Computer -- Games -- Internet -- Media Downlods

2009-05-05T15:44:00.000+07:00

History of AMD

Over the course of AMD's three decades in business, silicon and software have become the steel and plastic of the worldwide digital economy. Technology companies have become global pacesetters, making technical advances at a prodigious rate — always driving the industry to deliver more and more, faster and faster.

However, “technology for technology's sake” is not the way we do business at AMD. Our history is marked by a commitment to innovation that's truly useful for customers — putting the real needs of people ahead of technical one-upmanship. AMD founder Jerry Sanders has always maintained that “customers should come first, at every stage of a company's activities.”

We believe our company history bears that out.

View by Decade: 2000 1990 1980 1970 1960

2000

2007
AMD demonstrates Accelerated Computing platform that breaks teraflop performance barrier
AMD introduces ATI Radeon™ HD 2000 series graphics processors to deliver The Ultimate Visual Experience™ graphics for desktop and mobile platforms

2006
AMD acquires ATI to create a new, innovative processing powerhouse CrossFire™ multi-GPU gaming platform debuts
AMD LIVE!™ media center PCs debut
Dell Inc. announces it will offer AMD processor-based systems
AMD begins revenue shipments of processors from Fab 36
AMD's Shanghai Research and Development Center (SRDC) launches to focus on the development of AMD's next-generation mobile platforms
AMD demonstrates the industry's first native quad-core x86 server processor
AMD is a founding member of The Green Grid, an open, global organization designed to decrease IT facility energy usage patterns

2005
AMD introduces AMD Turion™ 64 mobile technology for notebook PCs and AMD Athlon™ 64 X 2 dual-core processor for desktop
AMD introduces the world's highest performing processors for 1-8P x86 servers and workstations
AMD files landmark antitrust litigation against Intel for illegally abusing its monopoly to exclude and limit competition
Spansion™ goes public
AMD announces grand opening of Fab 36 in Dresden, Germany
ATI GPU is featured in Microsoft Xbox 360, revolutionizing high-definition gaming

2004
AMD demonstrates world's first x86 dual-core processor
AMD announces the 50x15 Initiative with the goal of accelerating affordable Internet access and basic computing to 50 percent of the world's population by 2015
Advanced Micro Devices (China) Co., Ltd. is established, headquartered in Beijing
ATI is listed in the NASDAQ 100
ATI introduces first 110nm GPUs (ATI Radeon™ X800 XL)

2003
AMD and IBM sign joint manufacturing technology development agreement to develop future generation manufacturing technologies
AMD Opteron™ processor and AMD Athlon™ 64 processor debut
With Fujitsu, AMD forms FASL, LLC, and a new company: Spansion™
AMD forms strategic alliance with Sun Microsystems and acquires National Semiconductor's x86 business
ATI introduces ATI Radeon™ 9600 XT: world's first high volume 0.13um low-k chips

2002
AMD acquires Alchemy Semiconductor for low-power, embedded processor technology
AMD Cool'n'Quiet™ technology debuts with Athlon™ XP family: helps lower power consumption, enables quieter-running system, and delivers performance on-demand to maximize users' computing experience
ATI launches ATI Radeon™ 9700 Pro: world's first DirectX 9 graphics processor

2001
AMD Athlon™ MP processor debuts: the company's first multiprocessing platform
AMD HyperTransport™ technology is adopted by Agilent, Apple Computer, Broadcom, Cisco Systems, IBM, nVidia, Sun, and Texas Instruments

2000
AMD is first to break the historic 1GHz (one billion clock cycles per second) with the AMD Athlon™ processor
AMD introduces AMD PowerNow!™ technology with Mobile AMD-K6®-2+ processors
ATI Radeon™ graphics technology debuts: leading product for high-end gaming and 3D workstations
ATI acquires ArtX, Inc., a graphics chipset company

1990

1999
AMD Athlon™ processor becomes first seventh-generation processor for Microsoft® Windows® computing
Vantis, AMD's programmable logic business, sold to Lattice Semiconductor

1998
ATI is first company to introduce a complete set-top box design
ATI ships its ten millionth AGP chip

1997
AMD introduces the AMD-K6® microprocessor: helps drive PC prices below $1,000 for the first time, making PCs affordable to average consumers
ATI is first graphics company to provide hardware support for DVD acceleration and display
ATI is first graphics company to release products supporting Accelerated Graphics Port, the new industry standard

1996
AMD acquires NexGen, a microprocessor company
ATI releases industry's first 3D graphics chip, first combination graphics and TV tuner card, and first chip to display computer graphics on a television
ATI enters the notebook market with the industry's first notebook 3D graphics accelerator
ATI establishes ATI Ireland

1995
AMD introduces AMD-K5® microprocessor: first independently-designed, socket-compatible x86 microprocessor
ATI is first graphics company to ship Mac-compatible graphics boards

1994
AMD and Compaq Computer Corp. form long-term alliance to power Compaq computers with Am486 microprocessors
ATI introduces Mach64™: first ATI graphics boards to accelerate motion video

1993
AMD Am486® microprocessor family debuts
AMD establishes joint venture with Fujitsu to produce Flash memory products
ATI goes public; stocks are listed on NASDAQ and Toronto Stock Exchange

