This Day in Computer History: September 13

This Day in Computer History: September 13
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This Day in Computer History

1973

In a verdict over two hundred pages long, Judge Sherman Christensen validated the allegations IBM and Telex brought against each other. Specifically, IBM is accused of monopolizing the market for pluggable devices, such as external drives. The court awarded Telex more than $350 million and IBM is awarded a series of penalties totaling roughly $22 million. The court also prohibits IBM from bundling hardware with its own software, triggering a flood of similar lawsuits from other companies, including CalComp, Memorex, and Marshall Industries.

1987

A German hacking group called the “Data Travellers” make national headlines after hacking into the NASA network and several top secret installations.

1989

The notorious hacker “Fry Guy,” who was vaunted into fame by Bruce Sterling’s book ‘The Hacker Crackdown’ is sentenced to forty-four months probation and four hundred hours community service. While his name is withheld from the press, it is widely publicized that he is a sixteen year-old from Elmwood, Indiana.

1998

Microsoft officially became the nation’s most valuable company, with a total stock value of $261.1 billion.

1999

eBay announced that it will ban the auction of alcohol and tobacco products from their site starting in thirty days.

2000

Microsoft released the MS-DOS operating system version 8.0.

Microsoft released Windows ME (Millenium Edition) as a successor to Windows 98. Though the Operating System sold a quarter of a million copies in just the first four days of its release, it will ultimately be a notorious failure in terms of popularity, opinion, and security. By and large, Windows 2000 will prove the more successful and popular system, as ME featured only an upgraded version of DOS and a few superficial branding changes. It was initially offered at a promotional price of $59.95 as an upgrade for Windows 98 through January 15, 2001.

2005

An unnamed seventeen-year old Massachusetts teenager pleaded guilty to nine counts of juvenile delinquency for a series of highly publicized hacks, the most infamous of which was an incident in which he posted candid photos and contact information swiped from Paris Hilton’s phone through the T-Mobile network. He was sentenced to eleven months of detention at a juvenile facility until his eighteenth birthday. As an adult he would then remain on supervised release for two years, barred from using a computer, cell phone, or any other electronic equipment with Internet capabilities. Also among his alleged crimes was the hacking of LexisNexis.

This post is part of the series: A Chronology of Computer History: This Day in History

This series provides a daily account of what happened on this day in the history of computing and technology. Discussing developments, breaking news, new releases and global implications that occurred as a result of these ground breaking events.

  1. This Day in Computer History: September 2
  2. This Day in Computer History: September 3
  3. This Day in Computer History: September 4
  4. This Day in Computer History: September 5
  5. This Day in Computer History: September 6
  6. This Day in Computer History: September 7
  7. This Day in Computer History: September 8
  8. This Day in Computer History: September 9
  9. This Day in Computer History: September 10
  10. This Day in Computer History: September 11
  11. This Day in Computer History: September 12
  12. This Day in Computer History: September 13
  13. This Day in Computer History: September 14
  14. This Day in Computer History: September 15
  15. This Day in Computer History: September 16
  16. This Day in Computer History: September 17
  17. This Day in Computer History: September 18
  18. This Day in Computer History: September 19
  19. This Day in Computer History: September 20
  20. This Day in Computer History: September 21
  21. This Day in Computer History: September 22
  22. This Day in Computer History: September 23
  23. This Day in Computer History: September 24
  24. This Day in Computer History: September 26
  25. This Day in Computer History: September 27
  26. This Day in Computer History: September 28
  27. This Day in Computer History: September 29
  28. This Day in Computer History: September 30