[ ....continued from page 2 ] SKI-DOO
Dateline: 1959
The iconic Canadian brand recently celebrated its 50th anniversary with the release of the 2009 models. The sporty snowmobile was originally dubbed ski-dog but a printing boo-boo changed the “g" to an “o" and ever since there’s been much ado about Ski-Doo. Among its multitude of motor milestones, Ski-Doo scored major sled-cred when their vehicles were featured roaring through the Icelandic wilderness in the Bond flick, Die Another Day. Quebecer Joseph-Armand Bombardier had tooled around with attaching old Ford engines to sleds since the early 1920s, constructing his first snowmobile when he was just 15 years old. Three decades later Bombardier trotted out his mass-market masterpiece, the Ski-Doo. Sleeker, easier to manoeuvre, and more affordable than its predecessors, the speedy machine would change the face of winter recreation, power sports, and transportation forever.
JAVA
Dateline: 1991
The flashbulb moment for revolutionary Calgarian programmer James Gosling came at of all places, a Doobie Brothers concert. He had front row seats and was staring at a dazzling array of dancing lights while listening to the music. In his mind the lights embodied the networking computer platform his Sun Microsystems team was theorizing, originally called Oak, after a tree that stood within eyeshot of his office. The network computing software allows programmers to create software that will work on any operating system. When the software was released to the public in 1995 as JAVA, it immediately joined the ranks of other extraordinary hi-tech hits of that annum such as Windows 95 and Netscape Navigator. Today it is virtually ubiquitous to internet applications like viewing 3D images and chatting to online gaming, not to mention intranet applications that power corporate computing. The versatile platform powers everything from set top boxes and mobile phones to car navigation systems. Sun Microsystems became so synonymous with their utilitarian programming language that in 2007 they even changed their Nasdaq ticker from SUNW to JAVA.
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