1992
ATI introduces Mach32™: first ATI integrated graphics controller and accelerator in one chip
ATI releases VESA Local Bus (VLB) products, followed by peripheral component interconnect (PCI_) products
ATI establishes ATI GmbH in Munich, Germany

1991
AMD's Am386® microprocessor family debuts
ATI introduces Mach8™ chip and board products: first ATI products to process graphics independently of the CPU

1980

1989
ATI assists in establishment of VESA standard for graphics industry

1988
Work begins on AMD Submicron Development Center

1987
AMD acquires Monolithic Memories, Inc. and enters programmable logic business
ATI debuts EGA Wonder™ and VGA Wonder™

1986
ATI secures major contract with Commodore Business Machines to supply 7000 chips per week

1985
AMD is listed in Fortune 500 for the first time
ATI incorporates
ATI develops its first graphics controller and first graphics board product

1984
AMD is listed in "The 100 Best Companies to Work for in America

1982
At IBM's request, AMD signs an agreement to serve as a second source to Intel for IBM PC microprocessors

1970

1979
AMD debuts on the New York Stock Exchange

1979
Production begins in new AMD Austin manufacturing facility

1972
AMD goes public

1970
AMD introduces its first proprietary device: the Am2501 logic counter
1960

1969
AMD incorporates with $100,000; establishes headquarters in Sunnyvale, California

The 5 Best Free File Hosting Services To Store Your Files!

2009-05-05T15:07:00.002+07:00

People have a love and hate relationship with file hosting sites. Some file hosting sites are really handy and make sharing data even simpler than sending a file via email while other services spam you with countless pop ups and forced membership options to simply download a file.Here is a list of some great file hosting sites that make uploading and sharing files a cakewalk.

You are welcome to share if you know more free file hosting services which our readers/viewers may like. Do you want to be the first one to know the latest happenings at SmashingApps.com just subscribe to our rss feed.

File Savr - Free File Hosting

File Savr

FileSavr.com makes file hosting easier with Web 2.0 technology and the use of Ajax and Flash. FileSavr has 10 GB upload size limit, currently the largest available on the internet. This allows users the flexibility to upload any large file of 10 GB or less.

File Dropper - Free File Hosting for MP3, Videos, Documents

File dropper

FileDropper’s beauty is in its simplicity. It has one click file hosting where you simply click on the upload button and select your file. After the file is uploaded you are taken to the page where the file is hosted. If the file is an image, it shows the image directly on the page for easier sharing. Upload size is an impressive 5 GB.

File Factory - free and simple file hosting service

File Factory

FileFactory lets you host files up to 300MB for free. You don’t have to register and there is nothing to download. Your files can be downloaded an unlimited number of times! One thing we found very annoying and spammy about FileFactory was the number of ads they have on the page.

FileDen - Free file hosting and online storage

File Den

With File Den’s free file hosting and online storage service it’s easy to share files across the internet with friends, family, work associates or anyone else. They allow our users to direct link to their files also giving you the oppurtunity to embed your files into your webpages, myspace or other social networking profiles.

Fileqube - Free Online Storage

fileqube

Fileqube has an eye-pleasing design that shows its intentions well. When you upload a personal file it gives you a download link, a link to remove the file, and embed code to drop your file’s link on a website. The only downside is the 150MB file size, which is rather small with some of the other sites in comparison.

Case study: enhance technology'™s RAID solution selected by Medical Research Foundation

2009-05-03T19:40:00.000+07:00

Founded in 1944, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation (OMRF) is dedicated to conducting basic research to benefit society by expanding the knowledge of the basic biological processes fundamental to life. As a leading independent medical research institute, it has over 300 scientific staff members, including some of the world'[TM]s foremost immunologists committed to pinpointing the cause of human illnesses and preventing the spread of deadly diseases.

OMRF recently undertook the development of a computerized information system for the identification of biomarkers in lupus (SLE) disease. To support the storage and archiving of large amounts of data on their servers quickly, especially images generated from their in-house MRI scanner, OMRF looked at RAID controller storage unit, to increase their current and future storage capacity.

Since OMRF is a non-profit organization operating on a limited budget, they needed a dependable and reliable storage device at a reasonable price point. They wanted a 2U rackmount storage device with RAID capability from an established company well-known in the area of storage solutions with good customer and technical support service. After an exhaustive search they selected Enhance Technology.

After looking at different products offered by Enhance Technology, OMRF chose Enhance Technology'[TM]s R6 because it was an all-in-one unit. The R6 had an array of six disks and an empty 5.25" bay that could be used for installing a removable disk unit for off-site backup. The R6 also had a next generation 64-bit scale storage processor that was capable of sustaining data rates up to 265MB/sec with an Ultra320 SCSI host interface as a standard connection. Additional selling points included a user interface that gave complete storage control over a standard Web browser and a front panel with multi-function display with controls and audible alarms.

The EnhanceRAID R6 provided a cost-effective solution with the durability and speed that OMRF needed. 'This is just incredible that we can do everything in just one unit,' said Kenaz H. Thomas M.S., M.B.A., the principal investigator for Clinical Pharmacology Research Program at OMRF. 'Overall, so far we are very satisfied with the R6 and in our opinion we got the best bang for the buck! One of the major factors for our decision making was customer service and after-sales technical support. Enhance Technology not only has great storage products but excellent customer service. The sales team was friendly and was easy to reach via email/telephone.'

