The Evolution of Technology in the 90s
The Evolution of Technology in the 90sThe Technology 90s
When the 1990s began, movie studios were still shooting on celluloid and animation was a hand-drawn art. But things were about to change.
Tim Berners-Lee publishes his World Wide Web proposal. By 1993 Mosaic becomes the first web browser. The decade also saw the first mobile phones become affordable.
The Internet
The Internet is a massive network of interconnected computers that allows one computer to communicate with another across the globe. This means that one server can go down without impacting the overall functioning of the network. This was a major advancement that allowed business to be conducted online, products to be shipped and communications to occur quickly.
The ’90s brought us Kurt Cobain, ‘The Simpsons’ and the first Internet browser developed by Tim Berners-Lee. He figured out how to use hypertext and created the World Wide Web in just three months.
This revolution changed the way we work and live. It opened up opportunities for remote working and gave millions of people a voice. Sadly it also brought about tragedies such as the murder of Matthew Shepard, but it was a time for real change. It’s hard to imagine today’s world without the Internet. The tech 90s was a period of incredible advancements, and the world is still changing as a result of it.
Personal Computers
The era of personal computers has been one of the biggest changes to technology in the 1990s. These devices are now so common that it’s hard to imagine life without them. But it was not always so.
Computers for use by an individual were first made affordable in the early 1970s by the development of single-chip microprocessors. Several companies produced designs that could be constructed by hobbyists. These were typically much smaller than the large mainframe computers that had preceded them, allowing them to be more easily housed in homes or offices.
1977 saw the introduction of three mass-produced personal computers: Apple’s Apple II, Radio Shack’s TRS-80 Model I, and Commodore International’s Commodore PET. All had keyboards, a floppy disc drive, and the ability to store programs in memory. They were significantly less expensive than the mainframe computers they replaced. In 1983, Apple introduced the Lisa, which was the first PC to include a graphical user interface, replacing the previous command-based systems.
The MultiMedia Compact Disc
The compact disc is a molded plastic disc that can store digital data to be read by a laser beam. It has a large storage capacity (650/700 MB) and is less expensive than traditional media. It has also proven more reliable than floppy disks and tape cartridges.
The discs can be written to many times, which allows for the creation of a library of software, music, or movies. The CD format is also portable, which makes it easier to transfer information between computers.
By the end of the 1990s, the compact disc had almost completely replaced cassette magnetic tapes and vinyl phonograph records in high-fidelity recordings. Philips began to expand into multimedia products, aiming them at the High Street multiples and home computer market.
The Palm Pilot
One of the biggest contributions of the technology 90s came from a device called the Palm Pilot. It was a hand-held personal digital assistant (PDA) that revolutionised mobile computing.
Invented by Jeff Hawkins, Donna Dubinsky, and Ed Colligan of Palm Computing, a division of US Robotics, the Pilot offered many of the functions found in larger desktop computers but was much smaller and more portable. It featured a calendar, phone numbers and address book, to-do list, memo pad, and Graffiti handwriting recognition system. It was capable of hot-syncing with desktop software for Windows or Mac OS, and ran on a pair of AAA batteries.
Despite its success, the Pilot was not without its issues. Its operating system was plagued with bugs, and the company struggled to maintain market share in a shrinking market. It eventually lost out to smartphones like the iPhone and Google Android devices. Even so, the Pilot pioneered PDAs and third party app stores which are still in use today.