In the early 80s the world so the initial boom of the computer era. The first
personal computers were sold and the main players of the business were sorted
out. Two of the prominent figures were Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. Each
pioneering their own front, the two entered the 90s as the computer world
celebrities. By the mid 90s each of these tycoons' life had taken many turns and
twists, albeit for the better usually. Bill Gates' 1995 was a bit hectic, this
was the year of the huge unveiling of windows 95. After many delayed attempts to
get it out Gates released windows 95 in August without Microsoft Plus, as had
been earlier said, this was due to time restrictions as changing windows 95 to
96 would be a waste of money and probably more seriously the worst move
commercially any company would ever make. With the release of Windows 95 the
world saw the largest over media onslaught to sell a product. Also with the
release of Windows came Microsoft's foray into the Internet market share. In
hindsight this perhaps may not have been the best move to make. 1996 passed with
much criticism of Gates' operating system, people said it was unstable, hard to
figure out and anything else possible. 1997 came around with rumours of a new
operating system in the works dubbed Chicago. This was perhaps a rumour but more
likely the beginning of Windows 98. In 1998 Gates released this newer version of
Windows 95, which made the world Gates' subject for the biggest beta test ever.
Windows 98 was just an upgrade of 95. Upgrade may be an understatement, but on
the surface it is almost identical, underneath they are worlds apart. Recently
Microsoft's ghosts have come to haunt them. Netscape, their main rival in the
Internet division, had started an Anti-trust case in the federal supreme court.
The accusations spawned from a dispute where Netscape's browser were being
loaded onto pre made Compaq computers and Microsoft did not approve of this.
This case has recently come to the end of its first stage with Microsoft falling
guilty. The consequences have yet to come, but are foreseen in the coming
months. This most likely will not spell the end of Gates' empire rather actually
may boost his worth by making him CEO of 4 giant specialised companies. Steve
Jobs, a cofounder of Apple Computers Inc., has also had good fortune with the
computer world, but also had his fair share of hiccups. In 1985 after the
Macintosh had had troubles selling as much as wished Steve Jobs was forced out
of Apple. From here he went on to try and rebuild a new frontier in media, 3D
animation. After leaving Apple he formed a new company, Next Inc. this was a
hardware/software development company. He then went on in 1986 to purchase a
controlling share in Pixar, a LucasFilm branch that dealt with 3D animation. In
1989 Next released its first computer at $10,000 which was incompatible and did
not sell well, 4 years later they shut down their hardware division. In 1996
Apple bought out Next. Inc. and uses Jobs as a part time consultant. This aids
Apple to become one of the top players in the world of computers in 1998. Some
of Pixar's achievements are; Toy Story, the first full length film created soley
by computers. "A Bug's Life" released and is a hit. And February 1999,
Technical Academy Award to Pixar's David DiFrancesco for "pioneering
efforts in the development of laser film recording technology". These
achievements of both these men have helped to fuel the second wave of the
computer revolution. The third is on the horizon as the information
superhighway's potential will be seen in the next couple of years.