System and Application Setup

Host Systems: Dell PowerEdge 2950 Server Video/Audio Capture Devices: C-Scan MRI machine made by e-saote, SPA, Italy Additional Hardware: Tandberg QuickStor RDX internal backup unit (installed on the R6)

Korea Predicts Four-Year Chip Boom - Statistical Data Included

2009-05-03T19:39:00.000+07:00

Korea's Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy has forecast the global semiconductor industry will post double-digit growth each year from 1999 to 2002. "The semiconductor industry will enjoy a continued boom for the next few years as demand for communications devices and internet use are expected to surge," a ministry statement said. It forecasts the global chip market will be worth $145bn this year, 15.6% up from last year, $172.3bn next year, $199.1bn in 2001 and $223.5bn in 2002.

The ministry said the current recovery is a much broader one than past recoveries because of the increase in use of chips in many consumer products, including digital cameras, audio players, and mobile phones.

Demand for DRAM (dynamic random access memory) chips, one of Korea's core exports, is forecast by the ministry to grow nearly 39% to $19.4bn in 1999 from $14bn last year and for growth to average nearly 25% over the coming four years.

Hewlett-Packard tackles the future

2009-05-03T19:38:00.002+07:00

To take a phrase from the auto industry, this is not your father's HP. The stalwart of Silicon Valley has done some deep group thinking, perhaps thanks to management consultants, and devised a vision in which it can capitalize on its strengths by weaving together what were previously standalone product offerings and aggressively adding to its product portfolio.

Although words by themselves don't translate into action, the new Hewlett-Packard attitude is shown in a speech by Joe Beyers, general manager of the Internet Business Unit. He said the attitude could be captured by the words "move fast; aggressive; take risks, innovate." So HP can talk the talk, but can it walk the walk? The larger issue is whether HP's vision of eservices will be widely adopted.

HP is also trying to outdo IBM in the vision category by promoting eservices with thought-provoking ads. The ad campaign is designed to gain entry into the vision game. The interesting thing about eservices is that it can be nearly anything one wants it to be. In HP's words, eservices "envisions a world in which people and businesses derive new value from the line et by moving beyond Web-based access to information to a world in which a rich array of nimble, modular electronic services, eservices, are accessible by virtually anyone and any device."

Some of the main prongs of HP's eservices thrust:

* Espeak - the underlying glue

* Risk model - financing systems at no up-front cost to the new eservices provider in return for sharing revenue

* Alliances - to provide turnkey solutions

ESPEAK

Espeak is HP's term for "an open platform for the creation, composition, mediation, management, and access of Internet-based services." HP has some ambitious plans for espeak's capabilities. According to HP, eservices powered by espeak "can advertise their capabilities to other eservices, discover other eservices on the Net, and even ally with other eservices on the fly to create new eservices." Espeak allows ad hoc and secure interactions across firewalls and is open, modular, scalable, secure, and manageable and features dynamic brokering, HP said.

Espeak is cross-platform software that supports Unix, NT Server, and Linux. HP plans to make HP espeak core software available to the development community on an open source model and to sell development tools, support products, and consulting to the eservices marketplace.

The espeak "architecture includes core software and programming tools that can be used with resources of any kind (computing device, application, or data content) regardless of hardware or operating system environment," HP claims. The core software components need to be installed on each device/appliance that connects to the espeak services environment and provide basic capabilities such as messaging, security, naming, monitoring, and mediation for the eservices running on or accessed by these devices/appliances. This means espeak needs a high degree of adoption by device manufacturers. The idea is that developers will be able to focus more of their effort on solutions that differentiate their services if they can use prebuilt components and solutions [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 1 OMITTED].

The real question is whether HP can propagate to its competitors its espeak technology, the interoperable glue that helps different systems provide the new era of services. Traditionally, efforts proposed by a major systems player have often met with less-than-complete adoption by competitive systems makers. Now, the question is whether in the Internet era, when the whole is constituted of many parts, competitors will adopt underlying software designed not by a neutral third party but by one of them.

Sonera Ltd., a Finnish communications company, is working with HP to develop technologies and eservices based on espeak and Sonera's Smart Trust technology, a secure digital signature technology for wireless networks.

RAZOR BLADES

In the topsy-turvy world of the Internet, companies are suddenly finding their business models changing. Companies are discovering they are in the razor blade business in which their systems razor equivalents - are merely the entry point to a revenue stream. HP understands this concept and is drawing upon its financial strength to inject itself as a key supplier to emerging and existing service providers. HP's accountants apparently have cast aside their ultraconservative ways and are now muttering a mantra that sounds like "invest now, reap later." They're actually speaking the words "risk sharing."

Some of the prongs of the HP strategy appear to be:

* Get systems adopted by service providers and gain access to the ongoing revenue stream.

* Pilot eservices in a variety of markets.

* Make deals and acquisitions to complement HP's portfolio.

