Previous: 1981 / Next: 1983 View all of the years in the New Media Timeline
TECHNOLOGY The Sun Microsystems company is founded and their Sun I workstation is introduced. The workstation connects to other networked computers with software based on UNIX. An electronic spreadsheet for the IBM PC, called Lotus 1-2-3, is released. Various computer manufacturers, such as Compaq, begin selling IBM clones. Database management software dBase II is introduced by the Ashton Tate company. The Adobe Systems software company is founded. "Living With a Computer." James Fallows, Atlantic, July 1982. An early personal computer virus called Elk Cloner is spread by Apple II computer floppy disks. (Hear also: "25 Years of Computer Viruses." NPR, July 13, 2007.) The Commodore 64 computer is introduced in August 1982. It comes with 64K of memory and a 5 1/2" disk drive or cassette tape. (See also: "Commodore 64 TV commercial." Posted on YouTube.) Although compact disc (CD) technology had been around for a number of years, the Sony and Philips companies make the mass production of CDs possible during the 1980s. (See also: "Compact disc hits 25th birthday." BBC, August 17, 2007.) The Osborne Computer Company announces the successor to its popular 1981 Osborne 1 model. Osborne computers were among the first portable PC computers. Sept. 19, 1982 -- Carnegie Mellon University professor Scott E. Fahlman is perhaps the first to use a sideways smiley face emoticon. As personal computers become more popular, emoticons such as the smiley face will be commonly used with newsgroup posts, e-mail messages and text messaging. There are more than 5.5 million personal computers in offices and homes. (Source: InfoCulture: The Smithsonian Book)		THE MEDIA The Times Mirror company begins testing its Gateway videotex service. Newsweek is one of the content providers for the British Prestel videotex system. Field Enterprises, which owns WFLD-TV and the Chicago Sun-Times, produces a videotex magazine called Keyfax. (The project ends in 1985.) Seattle station KIRO-TV tests an over-the-air teletext news system. On May 3, 1982, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram officially launches its StarText BBS (Bulletin Board System).  Examples of U.S. companies testing videotex systems in 1982: Bonneville International / KSL-TV Field Electronic Publishing /WFLD-TV / Keyfax CBS / KNXT / Extravision PBS / KCET / Now NYU Alternative Media Center / WETA-TV NBC / KNBC / Tempo NBC Taft Broadcasting / WKRC / Taftext Westinghouse / KPIX / DirectVision PBS / WGBH-TV Time Video Services Louisville Courier-Journal & Times Springfield Television / WWLP-TV News Example: June 15, 1982 -- Britain's Falkland Islands War, New York Times. (Story available from the Infobank database service.)                 Additional Resources "StarText -- a capsule history." Internet Archive, 1997. "StarText: Farewell To A Good Friend." March 14, 1997. See Also: New Media Bibliography

Previous: 1981 / Next: 1983
Timeline Intro