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ExplainerYahoo closes GeoCities: how the web lost millions of home pagesYahoo bought GeoCities for billions in 1999 and switched it off a decade later. The closure became a turning point for web preservation.ExplainerThe Storm worm: the botnet that started with a weather headlineIn January 2007 an email about deadly storms in Europe spread a Trojan that built one of the largest peer-to-peer botnets of its time.ExplainerGPLv3: how the free software licence was rewrittenAfter 18 months of public drafting, the Free Software Foundation published version 3 of the GNU General Public License in June 2007.ExplainerThe UK identity card scheme: from Act of Parliament to shredded registerBritain legislated for national ID cards backed by a central biometric register, then abolished the whole scheme within five years.ExplainerThe netbook era: small, cheap laptops that briefly drove PC growthThe Asus Eee PC started a boom in low-cost mini laptops that propped up PC sales, until tablets and thinner laptops took their place.

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Topic

Hardware

Hardware history is a story of trade-offs: weight against battery life, price against power. These explainers cover the product categories that rose fast and sometimes vanished just as quickly.

Timeline

  1. 2006Intel’s Core architecture replaces the Pentium 4 era.
  2. 2007Asus launches the Eee PC and starts the netbook boom.
  3. 2008Intel’s Atom processor and the MacBook Air arrive.
  4. 2010The iPad reshapes the low-cost portable market.

Explainers

Hardware2 min read

Dell in the 2000s: the direct-sales giant that had to change

Dell built the world’s biggest PC business by selling straight to customers. In the mid-2000s, customer-service anger, a battery recall, criticism of its advertising and a resurgent HP forced it to rethink.

THE 2004–2008 STORY