HP launched its eservices campaign via its modestly named "Commerce for the Millennium" program in which HP is positioning itself as the preferred, no-cost provider of complete ecommerce-in-a-box systems for service providers catering to small businesses. In this program, HP has adopted the risk-sharing business model in which HP takes no up-front payment from the service provider and deploys, supports, and comarkets the solution. In return, HP and the service provider share service-related revenue streams from sources such as monthly service fees, service set-up fees, and transaction fees.

More WLAN

2009-05-03T19:38:00.001+07:00

A research survey conducted by AirMagnet found more than 92 percent of those polled plan to extend their wireless LAN deployments in 2009 despite the current state of the economy. Of those organizations expanding their networks, 15 percent wilt at least double the network in 2009. Fourteen percent will extend it by 50 percent to 75 percent, 33 percent by 25 percent to 50 percent, and 34 percent will grow it by up to 25 percent. Only 8 percent of those surveyed said they did not plan to extend their WLAN deployment in 2009.

According to the survey, two-thirds of WLAN deployments now support at least one "mission-critical" application. Forty nine percent stated they have multiple mission-critical applications running on their WLAN and 18 percent cited a single critical application. The remainder, nearly one-third of the respondents, cited using WLANs only for convenience access, such as lobby or conference room wireless access.

Organizations are also looking to put heavy-duty applications on their WLANs in 2009, with onethird saying they plan to add video and/or collaboration, and 30 percent indicating that voice-over-WLAN is scheduled for 2010. These applications join location services and guest access as the top WLAN applications.

Separate Wi-Fi Deployments Spread Coverage of Airports

2009-05-03T19:37:00.000+07:00

Business travelers' access to wireless broadband service while waiting for a plane became a little broader today with a pair of Wi-Fi launches in different parts of the country. AT&T Wireless Services [NYSE: AWE] launched service at Philadelphia International Airport. AT&T's service covers the airport's gate and concourse areas and represents the sixth major airport where AT&T Wireless provides Wi-Fi service. AT&T's pricing offers single-day access - - unlimited access for 24 hours from a single location -- for $9.99 or various subscription plans.

Meanwhile, Rhode Island-based provider ICOA Inc. [OTC: ICOA] has launched Wi-Fi, as well as wired access, at Louisiana's Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport. ICOA is using a slightly different model, pairing its "neutral host" Wi-Fi access points with wired Internet kiosks to serve customers of any carrier or even those travelling without laptops. ICOA is offering service under a fiveyear shared revenue contract with the airport.

For more on this story and other critical issues affecting the broadband industry, see the latest edition of Communications Today's sister publication Broadband Business Report. For details, visit http://www.telecomweb.com/cgi/catalog/info?BBN . For the latest in breaking news and industry developments concerning broadband, visit the Broadband Channel of Telecom Web at http://www.telecomweb.com/broadband/feature.htm .

An automatic multimedia content summarization system for video recommendation

2009-05-03T19:34:00.001+07:00

In order to help learners choose videos that are suitable for specific learning activities, two issues must be addressed: (a) the appropriate summarization technique must be able to extract semantic information from video content; and (b) the appropriate system must be able to recommend a suitable video to learners from a huge database. The research regarding both of the above points is very limited, and few attempts have been made to apply summarized information to recommendation mechanisms. For example, MovieLens is a well-known movie recommendation website (http://movielens.umn.edu). It generates personalized recommendations on the basis of a user preference. Nevertheless, the recommendation information provided by the site lacks an integral plot summary. Therefore, users might not be able to browse a sufficient amount of information in order to determine whether the movie is related to the knowledge that interests them. YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/), while employing a different system, still falls short with regard to providing videos that are appropriate for specific learning activities. This famous online video streaming service allows anyone to view and share videos that have been uploaded by others. Users can get videos by searching keywords on the website. Unfortunately, users will likely spend a lot of time looking for related videos through the search mechanism rather than receiving relevant information from the recommendation mechanism. Due to such situations, attaining knowledge efficiently through videos may prove to be a difficult task that could even lead to a decrease in motivation on the part of the learner.

Motivation is an important factor for learning. The ARCS model of motivation was formed in response to the necessity of finding more useful ways of understanding the major factors relating to the motivation to learn (Keller, 1983; Keller & Kopp, 1987). This model identifies four major factors: attention, relevance, confidence and satisfaction. All of these factors must be fulfilled if a learner is to become and remain motivated (Dick, Carey & Carey, 2001). Based on the effectiveness of multimedia learning, we hope to develop a video recommendation system that attracts the learner's attention, recommends relevant videos, and effectively promotes learner confidence and satisfaction.

It is clear that multimedia learning is useful for learners, but there is not a customized tool or mechanism for multimedia learning that perpetuates learner motivation. In this paper, we extend our previous works (Huang, Tsai, Chung, Shen, Yang & Wu, 2007; Tsai, Chung, Huang, Shen, Wu & Yang, 2007) and present an automatic multimedia content summarization and adaptable recommendation system, called Video Content Summarization for Recommendation (VCSR), that auto-recommends suitable multimedia material with the aim of encouraging learners to watch and assimilate knowledge within the framework. The proposed system first extracts video content as a summary and collects corresponding frames from the source. These materials are combined into a hypermedia document and auto-recommended to learners. The system also sends the hypermedia document as email (multimedia-based email) to learners in response to their profiles. Unlike traditional recommendation methods, the system not only recommends video titles, but also includes important extracted content that contains a video summary and corresponding video clips. The system can extract information rapidly from a large database of videos, saving time for the user. Moreover, the system can recommend video material to learners related to what they wish to study. Thus, learners can quickly use the new video information acquired instead of receiving a lot of unnecessary information.

