Editing Timeline of computing 1980–1989 (section)

==1986==
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Date
! Location
! class="unsortable" | Event
|- valign="top"
| January
| US
| Apple released another enhanced version of the Macintosh (the [[Macintosh Plus]] personal computer)<ref name=null2007 />{{snd}}this one could cope with 4 MB of RAM (for the first time, upgradable via [[SIMM]]s) and it had a built-in SCSI adapter based on the [[NCR 5380]].
|- valign="top"
| February
| UK
| Sinclair ZX Spectrum 128 released. It had 128 KB of RAM, but little other improvement over the original ZX (except improved sound capabilities). Later models were produced by [[Amstrad]]{{snd}}but they showed no major advances in technology.
|- valign="top"
|rowspan="2"| April
| US
| Apple released another version of the Macintosh (the [[Macintosh 512Ke]])<ref>{{cite web |title=Macintosh 512Ke: Specifications (Discontinued) (8/94) |url=http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=1970 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110516051336/http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=1970 |archive-date=16 May 2011}}</ref> equipped with a double sided 3.5 inch Floppy Disk drive.
|- valign="top"
| UK
| On April 7 it was officially announced that [[Amstrad|Amstrad Plc]] acquired the computer division of [[Sinclair Research Ltd]] including the marketing and development rights of all [[ZX Spectrum]] models and the exclusive right to use the well-known ''Sinclair'' brand itself. As ZX Spectrum still had 40% market share and CPC also had some 20%, by the merger a very strong player was established in the British home computer market.
|- valign="top"
| June
| France
| [[LISTSERV]], the first automated mailing list management application, was invented by Eric Thomas.<ref name=Manjoo2010>{{citation |url=http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2010/08/the_joy_of_listservs.html |author= Farhad Manjoo |date=August 2010 |title=The Joy of Listservs, One of the Internet's earliest innovations is still one of its best.|work= [[Slate (magazine)|Slate]] |location=USA }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.lsoft.com/products/listserv-history.asp | title=History of LISTSERV@BITNIC and LISTSERV email list management software, 1985–1995}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
|rowspan="2"| September
| UK
| [[Amstrad]] announced [[Amstrad PC1512]], a cheap and powerful PC. It had a slightly enhanced CGA graphics adapter, 512 KB RAM (upgradable to 640KB), 8086 processor (upgradable to NEC V30) and a 20 MB hard disk (optional). To ensure the computer was accessible they made sure the manuals could be read by everyone, and also included DR's GEM desktop (a WIMP system) and a mouse to try to make the machine more user friendly. It was sold in many high street shops and was bought by business and home users alike.
|- valign="top"
| Netherlands
| At the EUSPICO '86 conference the [[RIPAC (microprocessor)|RIPAC]] was presented, a microprocessor specialized for speech-recognition designed by [[CSELT]], Elsag and manufactured by [[STMicroelectronics|SGS]]. It was used for telephone dialogue-based services in Italy.
|-
|9 September
|US
|[[Compaq Deskpro 386]] was released<ref name="Duke1986">{{cite journal |last=Duke Jr. |first=Paul |date=September 9, 1986 |title=Compaq to Introduce Two Computers Using Intel's State-of-the-Art 386 Chip |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/398049612/ |journal=The Wall Street Journal |publisher=Dow Jones & Company |page=1 |via=ProQuest}}</ref> and is the first implementation of the 80386 processor in a computer system for sale to the public.
|- valign="top"
| November
| US
| At Comdex Las Vegas Atari invited [[Gene Mosher]] to introduce his touchscreen point of sale graphic user interface with direct manipulation widget toolkit editing, including the Atari ST's 12" CRT with a Microtouch capacitance touchscreen overlay, 320x200 resolution graphics and a 16-color bitmapped display.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Comdex_1986.png|title=English: Eugene 'Gene' Mosher photographed by Barbara Mosher at the Atari Booth, ComDex, Las Vegas, Nevada on 17 November, 1986. Shown in the photograph is ViewTouch® a Graphical Touchscreen Point of Sale software running on an Atari ST computer attached to a 12" Atari SC1224 color display which he enhanced with a MicroTouch capacitance touch screen. A Star Micronics DP8340 printer is also shown at the top of the custom wooden enclosure. The ViewTouch® widget engine used to create the application is a very early direct manipulation interface|date=September 11, 2012}}</ref>
|}