5 Technology innovations that completed 25 years in 2017

5 tech things
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Time is going fast. Technology has changed so much in the last 25 years. Gone are days where we used to work with big Television style monitors and slow processor integrated into large CPUs. The whole world of Technology and communication systems has rapidly changed within 25 years. We are now in the world of e-mails and social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and WhatsApp. We never imagined 25 years back about the existence of these channels including Google. Even Cable TV was in infancy nearly 25 years back. That being said, it gives us immense happiness if we rewind back to 25 years to explore the events occurred at that time. In this article, we will explore the 5 tech things that completed 25 years on sharp December 3, 2017.

Palm

Palm was a mini-sized handheld device that was extremely popular 25 years back. Palm is one of the top 5 tech things that will be celebrating the 25’th year of existence. The company manufactured the first commercially successful PDA named as The Palm Pilot was invented by Jeff Hawkins in 1992. We purchased a Palm handheld in early 2000’s but we are unable to use it now because of lack of compatible apps. Even though the screen is in Black and White, we still love to work with it and stored it as a treasure.

SMS introduced by Vodafone

Vodafone introduced SMS messaging communication system on December 3, 1992, and was sent by Neil Papworth of Sema Group. The message was delivered to Richard Jarvis of Vodafone using an Orbitel 901 handset. Do you want to know the content of the message? It was ‘MERRY CHRISTMAS’. Papworth was working as a developer and test engineer with Sema. He was asked to develop a Short Message Service (SMS) for his client, Vodafone. The SMS program was developed in such a way that the length of the content is no longer than 160 characters. The Happy emoticons in 1992 ranged from 🙂 to ヽ(•‿•)ノ. The fist emojis was invented in Japan in 1999 and was inspired by the emoticons created by Papworth. It was also defined that LOL stands for laughing out loud and not lots of love.

CD sales skyrocketed

We worked with floppy disks and audio cassettes 25 years back. We still have an old treasure of floppies and cassettes. In 1992, Compact Discs (now extinct) aka CDs were very popular. The interesting fact to note with regard to 5 tech things is that the sale of the CDs went beyond the expectations and beaten the overall sale of Audio cassettes in 1992.

Get ready to feel old

During early 90’s, many popular films were released in all languages. The story was written in such a way to remember the film for a long time. That’s why we still love the film released during 90’s. Some of the popular films released in 1992 were Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar, Roja, Chamatkaar, Batman Returns and Reservoir Dogs.

ThinkPad debuts

Lenovo launched Thinkpad in 1992. The interesting fact is that Thinkpad was the only laptop which was allowed to be taken to the International space station. The ThinkPad is one of the top 5 tech things evolved 25 years back.

Can you imagine how the technology world has changed in the last 25 years? We are now at a place that is beyond our imagination. With several smartphones and a whole lot of social media platforms at your disposal, the life has changed beyond words. Please share your comments about this article.

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Anand Narayanaswamy is the editor-in-chief of Netans. He was recognized as a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) for 9 years (2002 to 2011) and again as a Microsoft MVP in Surface under Windows and Devices in January 2024. He worked as a Chief Technical Editor with ASPAlliance and was part of ASPInsider program. Anand has published several articles and reviews related to various software and hardware products for various software and technology related websites. He is also active on social media and also participates as an Influencer for various brands. Anand can be reached at admin@netans.com

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