An automatic multimedia content summarization system for video recommendation

2009-05-03T19:33:00.000+07:00

Multimedia-based learning has recently become a promising instructional resource. According to dual-coding theory, the human brain deals with imagery representation better than verbal representation (Clark & Paivio, 1991; Paivio, 1971). Many studies report that multimedia content is often more useful for learning and teaching than traditional text-based learning (Mackey & Ho, 2008; Mayer & Moreno, 2002; Rose, 2003). There are many types of multimedia learning materials, but video is the most representative and popular one. This is because video integrates many multimedia resources, such as text, images, sound, and speech. Based on the theory of constructivism, video provides a context wherein learners can construct their own knowledge (Brown, Collins, & Duguid, 1989). Several studies demonstrate that video is a suitable material for context-based learning (Choi & Johnson, 2005; Choi & Johnson, 2007). In addition, video learning is an effective way of providing motivation, keeping attention, and giving satisfaction to the learner (Choi & Johnson, 2005; Choi & Johnson, 2007; Mackey & Ho, 2008). However, there are some limitations that exist in video learning. For example, choosing a suitable video for instructors and learners from the rapidly growing number of videos can be a problem. A similar problem arises when recommending videos to learners and instructors. Moreover, when learners get a great deal of information in a short period of time, it causes cognitive overload (Pass & van Merrienboer, 1994; Sweller & Chandler, 1994; Sweller, van Merrienboer & Pass, 1998). The usefulness of video learning is obvious, but it is necessary to enhance the recommendation mechanism for learners in order to facilitate multimedia learning.

Unlike texts, watching videos requires much more time since video content is usually displayed linearly. Summarization is used to preserve the most informative parts of the source content. Therefore, video summarization is essential for enabling the learner to skim through video content. With the rapid growth of the video industry, acquiring the appropriate video from a huge database is a difficult task. Adaptive video recommendation could be a way to deal with this situation, as this system is specifically designed to help learners filter information. In essence, the combination of summarization and recommendation is helpful in reducing cognitive overload with regard to video learning. Traditionally, these tasks (i.e., content summarization and recommendation in e-learning) are done manually, which is a very demanding and time-consuming process. Consequently, there is a strong demand for an automatic video summarization and recommendation system.

Recently, recommendation systems have been applied to some products and information databases by making adaptive suggestions based on previous examples of a user's preference (Melville, Mooney & Nagarajan, 2002; Mooney & Roy, 2000; Wang, Tsai, Lee & Chiu, 2007). A recommendation system for learning material can provide objects easily and efficiently thereby enhancing learning activities. Without recommendation mechanisms, learners would spend more time selecting suitable learning objects and less time involved in the actual activity of learning. Several studies have shown (Tsai, Chiu, Lee & Wang, 2006; Wang et al., 2007) that automatic recommendation mechanisms that refer to learner profiles can promote the accuracy of learning object recommendation. Nevertheless, these recommendation mechanisms are only suitable for structured or semi-structured data (Popescul, Ungar, Pennock & Lawrence, 2001; Tsai et al., 2006; Wang et al., 2007). In other words, these systems may not work well with raw videos and raw texts. On the other hand, recommendation systems are also applied to movie or TV recommendations (Alspector, Kolcz & Karunaithi, 1998; Basu, Hirsh & Cohen, 1998; Cotter & Smith, 2000; Melville et al., 2002). However, these studies tend to apply very limited sets of features such as the movie title, the director, keywords, and actors, as well as like-minded user ratings. The feature that is lacking in all of these studies is the inclusion of speech content, which contains a substantial amount of information relating to the video itself. In other words, the studies mentioned above ignore important content within learning materials.

Automatic summarization is an important research topic, especially in relation to automatic text-based and video-based summarization. Text-based summarization research, such as the Document Understanding Conference (DUC) (http://duc.nist.gov/), aims at extracting important sentences from source documents. These techniques focus on generating summaries from news-like articles (i.e., newspaper and newswire data) (Dang, 2006; Dang, 2007) which are usually shorter and more coherent than video stories. Moreover, a video story usually contains multiple subtopics. On the contrary, video-based summarization research, such as the TRECVid workshop (http://wwwnlpir.nist.gov/projects/t01v/), aims at extracting key-frames and shots from source videos (Over, Ianeva, Kraaij & Smeaton, 2005; Over, Ianeva, Kraaij & Smeaton, 2006), offering a sketch that contains a description of an object (such as color, shape, or motion) (Liu & Li, 2002; Milrad, Rossmanith & Scholz, 2005; Over et al., 2005; Over et al., 2006). This technique is often used in surveillance systems (Osadchy & Keren, 2004; Piriou, Bouthemy & Yao, 2006) and medical videos (Fasquel, Agnus, Moreau, Soler & Marescaux, 2006). Nevertheless, these types of summarization may be not useful for learners due to the neglect of video content. Furthermore, the traditional video-based summarization is not generally used for educational purposes.

