J a n u a r y

The business pages looking at the investment outlook for the year are unanimous that the US market will crack very soon, taking the rest of the world’s stock markets with it. Stung by complaints that no operating system owned by a single company can be regarded as truly open, Microsoft Corp stuns the industry by announcing that it plans to cede complete control of Windows NT to an independent industry body, and suggests that the Open Group be renamed the Truly Open Software Foundation. The Dow Jones Index closes the month up 363 at 6,600.

F e b r u a r y

Apple, still non-commital about its operating system plans, says it is by no means committed exclusively to the PowerPC. Compaq warns that deepening recession in Germany, which is spreading to surrounding countries, may cause it to report a first quarter loss; it lays off 100 in Scotland. Microsoft makes it clear that it will not pass the Windows NT microkernel on to the Open Group, announcing that it is taking a 50% stake in Richard Branson’s new V2 record label. The Dow Jones Index plunges 750 points in a day and sheds another 110 the following day, but recoups all of its losses to end up 420 at 7,020.

M a r c h

Motorola announces the 64-bit 68080 with five-way superscalar architecture, two 512Mb on-board caches and built-in input-output subsystem, says the 110MHz version outperforms the PowerPC 620 three-fold at half the price. Sun changes its tag to the Network Computer is the Network Computer, McNealy gets a cat and calls it Network Computer. DEC cuts the price of Alpha chips by 50%, says it’s on target to return to profit by the fourth quarter to June. Unemployment in France rises to 15.7%; Chancellor Kohl says it is a price well worth paying for the single currency. President Chirac says Chancellor Kohl is a price well worth paying for the single currency. The Dow Jones Index is up 317 points in March.

A p r i l

NEC castigates Computergram for questioning whether there is anything intrinsically new about a single chip that incorporates a MIPS R10000 core with two 1Mb caches and 10Mb of main memory, asks when we last saw a company planning to micromachine an entire 1cm disk drive storing 200Mb on the same chip as processor and memory. Apple says that its next generation of SuperPower Macintoshes would abandon the PowerPC for the 68080. Mac OS system builders say they will follow suit. Microsoft says of course it didn’t mean the Windows user interface when it said it would hand Windows NT to the Open Group. John Major’s government falls after it is defeated in House of Commons. The Dow hits 7,560.

M a y

IBM’s RS/6000 division says the PowerPC 620 will not meet its re- quirements adequately, so it is proceeding with a Power 3 RISC chip set. Microsoft says that of course it can’t hand the Windows NT utilities over to the Open Group because they are not its to donate – although the companies that originally developed them and offered them as separately-priced add-ons for Windows are no longer around to claim them. Tony Blair’s New Labour wins British General Election by a landslide, bans all ministers from going on television, says if people want to know what we are doing, tony@newlab.co.uk is the only place to find out. The Dow Jones Index falls 1,000 points.

J u n e

Just people selling in May and going away, say seasoned Wall Street hands, who are vindicated by the Dow rising 1,225 points over three days’ trading. UK investment houses have missed out on a 27% rise so far this year by staying out of the US market. IBM’s AS/400 unit in Rochester confesses that the only similarity between the PowerPC AS and other PowerPCs is the name, says that next AS/400 CPU will be a sort of Power 3.5. IBM Microelectronics decides to abandon the PowerPC 620 through lack of demand, finds no external demand for Power 2 or Power 3 either.

J u l y

Reminding people that it is now called Digital EquipmeNT Corp, DEC cuts prices of Alpha chips by

50% again as last external Windows NT on Alpha licensee announces plans to switch to NT on Pentium Pro. DEC losses top $1,000m as company blames European continent-wide recession as European Community average unemployment reaches 13.9% and only British rate of 6.6% prevents average going through 15%. French tractors drive in convoy down Unter den Linden: Chancellor Kohl says French tractors are a price well worth paying for the Euro. London fund managers plunge into Wall Street are finally being persuaded that it’s all different this time. Dow Jones industrial average rises 10 points on month.

A u g u s t

Dow Jones Index plunges 1,311 points in a single day – just making prices look more attractive for St Leger Day, say City pundits. Frankfurt DAX index loses 27% of its value in a single day as Nikkei Dow Jones plunges 8,000 points to 12,600. French Prime Minister phones Bill Clinton at 3 am every morning for a week after newlyprivatised Bull learns that it’s the only major company still using the PowerPC and that IBM plans to phase it out. Spanish wine growers clash with French tractor drivers on Unter den Linden. Chancellor Kohl says he always said the Euro was the only way to unite Europe.

S e p t e m b e r

Motorola tells Bull Don’t worry, you’ll always be able to get the PowerPC from us. Bull is not convinced. Microsoft embeds Java Virtual Machine in Windows NT, says it will hand it over to the Open Group. Oh no you won’t, says Sun. Dow Jones Index plunges through 5,500 on St Leger Day. Time to buy, say London fund managers. European unemployment reaches 23%. IBM, Compaq, Dell, Hewlett-Packard all say they will report losses for the quarter because of depth of European depression. The Dow Jones Index ends the month on 3,850.

O c t o b e r

Microsoft admits that the only thing it is going to hand over to the Open Group are the two letters NT; Windows will remain under Microsoft’s control. IBM advises Motorola that their agreement precludes Motorola making any version of the PowerPC that IBM has stopped making – and it will stop making all of them in November. Bull decides to switch to Windows TN on Pentium Pro throughout its line. French government sues US government over PowerPC: US points out that it doesn’t own IBM. Opinion polls show Chancelor Kohl will lose 1998 election by a land- slide. Kohl says German people are not worthy of him. The Dow Jones Index rallies 200 points before slipping to end the month at 5,500.

N o v e m b e r

Motorola fires ex-Taligent chief, now head of Motorola Computer Group Joe Guglielmi telling him it only hired him because as a veteran IBMer it assumed it would be able to tell it what IBM would do next. France tells Clinton we don’t own Bull either, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t do everything we tell it to. Internet and multimedia stocks lead the way down as Dow Jones index plunges another 950 points. Netscape shares are quoted at $3.25. Open Group tells Microsoft it doesn’t want the letters NT – it’s already got U, N, I and X, and still doesn’t know what to do with them. Dow steadies at 2,900.

D e c e m b e r

Motorola signs with Intel to fabricate Pentium Pro, P7 under licence. Britain’s Labour government collapses after Tony Blair invites Chancellor Kohl to address both houses of Parliament. No Member of Parliament or peer shows up. Japan institutes seventeenth economic revival plan, blames European depression for failure of sixteenth plan. French transport workers on strike for 16th week, but no-one notices – they have no jobs to go to. Motorola creates 68080 firmware emulator to enable Apple to switch to Pentium Pro. Dow ends year at 2,100. Santa Cruz Operation sets seasonal promotion for 64-bit Unix, reveals plans to put a CD-ROM copy in every child’s stocking in the world, calls it Santa Claus Operation.