Nvidia’s Kepler Midrange Launch and Age of Empires Online’s Debut (Aug 16)

On 16 August, three very different corners of tech—and one long-running RTS franchise—crossed notable milestones: Microsoft’s early web ambitions, the end of a once-promising PDA-era operating system, a new era in PC chipsets, a long-awaited Age of Empires online debut, and Nvidia widening its Kepler lineup with a midrange launch designed to pressure AMD’s graphics stack.

Release & platform timeline: what launched (and where)

1995: Microsoft formally signals its browser push

On 16 August 1995, Microsoft announced Internet Explorer 1.0, even though development had only been decided shortly beforehand. The browser was later included in the paid “Plus” expansion for Windows 95, which was set to arrive at the end of August.

Internet Explorer was not positioned as a fully original build: it largely drew on Mosaic, the browser licensed from Spyglass.

2001: Palm’s acquisition brings BeOS development to a close

In 2001, the PDA hardware world shifted when Palm announced on 16 August that it would acquire Be Inc., the company behind BeOS. The announcement meant BeOS development would be discontinued, with parts of the technology reportedly moving into Palm’s own Palm OS.

BeOS itself had undergone many changes. In its latest pitch it was framed as a lightweight, secure multimedia system. Even with advanced PC-era features for its time—such as multiprocessor support and memory protection—and even with a free version available, it failed to gain traction. The reasons cited were a limited selection of drivers and software, alongside Windows’ dominant position.

Later, BeOS’s descendant, ZETA from yellowtab, was offered; however, that company filed for insolvency in 2006.

2002: VIA’s KT400 tweaks the Athlon Socket A platform

On 16 August 2002, VIA introduced the KT400 chipset for AMD’s Athlon line using Socket A. Compared with its KT333 predecessor, the KT400’s improvements were relatively modest: it added AGP 8x and a faster V-Link.

Despite the name not matching the expectation, the KT400 did not include support for DDR400 memory. That capability arrived with the KT400A successor.

2011: Age of Empires returns online after a beta

More than a decade into the franchise, Age of Empires made a move to a new era on 16 August 2011. After a beta phase, the online version of the real-time strategy series went live.

Microsoft remained in control of the overall development direction, but day-to-day development changed hands after Ensemble Studios had been dissolved in 2009. Work first transitioned to Robot Entertainment—made up of former Ensemble staff—and then, in spring 2011, moved again to Gas Powered Games.

Gas Powered Games was founded in 1998 by Chris Taylor, known for creating Total Annihilation. The studio is also associated with titles including Dungeon Siege, Demigod, and Supreme Commander.

2012: Nvidia expands Kepler with the GeForce GTX 660 Ti

In 2012, Nvidia’s Kepler architecture in the desktop market expanded beyond earlier options like the GeForce GTX 690, GTX 680, GTX 670, and the GeForce GT 640. A midrange gap—roughly the 250 to 300 euro bracket—had not yet been filled, while AMD already offered two competing Radeon cards in that space: the Radeon HD 7870 and Radeon HD 7950.

That changed on 16 August 2012 with the GeForce GTX 660 Ti. Nvidia stated an official launch price of 259 euros plus VAT, positioning the card to challenge the Radeon HD 7870 and, in some cases, the Radeon HD 7950.

The competitive dynamic also included software-level tuning: a BIOS update for the HD 7950 was said to raise its clock speed and enable a Powertune Boost behavior. The GTX 660 Ti’s further details were to be covered in a test publication of the time.