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Linux (Kernel) Turns 35 Next Year, But What Led to GNU/Linux Began in the 1970s
Akira Urushibata examines the early years
Akira Urushibata has taken a look at early dates in an effort to understand the history of GNU and what led to it. Quoting Urushibata:
The GNU Project started over 40 years ago. With the passing of time things have changed and nowadays many young people are not aware what computing was like in the 1980s.
I decided to make a list of notable events in that period to help put things into perspective.
1978? Xerox 9700 laser printer installed in MIT AI Labs - no source code https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xerox_9700
17 October 1979 Spreadsheet program VisiCalc released
Late 1979 Steve Jobs visits Xerox PARC, decides to develop computer with bitmap screen, GUI, icons, mouse.
1980 RMS visits Carnegie Mellon University request for laser printer source code refused
1980 "The Third Wave" by Alvin Toffler published
November 1980 IBM signs contract with Microsoft on IBM PC operating system
21 August 1981 IBM PC released
1981 Japan surpassses US in DRAM production - producers believe they've obtained control of the crucial component of the information age
24 February 1982 Sun Microsystems founded
December 1982 Adobe founded
19 January 1983 Apple Lisa released (first GUI-based mass-marketed PC)
26 January 1983 Lotus 1-2-3 released
July 1983 Nintendo Family Computer released (in Japan)
27 September 1983 GNU project announced - development starts January 1984
January 1984 AT&T breakup - AT&T enters computer business
24 January 1984 Apple Machintosh released
20 March 1985 GNU Emacs released
May 1985 GNU Manifesto announced
20 November 1985 Microsoft Windows 1.0 released
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I'd like to hear your opinions. I'd like to get information on MIT AI Labs ICT and the Xerox laser printer.
Akira Urushibata
Linux did not even start until the early 90s. █
Image source: Xerox 9700 du MIT