Computing History: 1986-1990, Faster and Smaller

The so-called Fourth generation of computers, begun in the early 70s, took a huge leap forward in the late 1980s. These machines were smaller, faster, and more powerful than ever. With the successful introduction of TCP/IP, which allowed different computer networks to communicate with each other, computers began to be used more and more for communication as well as calculation.

Several events of significance happened in these years:

1989: Intel introduced the 80486 processor, which contained 1.2 million transistors and operated at 20 MIPS; and America Online was launched.

1990: Arpanet was officially decommissioned; Microsoft Windows 3.0 was published.

Meanwhile, at UF:

1986: An IBM 3090 (28 MIPs) replaced the 3033 and the 4341; a CPU upgrade to a 3090-400 (December) replaced the 3081; and the Vector Facility was installed.

1987: The Gould plotter and the card punch were removed; weekend hours were expanded; CICS became available 'til midnight M-F; and VM/CMS and TPX were installed.

1988: The last card reader was removed from the SSRB lobby; NERDC connected to the Internet; and TCP/IP-based network services were installed.

1989: LINDO/mainframe and TeX were installed in CMS; and DB2 was installed and tested in MVS.

1990: An IBM 3090-600E was installed (128 MB, 32 MIPS); 9600-Baud service was installed; 24 hour/7 day services were offered; Basic Access accounts replaced Limited Use accounts; RCI became available; and Rice Mail became the default mail system.

Sources:

http://www.cns.ufl.edu/info-services/history

http://www.slocoe.org/business/ITS/pdf/timeline.pdf

http://www.thocp.net/timeline/1989.htm

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