The year that Smart Computers was born was a big one for historic events. Here we take a trip down memory lane and get all nostalgic over some of the key events that changed the world in 1996.
Major events that happened in the world of Information Technology in 1996
- The most significant of course is the birth of Smart Computers! But we of course may be biased… The business started out solely as IT Rentals – we saw a huge gap in the market for businesses who needed to source IT equipment and either couldn’t fund purchasing everything outright, or just didn’t need to buy equipment for permanent use, which more often than not went out of date. This took off for Smart Computers as more people became aware of the service and realised the benefits it brought to their business, and bottom line. The first three years of trading saw us double business year on year before we branched out to a wider IT support service. Rental still remains one of our most successful service offerings, especially given the current economic situation with more flexible working becoming the norm.
- The second biggest change to the IT world was the launch of Google (second only behind Smart’s birth :)). Google was introduced by Sergey Brin and Larry Page in 1996, arguably changing the world and the way we use the internet forever. Google is by far the market leading search engine, with the majority of the world ‘Googling’ weird and wonderful terms every single day. Think about it, when was the last time you went a day or two without using Google….?! Absolute game changer.
- There was a shift in email usage, and for the first time, more emails were sent as a means of communication than postal mail in the USA!
- The first commercial USB cable and port were released in January 1996.
- There was a well reported issue for those people living in Scunthorpe. AOL swearword filters blocked users from creating accounts because of the obscene keyword that appears in the town’s name.
- Sony entered the PC market with the release of VAIO and later sold the business to the investment firm Japan Industrial Partners in February 2014 as part of their restructuring to focus on mobile devices.
Just for fun…
The Spice Girls catapulted into the music scene, relaunching the era of the girl band, and Girl Power.
‘How deep is your love’ by Take That topped the charts the weekend of 12th March 1996.
England made it to the Semi-Finals of Euro 96’ and lost out to Germany in ‘that’ penalty shootout. Poor Gareth Southgate, scarred for life and lots of hopes and dreams dashed.
In the news
1996 was the year that Dolly the Sheep was cloned (but it wasn’t announced until Feb 1997 fact fans) – Dolly was the first mammal cloned from an adult somatic cell and has been named ‘the world’s most famous sheep’. The scientific experiment opened the doors for the cloning of many other larger mammals, including pigs, deers, horses and bulls. Sadly Dolly passed away on 14th February 2003, just before her 7th birthday.
John Major held the realm as Prime Minister, with his reign lasting from 1990 to 1997. He was the youngest British Prime Minister of the 20th Century.
So there you have it, a trip to the past, 25 whole years ago. Some things founded in 1996 remain part of our day to day life, and others not so successful! We’re delighted to be one of the success stories and continue to go from strength to strength…!