Top photographers spearhead Nokia Nseries See New Competition

2009-05-03T19:32:00.000+07:00

Five of the world's best photographers to lead the most ambitious mobile photography competition ever undertaken

Internationally renowned photographer, Juergen Teller; leading American photographer, Philip-Lorca DiCorcia; award-winning Londonbased photographer, Nick Waplington; Raghu Rai, one of India's most respected documentary photographers; and Jiancheng Dong, a prominent landscape and documentary photographer from China, are heading up the Nokia Nseries See New Competition launched recently.

The competition lays down the challenge to aspiring photographers around the world to 'shoot new'--capturing something from a different angle or something never previously photographed--using a megapixel camera phone. To inspire people to enter, the stellar lineup of professional photographers have themselves been shooting new using the Nokia N90 advanced imaging device. More than 60 brand-new images from these photographers can be viewed at www.seenew.com, Nokia Nseries' online community for mobile photography enthusiasts.

And the five photographers aren't just inspiring entrants with their images, they'll also be judging entries and offering a prize money can't buy: the chance to spend a day with them assisting on photo-shoot.

"After pioneering the concept of mobile photography, we're now pioneering an exciting new photography challenge," said Pekka Rantala, Senior Vice President, Multimedia Marketing, Nokia. "The See New Competition is designed to encourage people to explore the possibilities of camera phone photography and uncover new photography talent from around the world. It's a unique competition both in terms of the caliber of professional photographers involved and by its global scale."

Commenting, Nick Waplington said, "Photography as a medium has developed to the point where it's around us, in all manners, at all times. Camera phones have played a big part in this, pushing the boundaries of when and how so there are many more opportunities to shoot new."

The competition is open to anyone over the age of 18 with a megapixel camera phone. Deadline for entries is December 16, 2005. Full terms and conditions can be found at www.seenew.com.

The Nokia N90 is the flagship camera product in the Nokia Nseries range of highperformance multimedia devices. Packed with advanced camera features to capture greatquality photos, the Nokia N90 is the first mobile device in the world to feature superior Carl Zeiss optics, plus there's a two megapixel camera with autofocus and 20x digital zoom, integrated flash, macro mode for sharp close-ups, and highquality video capture with on-device editing capabilities.
COPYRIGHT 2005 Information Gatekeepers, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2005 Gale Group

The new IBM: a look under the hood

2009-05-03T19:31:00.001+07:00

IBM has definitely changed some of the fundamental ways it thinks about things. Big Blue now not only preaches but practices heterogeneity, and it also is willing to license nearly any technological jewel. These two factors may give IBM an advantage in playing by the new industry rules that increasingly discard/eschew the NIH (not invented here) syndrome in favor of the mantra that proliferation of its technology increases the attractiveness of IBM products in the heterogeneous world.

IBM loves ebusiness for several reasons:

* Ebusiness is the pheromone that attracts customers to IBM in engagements that tend to involve consultative and integration skills from its services group as well as discrete products.

* Ebusiness often involves a soup-to-nuts restructuring, modernizing, and integration of different aspects of a company's business. Often, customer resource management is the initial reason customers approach IBM.

* IBM studies show that IBM is much more frequently associated with ebusiness than other companies, indicating its branding campaign has been successful.

IBM's concept of ecommerce includes four elements, as can be seen in Figure 6.

As one would expect, IBM is intent upon developing an application framework that will serve it in development and integration of applications. It's also a handy way of viewing how IBM intends to play in the thin client era of what it calls pervasive computing [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 7 OMITTED]. IBM plans to construct industry applications on top of the framework.

In addition, IBM expects its Web application server business will be on the same scale as its database business.

When IBM mentions heterogeneity, it knows the definition. There was a gasp from analysts at IBM's recent briefing when a speaker said IBM does DB2 builds nightly on 17 platforms in 12 languages.

IBM is using its middleware skills to construct an application framework layer to enable applications to run across multiple platforms. This will be very useful in the pervasive computing scheme with thin clients and the resultant split between application elements.

IBM was one of the several vendors at Java One that implemented a standards application that tests servers to ensure that applications will run on several Web servers.

IBM is supporting Java on many fronts. In addition to adding Java to its MQSeries, IBM recently announced a JVM implementation for Linux, available for download from its alphaWorks site, www.alphaworks.ibm.com. Alphaworks is analogous to IBM's incubator for new developments that IBM is offering to the industry in hopes of increased feedback and acceptance. For example, there is an XML parser offered on the site. If one needs proof of the new ways at IBM, look no further than alphaWorks.

And IBM is open for business in selling components of both the hardware and software variety. Folks from the new Sun/Netscape venture gleefully told The Gray Sheet they expect to implement IBM's TX Series in the NAS 4.0 server due in July this year. TX supports nested transactions and can handle distributed transactions to PCs, Sun said. Informix is also licensing TX Series. In addition, Sun and IBM are joint marketing DB2 as well as DB2 OLAP server and IBM's Intelligent Miner. CICS has been supported since a previous release of the NetDynamics server. Given this level of software commonality, might MQSeries be next?

IBM's OEM hardware deals, such as PowerPC chips for Nintendo and disk drives for EMC, get the press coverage, but the software may be more important for the industry long term.

