1980
Sony develops the 3.5-inch floppy disk.
Apple Computer goes public.
Novell announces the development of networking software.
Over one million personal computers are installed in the U.S.
Ronald Reagan, one of Hollywood's "leading men" becomes America's President.
CNN informs the world, with its continuous, live, up-to-the-minute, news coverage.
Post-it notes are invented.
Mount St. Helens makes an ash of itself.
Dallas ends its second season with the "Who Shot JR?" episode.
1981
IBM opens the gates for personal computing with its creation of 16-bit PC DOS.
Hayes introduces the SmartModem 300, and it quickly becomes the industry standard.
Satellite dishes are ruled legal, making it excusable to never leave the house.
NutraSweet adds flavor to diet soft drinks.
Dynasty, the quintessential 80's melodrama, glamorizes bad behavior on primetime television.
Video Killed the Radio Star and MTV is born.
1982
WordPerfect rivals WordStar as a popular word processor.
Intel develops the 80286 processor.
The first PC clone is introduced.
The first touch-screen computer displays are demonstrated at the World's Fair in Knoxville, Tenn.
The Kodak disk camera is introduced.
Time Magazine names the computer The Machine of the Year.
Robert Jarvik creates the world's first artificial heart.
Pat Sajak & Vanna White join Wheel of Fortune and move the gameshow to prime time.
USA Today makes a daily papertrail across the United States.
Steven Speilberg phones home with wide-eyed aliens in E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial.
1983
Apple develops the first graphical user interface (Lisa).
Lotus 1-2-3 counts its way into the number-crunching software market.
Over 10 million personal computers process information.
Compaq manufactures the portable computer.
Microsoft introduces its first mouse device.
Sally Ride becomes the first American woman in space.
Michael Jackson thrills music fans with Beat It.
Adults weed through long lines at retail stores to adopt Cabbage Patch Dolls.
Dave Thomas coins the slogan "Where's the Beef?" in his famous Wendy's commercial.
1984
The first domain name servers are connected to the Internet and the number of servers grows to 1,000.
Apple introduces the Macintosh.
IBM unleashes the PC/AT.
Microsoft releases Word for DOS.
IBM develops a PC local area network.
HP introduces the LaserJet printer.
DNA from extinct animals is successfully cloned.
Ghostbusters spooks theatergoers.
Apple Computer airs a commercial during the Super Bowl titled, 1984, an Orwellian fantasy of workplace drudgery, likening Big Brother with IBM, and the Macintosh Revolution begins.
1985
Microsoft announces Windows 1.0, a GUI, task-switching operating environment.
dBASE, WordPerfect, and Harvard Graphics are popular software programs.
Aldus PageMaker publishes its way onto desktops.
Modem speeds increase to 1,200 - 2,400 bps.
The United States begins a ban on leaded gasoline.
New Coke lives a short shelf-life.
Miami Vice alarms TV viewers as the ultimate "cool" show of the 80's.
The material-girl/boy-toy dishes out Into The Groove, inspiring millions of teenage "Madonna-wannabes."
1986
Intel gets serious about desktop computing and unveils the 80386 processor.
Hardware manufacturers get down-n-dirty and adopt the SCSI ("scuzzy") standard.
Number of world-wide Internet servers climbs to 10,000.
Science gives birth to the first test tube baby.
The FCC bans ordinances that prohibit backyard satellite dishes.
Tom Cruise creates a skirmish as a Navy fighter-pilot in Top Gun.
Peter Gabriel pounds out a hit with Sledgehammer.
1987
Hewlett-Packard introduces the first color Inkjet printer.
Microsoft unleashes Windows 2.0.
IBM markets the PS/2 computer.
Steve Jobs quits Apple and starts his NeXT adventure.
Modems speed up to 9,600 bps.
The U.S. Patent Office announces that it will begin granting patents on genetically-engineered organisms.
Millions of television viewers witness the rescue of Baby Jessica.
Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze have all the right movies in Dirty Dancing.
1988
Microsoft and IBM announce the powerful new operating system, OS/2.
The Business Software Association is established to confront software piracy.
23-year-old hacker infects more than 6,000 systems with a computer virus.
Smoking is banned on all U.S. domestic flights.
L.A. Law is a popular primetime television drama.
1989
The Intel 486 chip arrives.
Software starts shipping on CD-ROM.
Multimedia is born.
More than 54 million personal computers occupy desktops.
Jaron Lanier invents Virtual Reality.
Internet servers multiply to 100,000.
The PC sound card blasts off.
FAX boards are demoed at COMDEX.
Michael Keaton thrills theatergoers as Bruce Wayne in Batman.
Prince rocks the Caped Crusader's world with the Batdance.