1999
The Beijing Number One Intermediate Court of China throws out a case filed by Microsoft against the Yadu Group, accusing them of using pirated Microsoft Office and Windows applications on their office computers.
Michael Ian Campbell, age 18, of Cape Coral, Florida is arrested for allegedly transmitting a threat over the Internet to a student of Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. Campbell allegedly threatened to “finish” what gunmen Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold had started using the handle “Soup81″.
The Human Genome Project announces that it has successfully sequenced the first human chromosome, Chromosome 22. Chromosome 22 is the second smallest human chromosome, consisting of approximately forty-nine million base pairs, but it was originally (at the outset of the project) thought to be the shortest chromosome.
Touchstone Pictures releases the science fiction film Bicentennial Man, directed by Chris Columbus and starring Robin Williams, Sam Neill, Embeth Davidtz, and Oliver Platt, to 2,518 US theaters. The film is based on the novel The Positronic Man by Isaac Asimov. Produced on a budget of US$100 million, it will gross US$8,234,926 domestically in its opening weekend. IMDB listing (MPAA Rating: PG) Running Time: 2 hrs 11 mins
2000
Version 2.00 of the PureBasic programming language is released. It’s the first non-beta version released to the public. Visit the language’s official website.
2001
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) releases the Mobile Duron 1000 processor, featuring a 64KB Level-2 Cache and a 200MHz Front-Side Bus.
Yahoo! launches LAUNCH, an Internet radio service. Visit the official LAUNCH website.
2002
In the case of United States v. ElcomSoft and Dmitry Sklyarov, in which Dmitry Sklyarov and his employer ElcomSoft were charged with offering a software application that can circumvent technological protections on copyrighted material in violation of the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act, ElcomSoft is acquitted of all charges by a federal jury. The case was highly controversial as it was one of the first to test whether individuals can be prosecuted in the US for writing software that circumvents copy protections in a country where such software is legal. The case was also highly visible because Sklyarov was publicly arrested at the DEF CON convention on July 16, 2001. However, he was released on US$50,000 bail in exchange for his testimony against his employer and was allowed to return to Russia on December 13, 2001. Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) assisted in the defense of ElcomSoft. Read more at the EFF website.
2003
Linus Torvalds releases version 2.6.0 of the Linux kernel is released. Many features from uClinux (designed for embedded microcontrollers) have been integrated into the kernel, along with support for NUMA (used in large, multi-processor systems). An improved scheduler and scalability improvements have also been implemented in this version to help ensure that Linux will maintain its reputation for running on everything from small embedded devices to large enterprise-class servers and mainframes. As always, support for new classes of hardware have been significantly improved. Kernal 2.6.0 contains 5,929,913 lines of code. Visit the official Linux kernal website.
New Line Cinema releases the fantasy film The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, directed by Peter Jackson and starring Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Viggo Mortensen, Ian McKellen, Andy Serkis, Liv Tyler, Cate Blanchett, John Rhys-Davies, Christopher Lee, Orlando Bloom, Hugo Weaving, Miranda Otto, Ian Holm, and Sean Bean, to 3,703 US theaters. It is based on the book The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien. Produced on a budget of US$94 million, it will gross US$72,629,713 domestically in its opening weekend. Visit the film’s official website. IMDB listing (MPAA Rating: PG-13) Running Time: 3 hrs 20 mins
SpaceShipOne takes off on flight 11P, its eighth independent flight, its first powered flight, and the world’s first privately-funded manned supersonic flight. The mission is piloted by Brian Binnie.
Version 10.3.2 of the Mac OS X operating system is released.
2004
Cerulean Studios releases version 3 of its Trillian instant messenger. Visit the official Trillian website.
Version 1.1 of the QiLinux live! operating system is released. QiLinux is a Linux distribution created from scratch for desktop and server functions. Visit the system’s official website.
2007
Microsoft announces that Internet Explorer 8 passes tests for standards compliance.
2008
ShareReactor relaunches under new ownership as a combined BitTorrent and eD2k service in affiliation with The Pirate Bay. The site was taken down by Swiss Police on March 10, 2004 due to the suspicion of breach of copyright and trademark laws. Visit the official ShareReactor website.
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