The first part in a series looking back into the past, and DelCor's history of serving associations and nonprofits for over 25 years. The first segment focuses on 1984-1989, enjoy this fun blast from the past!
The 1980s saw social, economic, and technological change on a large scale across the world. Globalization helped spread wealth, culture, economies, and ideas, giving birth to an era of enormous change. The 1980s were also the infancy of the computer age and an era of opportunity for those pioneers willing to embrace the development and use of this revolutionary technology.
In 1984, a young University of Maryland graduate, Loretta DeLuca, saw an opportunity and opened PC Innovators, which would later become DelCor. The company originally focused on database development and network implementations. Throughout the remainder of the decade, DelCor saw steady growth and gradually focused its business efforts solely on the association and nonprofit community. In the late ‘80s, Dave Coriale joined DelCor and shortly thereafter became a partner - together, Loretta DeLuca and Dave Coriale laid the foundation for DelCor today.
1984
- Loretta DeLuca forms PC Innovators, which later becomes DelCor.
- The youngest employees at DelCor were born this year.
- The first Apple Macintosh is sold.
- IBM’s first portable computer is announced, it weighs 30lbs.
- Dell Computer is founded.
- The first inkjet and laser printers for desktops are released by HP.
1985
- New Coke is released, public reaction is overwhelmingly negative.
- Commodore launches the Amiga Personal Computer to great fanfare in Lincoln Center.
- Robert Ballard finds the Titanic.
- Nintendo is released.
- Gateway Computers is founded in Iowa.
1986
- The first PC virus named “Brain” begins to spread.
- The Space Shuttle Challenger explodes shortly after liftoff.
- Geraldo Riviera opens Al Capone’s secret vault only to find a bottle of moonshine.
- LISTSERV, the first email management software, is developed.
1987
- Dave Coriale joins DelCor.
- SDF (Super Dimension Fortress) receives its first call at 300b/sec.
- The first conference on artificial life is held at Los Alamos, NM.
- Larry Wall creates the PERL computer coding language.
- Construction is started on the Chunnel between France and England.
1988
- NASA resumes Space Shuttle flights.
- George H.W. Bush is elected President.
- The first transatlantic telephone cable using fiber optics is completed.
1989
- The Exxon Valdez spills 11 million gallons of oil off the coast of Alaska.
- The Tiananmen Square protests occur.
- Robert Morris Jr. is indicted for spreading a computer virus, becoming the first person tried for spreading malicious software.
- The Berlin Wall falls.
- The Macintosh Portable, the first portable Apple, was released and is immediately a failure.
Stay tuned throughout this year for more!
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