…1998: At that point in time, nobody suspected that AMD would win the race for the first gigahertz processor on the market in 2000 and beat its big competitor Intel by two days. However, the first operational prototype that breaks the “magic” 1,000 megahertz goes to IBM: The team led by Dr. Mark Dean, who was once responsible for the development of the ISA standard, is the first to reach this milestone in the history of CMOS chips on February 4, 1998 – albeit only in the laboratory.
…1998: Noel Godin has made it his hobby to please celebrities with cream cakes – by throwing these pastries in the famous faces. On February 4, 1998, it hits a man who is on a state visit to Brussels: Bill Gates. The Microsoft boss is not exactly happy about the gift; the thrower wants his symbolic act to be understood as a criticism of hierarchical power structures. We have included a YouTube video of the cake throwing for you.
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…2000: What’s that supposed to be? First developer legend Will Wright invents the awesome Sim City, an intricate simulation of urban development – and now he’s tweaking a game about ordinary people, a hands-on soap opera? The Sims, first released on the US market on February 4, 2000, was initially ridiculed, but then became the best-selling game in PC history to date, for which a number of add-ons are being released. In 2008, the Sims series, including all expansions, sold 125 million units, according to the publisher EA – an unprecedented success.
This is initially not foreseeable. The 2D graphics of the title are simple, the background noise is primitive, there is no multiplayer mode – and The Sims cannot really be classified either: Although the title has its roots in Sim City and the virtual game characters – the Sims – from the same names Descended from residents of the virtual Sim City cities, Wright’s new work is not a classic economic simulation. At first glance it looks more like an adventure – but there is no coherent plot or puzzles in it. Instead, the player invents his own story by directing the fortunes of an entire family, trying to satisfy their needs and solving small and large problems of everyday life. The game draws its appeal primarily from the interaction of the characters, who can build relationships with one another and even marry and start families; other players spend hours decorating the virtual house with tons of furniture and items. The game appeals to new groups of buyers, including and above all female fans – they make the Sims one of the most successful game series in history.
…2004: Our favorite – at least when it comes to membership numbers – social network goes online on this day. The official Facebook history is silent on the exact date, but the German and English versions of the Internet encyclopedia Wikipedia agree and want the exact date (as of January 24th, 2011, 4:00 p.m.) to be February 4th – one Unfortunately, a Whois query for the Facebook.com domain is of little help in this case, since it is registered to an administrator who has been running the URL since March 28, 1997.
URL tip: The next time the domain registration expires is March 29th, 2020…
Further information
• Intel’s 10 GHz fallacy (PCGH Retro)
• The Sims 3: Graphic Comparison
