tech history

Bill Gates’ prescient remarks in May 2005, delivered to Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, have become an iconic chapter in the dynamic rivalry between Apple and Microsoft—a rivalry that has defined decades of consumer technology innovation. Gates, at the time no longer the CEO of...

Few pieces of technology have left as profound a mark on digital communication as Skype, the pioneering VoIP platform that once redefined how we connect across continents. With Microsoft’s shifting priorities, Skype’s recent phase-out feels less like a dramatic finale and more like the closing...

Skype's journey from being the undisputed leader in video calling to its final sunset is both a story of rapid innovation and the relentless tide of competition in the tech space. Today marks the end of an era for millions, as Microsoft officially begins shutting down Skype, the service that...

After more than two decades of shaping the way people connect online, Skype, once the undisputed king of internet calling and messaging, has reached its official end. On May 5, 2024, Microsoft permanently retired the app, signaling a decisive close to one of digital communication’s most...

Booting up a Windows PC is an experience users have come to expect to be quick and seamless—especially in an era where solid-state drives and finely tuned operating systems promise near-instant access to the desktop. Yet, the road to such efficiency has often been littered with missteps and...

In 2005, an unusual technical anomaly emerged: playing Janet Jackson's 1989 hit "Rhythm Nation" could crash certain models of laptop computers. This phenomenon was first detailed by Microsoft software engineer Raymond Chen, who recounted that a major computer manufacturer discovered that the...

An era in digital communication is quietly drawing to a close: Microsoft’s announcement that its Skype service will cease operations in May signals more than a corporate change. It encapsulates the remarkable journey of one of the most influential consumer technologies of the early 21st century...

When was the last time you booted up a Game Boy Color and thought, “What this pixelated bad boy really needs is Microsoft Windows 3.1?” If your answer is “never—until now,” you’re in luck. A developer by the name of Ruben Retro has birthed “GBS WINDOWS” for the Game Boy, and no, it’s not the...

Last October, amid the usual relentless hum of Windows updates and the low-key anxiety that comes with “will my device still work tomorrow?”, Microsoft dropped Windows 11 24H2 into the world. You know the drill: Copilot gets smarter, the file manager speaks fluent TAR and 7z, there’s a new...

There’s a peculiar kind of nostalgia that sneaks up on you, usually just as you’re about to open a productivity suite or fiddle yet again with a premium photo editor’s endless sea of tabs and sliders. Before Adobe suite subscriptions and digital brushes outnumbered real hairs, there was only...

Microsoft is celebrating a monumental 50 years of innovation and evolution, and this anniversary event is serving as a fitting tribute to its storied legacy. With a special Copilot event taking center stage, Microsoft is blending its rich history with bold moves into the future. Let’s dive into...

Reflecting on Microsoft’s Golden Era: When Windows 2000 Server Ruled the Roost A retrospective glance at Microsoft’s history reveals a legacy marked by groundbreaking innovations, occasional missteps, and passionate debates among tech enthusiasts. Recent commentary from The Register’s community...

The conversation circulating online about a start-up's bold claim that its new GPU outperforms NVIDIA’s 5090 naturally invites comparisons to previous eras of graphics competition. Enthusiasts have long debated which GPU truly leads the pack, and historical discussions offer valuable context...

Microsoft’s journey to a $2.9 trillion empire isn’t just a story of brilliant code and innovative products—it’s also a tale of dynamic individuals whose leadership and decisions helped shape modern computing. One such figure is Steve Ballmer, a man whose fervor and managerial prowess elevated...

Microsoft’s 50th birthday celebration was anything but conventional. In a jubilant nod to its storied past, the tech giant not only retraced decades of software innovation—from the seminal days of MS-DOS and early Windows releases to the modern era of interactive computing and gaming with...

Microsoft’s journey from a scrappy startup in Albuquerque to a global technology powerhouse reads like the script of an epic saga—one that continues to evolve even as we write it. With its origins rooted in the development of Altair BASIC—a groundbreaking project for one of the first personal...

The world of technology is filled with hidden gems that often go unnoticed for decades. Ever wondered what secrets might be lurking in your operating system, waiting to be uncovered by a curious mind armed with reverse-engineering skills? A recently rediscovered Easter egg in one of Microsoft’s...

Microsoft’s Windows logo isn’t just a tiny sticker slapped on a box—it’s a storyteller in its own right, chronicling decades of design evolution that mirror both technological advances and evolving aesthetic tastes. For many of us, the first glimpse of a Windows logo—whether on an old Pentium 4...

CrystalMark Retro 2.0.0 is here, and it’s stirring up a mix of nostalgia and technical triumph. This major update to the venerable benchmarking tool not only reaffirms its status as a beloved relic of the past but also positions it as a relevant utility for modern Windows systems. Developed by...

Tracing the Evolution of Mouse Connectors: When Simplicity Met Ingenuity It’s hard not to smile when you remember an era when your computer ports had more personality than the devices they connected to. Long before the sleek modernity of USB and Bluetooth, PCs boasted PS/2 ports—a legacy...