TWO CENTRAL THEMES

IBM appears to have two central themes in its application server products that occur mainly in its middleware: transaction processing and connectivity via use of open APIs and standards. These capabilities are central to the success of ecommerce. IBM's thought appears to be that the more widely its technology is in use, the more easily its systems will connect with others, and the existence of more functional systems will drive the market's growth.

In the transaction arena, TXSeries is playing an increasingly central role with connections to both CICS and the Transaction Processing Facility (TPF, the engine behind many airline reservation systems). TPF is also integrated with WebSphere. Both CICS and TPF have proven themselves in the transactional arena.

It's important to note that IBM is embracing Java in a major way in order to provide MQSeries and other tools the ability to interface widely with the rest of the world.

MQSeries, IBM's middleware based on asynch messaging, is an integral element of IBM's design to promote business integration. IBM wants to make MQSeries the intermediary of choice for business integration.

For example, MQSeries will be sprouting wings and expanding beyond PCs and computers and will be found in smart phones and other appliances in the future.

IBM is enhancing MQSeries by adding:

* XML to position MQSeries as the bridge between XML and heterogeneous enterprise.

Data recovery completes disaster recovery

2009-05-03T19:27:00.000+07:00

We all know, computers have taken over the main stage in our digital lifestyles' professional and personal. We use computers for so many tasks' from business to finance to storing family memories' that the amount of data we are storing is growing exponentially. According to research firms IDC and Gartner, this trend will continue to grow since PC shipments are up 13 percent over last year. This is a clear indication that people are using computers to perform more tasks than ever before, creating a greater need to store their increasingly important data.

As a matter of fact, according to a survey conducted by Harris Interactive and sponsored by storage company Maxtor, nearly one third of computer users admitted their content was 'priceless.' At the same time, nearly half of all adult computer users in the United States are at risk of losing their data because they fail to make backup copies' approximately 46 percent of the respondents to the survey do not back up their data, according to the survey.

As such, with more data being stored, there is an increased likelihood for data loss. Thus, implementing a solid and secure data backup procedure is a necessary part of any disaster recovery plan. Such a plan will better ensure access to data when a disaster strikes and businesses need to be able to recover and press on.

Unfortunately, due to the expense, remote data back-up services or expensive storage solutions is out of reach for many small businesses, leaving them in a difficult position. In a disaster or data loss situation, some companies face the possibility of losing all of their critical data' client contacts, billing accounts, financial spreadsheets, proprietary documents' and a future without the information necessary to keep them operating because they don'[TM]t practice stringent backup methods. A recent Gartner study found that half of all small and midsize businesses that experience a major data failure lasting more than 24 hours will go under. To boot, depending on the scope of disaster, some companies that think they are well protected are not immune to data loss problems. When backups fail, an all too common problem, or natural disasters hit, such as the extreme case of hurricane Katrina, companies can lose their prime systems as well as their back-up facilities.

When situations like this occur, it is important for computer users to remember that deleted or destroyed doesn'[TM]t mean gone and that data recovery companies like Kroll Ontrack, headquartered in Eden Prairie, have many years of experience recovering data from seemingly impossible situations.

First, to clarify' the type of data recovery referenced here should not be confused with how 'data recovery' has often been defined. Many understand data recovery as working with a backup company and restoring data from previously backed up media; however, many companies don'[TM]t have this type of relationship because of the expense. So, in this case, data recovery means working with a professional recovery service that specializes in rescuing the original (and most up-to-date) missing data directly from the damaged drives or media themselves after the damage occurs.

Data recovery often is the missing element of disaster recovery planning and can serve as a 'Hail Mary' attempt when all other options have been exhausted. The following story' granted an extreme case' demonstrates the importance of having a well-rounded disaster recovery plan that includes true data recovery.

Seemann Composites, located in Gulfport, Miss., had a backup plan for their backups. As a custom fabricator of advanced composites and products, Seemann Composites has thousands of files with proprietary information that cannot be recreated. As Katrina approached, Office Manager Jan Niolon suspected their main office on the coast would be in danger, so she took the company'[TM]s backup tapes and stored them in an offsite location three cities away. We do custom work for every job so original files are crucial to our business," said Niolon. Sure enough, Katrina flooded their main production facility with enough water to cover all of their computer equipment and files. Unfortunately, Katrina hit the offsite location as well, flooding the backup tapes in the process.

Rather than panicking, Niolon had an additional procedure to supplement her data back-up plan' data recovery services. "We were in danger of losing several years worth of unique data," said Niolon. 'We needed access to our files since we do a lot of work for the government and are subject to defense contract audits. Utilizing data recovery eased those concerns by retrieving files we thought were unrecoverable and helping us get back to business as usual.' In only a few short days, Niolon had most of the lost data back, which helped Seemann continue with current projects and ensure they were protected for the future.

This example illustrates how important data recovery services can be to businesses in need. In addition to the problems highlighted in this situation from Katrina, it'[TM]s important to note that backups often are susceptible to problems of their own. Reliability is the major issue, as a high percentage of backups fail every year. According to Microsoft, 42 percent of attempted recoveries from tape backups failed in the past year. Strategic Research estimates that as many as 50 percent of remote backups fail. That said, although a robust backup plan definitely is the best way to keep your company protected, establishing a relationship with a data recovery provider is an imperative enhancement to include in any disaster recovery plan.

