Software History

Pick a piece of software that’s been around awhile – like Photoshop or Illustrator for example.

Research who originally designed this software – who were the Interaction Designers? Can you find the original patents for key interactions? How have the interactions changed over time.

Can you determine when the software originally launched, what was the original company? Is the software delivered in the same fashion? Is it an install into the computer? Web or SAAS (software as a service)? Mobile? What changes have happened to accommodate our greater understanding of people and how they interact with computer technology?

Post your findings to the class blog. (This can be in narrative form or in table or bullet format with screenshots and images to make your points.) Make sure to appropriately cite your sources. Make sure to select Sofware History category.

• Dropbox
  by Monica Xu
  Dropbox was founded by two MIT students – Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowsi, in 2007. They have launched their first product at March,2008. Dropbox can be installed into the computer…
• The history of Autodesk Maya
  by Tai Hao
  Maya is a 3D computer graphics application software that runs on computers only. It is now available in Windows, macOS, and Linux. It is used to create assets for interactive 3D applications, such as video games,…
• Adobe Photoshop Now and Then
  by Jasmine Sun
  As one of the most popular software for designers, Photoshop has released its 21st version in 2020. Apparently, it has always been a key research and development project of Adobe…
• The history of Adobe Photoshop
  by Betty Deng
• Club Penguin
  by Ruth Bhavsar
  Club Penguin is an online multiplayer game for kids and ran from 2005 to 2017. It was shut down by Disney after a dramatic decrease in users, but copycat sites…
• Three Decades Of Google’s Development(1998, 2008, 2018)
  by Peter Peng
  Larry Page and Sergey Brin, two computer science graduate students, met at Stanford in 1995 and created what would become one of the most useful inventions of all-time — a…
• Figma:A Web-based Design Tool
  by Mengyao Xiu
  Figma was founded in 2012 by Dylan Field and Evan Wallace. Some of the original designers who worked on Figma were Lucyné Babayan, Marcin Wichary, Bradee Evans, Tori Hinn, Nikolas…
• 3D Modeling- SketchUp History
  by DeeDee Kwon
  SketchUp is a Computer Graphics software program widely used within the realms of architectural designing, CAD, and 3D modeling. Mechanical engineers, interior designers, and film and video game creators actively use this…
• History of Adobe Fireworks
  by Jonahtan Rabago
  On March 10th, 1998, Macromedia Digital Arts Group released Fireworks as a free public beta; it was officially released that same year, on the 2nd of June. Adobe Systems later…
• Final Cut Pro
  by Vincent Chen
  Final Cut Pro is software that a lot of video editors who are Mac users used today. A lot of people chose to use it because it creates a much…
• The Legacy of MS Paint
  by Elaine Choi
  Microsoft Paint is an application that has been a part of Window since 1985, most often associated with its poorly and badly illustrated digital art. For many, including myself, it…
• The Past and Present of Snapchat
  by Evan Tang
  Snapchat, formed in 2011, is a social media platform used to share photos and messages among friends. Snapchat was formed with communication between friends and new ways of expression in…
• The Development of Microsoft PowerPoint
  by Zijie Zhou
  Microsoft PowerPoint is a presentation program. It was released on April 20, 1987. The first version of PowerPoint only works for Macintosh Operating system based computers, which was created by…
• Google Chrome 2008 VS Google Chrome 2020
  by Brian Zhao
  Even though Google Chrome only has 12 years of history, it has become one of the most well-known web browser software in the world. Google Chrome first debuted in 2008…
• Firefox – The Early Day and The Present
  by Lylyna Heng
  Firefox started out in 1998 under the Mozilla project – an open source created by a team from Netscape. It was intended to harness the creative power of thousands of…
• A School Project to a Five Billion Dollars App
  by Ted Huang
  Twitter is one of the most popular app people are using today, yet, it is one of the earliest social networking services in the twenty-first century, along with Facebook and…
• The Initial Launch and Development of Gmail
  by Elena Wang
  Gmail is a free e-mail service released by Google on April 1st, 2004. When Gmail first came out, new users needed existing users to send email invitations. As of February…
• Is there such a thing as too many patents?
  by Corey Rossi
  Spotify Launched: April 23, 2006 in Stockholm, Sweden Original founders: Daniel Ek, Martin Lorentzon Current CEO: Daniel Ek Currently owned by Spotify AB a publicly traded company They have many…
• How Wikipedia Slightly Change Our Life
  by Rebecca Lin
  The history of Wikipedia begins with Ward Cunningham, who created a new website model in 1994; he named it “Wiki”. Wikis are websites that allow users to create and edit…
• Solitaire paved the way!
  by Anh Truong
  Based on a century years old card game, Microsoft Solitaire was first introduced more than 30 years ago and ended up becoming one of the most played video games in…
• Microsoft Word: Then and Now
  by Philip Joo
  Microsoft Word (originally known as Multi-Tool Word) was introduced in the early 1980s by software developers Richard Brodie and Charles Simonyi who came to work for Microsoft from Xerox.  Although…
• Evolution of YouTube
  by Noah Ahrens
  Youtube is a popular video hosting website that paved the way for ordinary people to post creative content to the internet for others enjoyment. The original site was created in…
• 35 years History of Excel
  by Hermione Hu
  Do you know that Microsoft Excel has been helping businesses for about 35 years? Excel is a SAAS spreadsheet for Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS. It features calculation, graphing tools,…
• Internet Explorer
  by John Cho
  Internet Explorer was one of the dominant browsers in the old days, during the 2000s and declined by Chrome. Even I remember that every people used Internet Explorer when I…
• Cinema 4D
  by Betty Li
  Cinema 4D is a 3D software suite developed by the German company Maxon. it’s easy to learn and extremely powerful: Cinema 4D is the perfect package for all 3D artists who…
• Microsoft Minesweeper – A legend of generation
  by Amanda Liu
  “Where there’s Windows, there is Minesweeper.” As it is one of the few pre-installed games that come along with the popularization of PC in early 2000, it may be the…