The Great Geek Manual

1994
According to Microsoft, one million copies of Windows NT have been shipped worldwide to date.

According to IBM, ten million units of the OS/2 2.0 operating system have been shipped worldwide to date.

According to the Information & Interactive Services Report, America Online (AOL) now serves 1.5 million subscribers, CompuServe serves 2.4 million subscribers, Prodigy serves 1.2 million subscribers, eWorld serves 65,000 subscribers, and Delphi serves 120,000 subscribers.

According to Microsoft, 50 – 60 million units of the Windows operating system have been shipped worldwide to date.

1995
According to the Information & Interactive Services Report, America Online (AOL) now serves 4.5 million subscribers, CompuServe serves 4.0 million subscribers, Prodigy serves 1.6 million subscribers, Microsoft Network serves 1.6 million subscribers, eWorld has 126,000 subscribers, and Delphi serves 125,000 subscribers.

Electronic Arts releases the spaceflight simulator Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom for Windows in the U.S. The game was produced on a record-shattering budget of $12million, largely due to the unprecedented amount of full motion video featured in the game. ESRB: M (Mature)

The last Calvin and Hobbes comic strip by Bill Watterson is published. The series, which follows the imaginary exploits of a young boy and his stuffed tiger, debuted on November 18, 1985 and quickly grew to become one of the nation’s most popular syndicated comics. Within a year of syndication, the strip was published in roughly 250 newspapers. At the height of its popularity, Calvin and Hobbes was featured in over 2,400 newspapers worldwide. The 3,160th and final strip depicts the pair standing outside in the snow, with Calvin pronouncing, “It’s a magical world, Hobbes, ol’ buddy… Let’s go exploring!” Following his retirement, Watterson will withdraw entirely from the public spotlight, giving no interviews, making no public appearances, never giving autographs, and refusing to license his characters. Visit the official Calvin and Hobbes website.

1996
According to Microsoft, 65 million copies of the Windows 95 operating system have been shipped to date.

International Business Machines (IBM) announces that it has developed a hard drive capable storing five gigabits per square inch, which won’t be ready for the consumer market for years.

The NCR Corporation becomes an independent company, emerging as a spin-off from AT&T. Visit the official NCR website.

1997
Eighteen websites with .com and .net top-level domains (TLDs) are hacked and their frontpages are replaced with the same message by “Newport”. The hacked websites include: Awesomegod.net, Marlattconsulting.com, Net4christ.com, and Thisisworldnet.com. View an archived version of the defaced websites’ message.

Eighteen websites with .com and .org top-level domains (TLDs) are hacked by “inhale” and each of their frontpages are replaced with a simple message reading “0wned by inhale”. The hacked websites include: http://www.invent.org, http://www.wbvi.com, and http://www.wfob.com. Some claim that more websites were hacked, but only eighteen were recorded by hacker history sites such as Bill Wall’s list. View an archived version of the defaced websites’ message.

In an attempt to make the Microsoft Network competitive with America Online (AOL), Microsoft announces the acquisition of Hotmail, a free web-based e-mail service, for an industry-estimated US$400 million. The entire acquisition will be finalized on January 3, 1998. Hotmail has 8.5 million users. Visit the official Hotmail website.

The website of China’s Agricultural University is hacked by “A #HaCkPhR3Ak PhFool”. The website’s frontpage is replaced with a “FreeTibet Now” political message. View an archived version of the defaced website.

The website of Craig Enterprises is hacked by the “FTH crew”. View an archived version of the defaced website.

The website of Datatech Consulting in Sweden is hacked by “414″.

1999
The Chicago Syslink BBS, which has been operated by George Matyaszek for nearly twenty years, closes.

Computer Associates International, Inc. warns computer users of three newly found viruses designed to prey on Y2K vulnerabilities: the Esmeralda.807 virus, which will cause 32-bit Windows files to open slowly, the Lucky 2000 virus, which steers users to a Russian website, and the Spaces.1633 virus, which interferes with the Windows boot process.

Roughly 1.4 billion CD-R discs have been shipped worldwide to date.

Roughly 14 million CD-RW drives have been shipped worldwide to date.

Working Designs releases Silhouette Mirage for the PlayStation in the US.

2001
Apple Computer has sold a total of 125,000 iPods.

Microsoft discontinues support for the Windows 1.01, Windows 2.0, Windows 2.1, Windows 3.0, and Windows NT 3.51 operating system.

2002
Apple Computer unveils its first limited edition iPods, featuring the signature of Beck, Madonna, or Tony Hawk or the logo of No Doubt engraved on the back plate for an additional US$49. They are the most expensive iPods yet sold by Apple. Price: US$548

2003
Tim Berners-Lee is awarded the rank of Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire, the second-highest class in this order of knighthood, by Queen Elizabeth II, in recognition of his creation of the World Wide Web. He will be invested on July 16, 2004. Visit Tim Berners-Lee’s website.

2004
Daniel James Cuthbert, age 28, of Whitechapel, London donates becomes concerned that a website through which he has donated money towards Tsunami relief efforts is actually a phishing scam designed to collect credit card data from unwary users. Being a security consultant, Cuthbert uses an Apple notebook and a Safari browser to perform two very simple penetration tests between 3:12 and 3:15pm. The first test is simply to add ../../../ to the website’s URL in an attempt to access the host’s higher directories. The action, while exceptionally mild, is interpreted at a DTA (Directory Traversal Attack) and subsequently triggers an alarm. Twenty days later he will be arrested at his play of employment, ABN AMRO (from which he will be consequently fired), and his home will be searched. On October 6, 2005, Cuthbert will be convicted of violating Section 1(a) of the UK’s Computer Misuse Act of 1990 and fined £400 by district Judge Quentin Purdy. Section 1(a) reads, “(1) A person is guilty of an offence if (a.) he causes a computer to perform any function with intent to secure access to any program or data held in any computer.” The prosecution will make an application for costs, which will result in another £600 in costs for Cuthbert, but declines to seize the Apple notebook.

Microsoft discontinues support for the Windows NT 4.0 operating system.

2006
Version 1.3 of the PC-BSD operating system is released. PC-BSD is a Unix-like operating system based on FreeBSD that features a simplified graphical installation process. Visit the system’s official website.

2009
Both a blue moon and a lunar eclipse occur. Read more at Space.com.

Walt Disney completes the acquisition of Marvel Entertainment for an estimated US$4.24 billion. Under the terms of the agreement, Marvel shareholders will receive a total of US$30 a share in cash plus approximately 0.7452 Disney shares for each Marvel share they own. Marvel’s assets, which include a library of over five thousand characters in a variety of media, including licensing, movie production and publishing, will be integrated into various Disney divisions. Visit the official Marvel website.

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