the Burroughs B-5000 (circa 1955) to be the single greatest computer ever designed.
10. IP means both Internet Protocol and Intellectual Property. Thus when you say a company is involved with IP, nobody will know what you are talking about.
11. The ticker symbol for Sun Microsystems (JAVA) was changed from SUNW to JAVA and the company has been struggling ever since.
12. SanDisk (SNDK) used to be called SunDisk.
13. Apple (AAPL) popularized the laser printer.
14. Adobe Photoshop (ADBE) was originally called Display, then ImagePro. It was not developed by Adobe, but licensed from a college student named Thomas Knoll in 1988.
15. Ink jet ink costs $5000 per gallon.
16. The precursor to today's GPS car navigation system was released in 1985. It was the ETAK Navigator and used a computer with a dead reckoning program to navigate.
17. Intel's (INTC) first microprocessor was the 4004. It was designed for a calculator, nobody imagined where it would lead.
18. SCO, the company that sold a version of Unix, used to be called the Santa Cruz Operation.
19. Computers should be turned off at night.
20. Peter Norton of the fabled Norton anti-virus program once said that there was no such thing as a computer virus and considered the whole idea some sort of hoax.
21. "Modem" means modulator/demodulator. This referred to the modulation and demodulation of an analog signal to make it digital. By this definition the device called a cable modem is a misnomer. It should be called a network adapter.
22. Dell Inc. was originally called PCs Limited
23. The Apple 1 was the first computer developed by Apple and was nothing more than a bag of parts. The Apple II was the first finished product sold by the company.
24. Lenovo (HK) means "new legend" -- "Le" for legend and "novo" for new.
25. In the 1950s computers were commonly referred to as "electronic brains."
JOHN DVORAK
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