1997
Microsoft announces Microsoft Office 97 office suite for Windows. The suite includes Access, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, and Word. Visit the official Microsoft Office website. Price: US$499 (Standard version) or US$209 for an upgrade, US$599 (Professional version) or US$309 for an upgrade
1998
Iowa Community College is hacked by Eric Burns also known as “Zyklon”.
NASA officially announces that John Glenn, who was the first American to orbit the Earth during the course of the Mercury program, will re-enter space as a member of the crew of the Space Shuttle Discovery during a mission later in the year. (STS-95)
The Softex NCP website is hacked by “insect!” View an archived version of the defaced website.
The Tallahassee Freenet website hacked anonymously by somebody clearly intent on destroying all of the system’s files. The system is shut down as a protective measure, but not before thousands of users’ home directories and email is deleted along with numerous system files.
The Umeå Universitet website is hacked by “ToxicEdge”. View an archived version of the deface website.
2001
The first Wikipedia entry to survive from the original site database is created. Though founder Jimbo Wales created the wiki the day prior, the only pages he created were test edits. The first entry, UuU, is for the letter U, a page containing a bullet list for UnitedKingdom, United States, and Uruguay. The address utilizes three letter U’s because the wiki’s underlying software prevents the creation of entries with one-letter titles. See a screen capture of the original webpage.
Yahoo! launches Yahoo! Industry Marketplaces.
2002
The Star Trek: Enterprise episode “Silent Enemy” first airs. (No. 112) In it, the Enterprise comes under attack from a mysterious alien race while the crew scrambles to install experimental phase cannons to boost the ship’s defensive capabilities. Memory Alpha entry
2003
Microsoft announces its first stock dividend along with a stock split.
Microsoft launches its Xbox Live online service in Japan. The Xbox Live starter kit feature several games, a voice communicator, and a one-year online subscription. Price: US$58
NASA launches the Space Shuttle Columbia on its twenty-eighth and final mission. (STS-107) Sixteen days later, on February 1st, the Columbia will disintegrates as it re-enters the Earth’s atmosphere, killing all seven of the shuttle’s crew members.
Sony announces that it has shipped over fifty million PlayStation 2 video game systems worldwide to date, including 21.5 million in North America, 16 million in Europe, and 12.5 million in Japan.
2007
Vivendi Universal releases expansion pack World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade for the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) World of Warcraft in Europe and the U.S. at midnight. By the end of the day, nearly 2.7 million units are sold, making it the fasted selling video game in history. The expansion pack includes two new races, the Blood Elves and the Draenei, as well as a new land mass and ten more levels. Visit the expansion’s official website. (ESRB: T (Teen), PEGI: 12+)
2008
BEA Systems accepts a US$8.5 billion acquisition offer from the Oracle Corporation.
On January 16, 2008,
Jeffrey Goodin, age 45, of Azusa, California, becomes the first person convicted under the CAN-SPAM Act. On June 11, 2007, Goodin will be sentenced to seventy months in federal prison. Prosecutors originally asked for a 94 month sentence, despite a potential sentence of 101 years.
Sun Microsystems announces the acquisition of MySQL AB, the developer of the MySQL relational database management system for US$1 billion. In 2010, the company will be acquired by the Oracle Corporation. Visit the official MySQL AB website.
2009
Electronics retailer Circuit City announces that it is unable to find a buyer following its Chapter 11 bankruptcy and so will begin liquidating its 567 U.S. locations. Circuit City will finally close on March 8th, resulting in the loss of around thirty thousand jobs.
Microsoft is charged by the European Commission for anti-competitive practices by bundling its own web browser, Internet Explorer, into its Windows operating system. In its statement the Commission said, “Microsoft’s tying of Internet Explorer to the Windows operating system harms competition between web browsers, undermines product innovation and ultimately reduces consumer choice.”
The security firm F-Secure estimates that the Conficker worm (also known as Downadup) has infected over eight million Windows computers. In the announcement, made Friday, Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer at F-Secure, notes that, “On Tuesday there were 2.5 million, on Wednesday 3.5 million and today [Friday], eight million. It’s getting worse, not better.”
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