play their instruments outside his home, at time joined by David Hugh July 25th people who tossed dead cats into his garden, blew bugles, and Bunnell smashed his windows. Born: July 25, 1947; Babbage and When the Bill passed Parliament Alliance, Nebraska Street Musicians in July 1864, writers and Died: October 18, 2016 scholars of all types were Bunnell founded some of the July 25, 1864 grateful. The logician Augustus most successful computer De Morgan wrote to John magazines, including PC Charles Babbage [Dec 26] was Herschel, “Babbage’s Act has Magazine, PC World, and known for his intense dislike of passed, and he is a public Macworld. At one point, four of London’s organ grinders, who benefactor.” the top ten computer magazines would stroll from street to were ones he’d started. street, playing 'music' on their It was the beginning of the end often untuned instruments, until for street musicians, although Bunnell began his career in 1973 someone paid them to move on. the story goes that when as a technical writer for MITS Babbage was on his deathbed, [Sept 13], and later admitted His low opinion was shared by an organ grinder turned up to that he knew virtually nothing many other distinguished play outside his window. about electronics at the time. London residents. For instance, Thomas Carlyle (the noted Bunnell began editing MITS’s historian and essayist) newsletter, "Computer Notes" constructed a soundproof study IBM’s First Patent [April 7], in April 1975 which in his home, and Charles Dickens focussed on the Altair [March [Dec 00] told a friend that he July 25, 1911 7], and so became the first couldn't write for more than an IBM’s first patent was filed on regular publication devoted to hour without being driven to October 11, 1907 and granted personal computers. In 1976, he distraction. on this day as US 998,631. It organized the first PC conference [March 27]. The brewer, Michael Bass, describes a ‘perforating introduced a parliamentary act machine’, essentially a punch In 1977, Bunnell convinced in 1863, the “Act for the Better card system for tabulation. This Benwill, a Boston-based Regulation of Street Music in the may seem unlikely since IBM publisher, to fund Personal Metropolis,” which would give only came into existence in Computing, and got his former the police the right to arrest any 1924. MITS colleagues Bill Gates [Oct street performer who didn't The patent’s inventor was John 28] and Paul Allen [Jan 21] to leave a neighborhood when Royden Peirce, who went on to write a software column. Less requested by a homeowner. design a variety of machines for hardcore than BYTE magazine Babbage's views figured sorting and tabulating punched [Sept 3], it became a template prominently in the pamphlet cards. Peirce’s company (the for the many mass-audience Bass published to gain support Pierce Accounting Machine tech magazines that followed. for his bill. Company) later failed, and in Bunnell started PC Magazine in 1922 his patents were the fall of 1981 in the spare purchased by C-T-R [June 16] bedroom of his house near when he joined the company. C- Golden Gate Park in San T-R became IBM on [Feb 14] Francisco. The first issue of 1924, and inherited its patents. Macworld came out on [Jan 24], IBM is one of the world’s leading 1984, the same day that Steve patent holders with over Jobs announced the Mac. 150,000 to its name. It received Bunnell and his then wife, Linda, a record 9,262 in 2019, the 27th worked as teachers in the early consecutive year that IBM has 1970s on the Pine Ridge Indian topped the annual list of US Reservation in South Dakota. He patent recipients. also delivered food to the Indians who occupied Wounded Knee for 71 days from February 27, 1973.

Organ grinder and monkey (1892). Library of Congress.

In retaliation, organ grinders converged from miles around to

1

The virus became active when we came up with the idea, before A Chorus Line Excel was loaded and copied we even made the game”. itself into any other workbooks July 25, 1975 “Fortnite: Battle Royale”, was when they were accessed. In a released in September: a free "A Chorus Line" is a musical short time, Laroux became one 100-person fight to the death about 17 Broadway dancers of the most common Windows that only allowed for one auditioning for spots in a viruses. survivor. Within 24 hours, it had forthcoming show. The music is Laroux was first found in Alaska amassed one million players (in by Marvin Hamlisch, lyrics by and South Africa, on machines at groups of 100). Edward Kleban, with a book by the offices of international oil James Kirkwood Jr. and Nicholas By early 2018, Fortnite had companies. Dante. passed 140 million players, and had reportedly generated over It opened at the Shubert Theatre one billion dollars from in-game on this day, becoming the first purchases. Broadway show with its lighting WGA controlled by a computer, a PDP- July 25, 2005 8 [March 22]. The machine had been modified by Gordon Microsoft launched Windows Pearlman at the University of Genuine Advantage (WGA), North Carolina, and was sold as which scans a user’s computer the LS-8 lighting console by to ensure its Windows software Electronics Diversified. Inc. is legal before allowing updates (EDI). However, the lighting to be downloaded. designer of the show, Tharon Musser, nicknamed it "Sam". Two years later, the inevitable happened. On August 24, 2007, the WGA team accidentally installed buggy software on the WGA servers. The team quickly rolled back the changes, but didn’t check the results. For 19 hours, until around 3 pm the following day, WGA flagged several thousand legal Windows users as pirates.

The LS-8 computerized lighting console. Fortnite The show was a box office and July 25, 2017 critical hit, receiving twelve Tony Award nominations and “Fortnite: Save the World” is a winning nine, in addition to the third-person shooter game 1976 Pulitzer Prize for drama. developed by Epic Games [Jan However, this was not entirely 15; July 1] where up to four due to the use of a computer. players cooperate on various missions while avoiding rampaging zombies. Epic has called the game a cross between Laroux Virus Excels Minecraft [July 25] and “Left 4 Dead”. July 25, 1996 The game was released as a The first known MS Excel [May paid-for early access title for 2] macro virus, “Laroux,” was Windows, MacOS, the stored in a hidden datasheet PlayStation 4 [Nov 15], and Xbox named “laroux”. Written in One [Nov 22] on this day. Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), it was able to operate However, it had been announced inside Excel 5 and 7 (aka Excel back in 2011 at the Spike Video 95). (There was no Excel 6 since Game Awards, in the form of a all of MS Office's [Aug 1] action-packed trailer. Donald applications had been Mustard, creative lead at Epic, standardizing on the same major remarked that this event version number at this point.) occurred just “three weeks after

2