Category Archives: History

Happy 20th, Java!

That’s right, 20 yeas ago today the first version of the Java programming language was released, and the web was changed forever. (And with the exception of James Gosling, Mike Sheridan, Patrick Naughton, and their development team who worked on Oak [which was the beginning of the Java language project] between 1991 and 1995, the doctor becomes one of the few individuals who can honestly claim 20 years experience in Java and the Java platform — as he downloaded it in May, 1995 and was teaching it in Data Structures and Comparative Languages courses as far back as June, 1995.)

It might be hard to fathom that Java didn’t exist 20 years ago considering that the vast majority of desktops run Java, that it’s been the top rated development language (on the Tiobe index, for e.g.) for most of its existence, and that many enterprise systems (including many supply chain systems) run on Java, but it didn’t.

So while you’re having your cup of Java today, think about this and wish Java a happy birthday. Especially considering that it’s ancient in internet years and still going strong!

Fifty-Five Years Ago Today

Theodore H. Maiman operates the first functioning optical (ruby) laser at Hughes Research Laboratories, Malibu, California, and making possible all of the technologies we use on a daily basis including, but not limited to, optical drives, laser printers, barcode scanners, and, most importantly, finer-optics. There would be no modern information technology without the laser, and we’d still be on electronic bulletin boards if we had to still dial up to the internet over copper.

What do you think LOLCats?

Best Invention. Evah!!!

Happy 65th, EU!

I know you’re probably thinking the doctor is being a little loose with his own prescription pad, as the EU officially came into being on November 1, 1993 under the Maastricht Treaty, but this was just the evolution of the European Economic Community (EEC) that was formed by the Inner Six countries on January 1, 1958 under the Treaty of Rome. But before then came the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) which was formally established by the Treaty of Paris on April 18, 1951 by the same Inner Six countries, and this was the net result of the Schuman Declaration, made 65 years ago today, by the French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman to create a new form of organization of states in Europe called a supranational community which was the real beginning of the modern EU.

So if you think about it, the EU isn’t the 22 year old new kid on the block (not to be confused with the new kids on the block that formed in 1984 to unleash boy band hysteria on the world, presumably to usher in the Orwellian era through omni-present pop), but the freshly minted senior who’s been around through three generations.

What do you have to say, señor LOLCat?

I guess the current economic crises in Greece, exacerbated by the slow recovery of Cyprus, has made LOLCat a little cranky.

Three Hundred and Forty Five Years Ago Today

One of North America’s oldest companies was founded when the Hudson’s Bay Company was granted a permanent charter to open up the fur trade in North America. At the time its charter was granted, it was the de facto government in parts of North America before other European states and, later, the United States laid claim to overlapping territories.

While it may not be a household Fortune 500 name anymore, and may not have participated in the fur trade since 1987, it was at one time the largest landowner in the world (with 15% of North American acreage). The trade routes that it opened up paved the way for settling, and eventually, administrating in North America, and it paved the way for the colonies. When it signed the Deed of Surrender (on November 19, 1869), its remaining territory became the largest component in the Dominion of Canada, in which the company was still the largest private landowner.

It’s primary business today is, of course, mercantile, as it owns multiple chains of retail stores throughout Canada and the US, and it is still doing fairly well, with Wikipedia listing its 2013 Total Assets at almost 8 Billion Canadian.