Intel Introduces Products for Wireless Internet Access; Intel Also Selects San Diego as Center for Wireless LAN Product Development - Intel PRO/Wirele

2009-05-03T19:26:00.000+07:00

Intel Corporation Monday announced two new networking products that allow wireless access to the Internet and networks used by businesses. Intel's new wireless networking devices provide high-speed, secure and reliable network connections for mobile workers using radio frequencies instead of wires and cables. Companies and organizations using the new products can build wireless networks or provide wireless access to existing networks. Intel's wireless devices are the first products resulting from the joint development agreement announced in February between Intel and Symbol Technologies, Inc.

Intel Monday also announced it has selected San Diego as the location for the company's wireless networking development activities. San Diego, with one of the highest concentrations of wireless engineering talent in the United States, will become the headquarters for Intel's Wireless LAN Operation. The Wireless LAN Operation has accelerated its staffing since announcing the joint development agreement with Symbol Technologies, and plans to employ more than 100 engineers in the San Diego area.

"Less than four months after announcing our joint development agreement with Symbol Technologies, Intel is moving quickly to introduce advanced wireless products that provide high-speed access to local area networks and the Internet," said Greg Lang, vice president and general manager of the Intel Platform Networking Group. "Computing freedom and reduced infrastructure costs make wireless networking a key element in the next phase of Internet expansion."

Wireless local area networks (LANs) can augment existing wired networks by accommodating growth in locations where laying new network wires is expensive or not feasible, such as historic buildings, leased office spaces or temporary project sites. In addition, a wireless LAN can serve as a bridge between disparate or hard-to-reach networks, which would otherwise remain unconnected.

Intel's wireless LAN networking solutions are based on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11b High-Rate industry standard and provide secure, reliable and high-speed access to real-time network activities, such as managing e-mail, accessing the Internet and sharing files and applications. The new products include:

-- Intel PRO/Wireless 2011 LAN PC Card -- A device about the size of a credit card that is inserted into a laptop allowing wireless transmissions to be sent and received. The Intel PRO/Wireless 2011 LAN PC Card provides advanced roaming capabilities that enable mobile workers to freely move throughout a building, while maintaining a consistent network or Internet connection through a series of access points. The card transfers data at speeds up to 11 million bits per second (Mbps) providing ample bandwidth for video streaming, file transfers, voice over IP or demanding applications used in e-Business transactions. Intelligent power management features preserve battery life for longer connectivity.

-- Intel PRO/Wireless 2011 LAN Access Point -- Functioning as a wireless hub, these devices are mounted on ceilings, walls or shelves, communicate with mobile cards, and serve as a connection between the existing wired network and the wireless devices. The Intel PRO/Wireless 2011 LAN Access Point boasts advanced management features that allow IT managers to remotely configure and monitor network performance eliminating the need to personally visit each access point. It also ships with a site survey tool that helps determine the proper placement of access points to obtain the desired coverage.

In addition, Intel's wireless LAN solutions offer high levels of encryption to protect the critical information and privacy of mobile workers. All the Intel PRO/Wireless LAN products are compatible with other products based on the IEEE 802.11b High-Rate industry specification, helping to ensure interoperability.

Pricing and Availability The Intel PRO/Wireless 2011 LAN PC Card and the Intel PRO/Wireless 2011 LAN Access Point will be available on August 7th at suggested retail prices of $199 and $999, respectively. All Intel networking and communications products are available worldwide through a network of distributors and value-added resellers. Additional product information is available at www.intel.com/network or 800/538-3373 for U.S. and Canadian customers; (44) 1-793-431-155 for European customers; or 503/264-7354 for other international customers.

Intel, the world's largest chip maker, is also a leading manufacturer of computer, networking and communications products. Additional information about Intel is available at www.intel.com.

History of Warcraft

2009-05-03T18:36:00.000+07:00

History of Warcraft

Christopher Demicoli

Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Mythos 4
The Titans and the Shaping of the Universe 4
Sargeras and the Betrayal 4
The Old Gods and the Ordering of Azeroth 6
Charge of the Dragonflights 7
The Waking World and the Well of Eternity 8
The War of the Ancients 10
The Sundering of the World 12
Mount Hyjal and Illidan's Gift 13
The World Tree and the Emerald Dream 15
Exile of the High Elves 16
The Sentinels and the Long Vigil 16
Chapter 2: The New World 17
The Founding of Quel'Thalas 17
Arathor and the Troll Wars 19
The Guardians of Tirisfal 20
Ironforge - the Awakening of the Dwarves 22
The Seven Kingdoms 23
Aegwynn and the Dragon Hunt 24
War of the Three Hammers 26
The Last Guardian 28
Chapter 3: The Doom of Draenor 30
Kil'jaeden and the Shadow Pact 30
Rise of the Horde 31
Chapter 4: Alliance And Horde 33
The Dark Portal and the Fall of Stormwind 33
The Alliance of Lordaeron 35
The Invasion of Draenor 36
The Birth of the Lich King 38
Icecrown and the Frozen Throne 39
The Battle of Grim Batol 40
Lethargy of the Orcs 40
The New Horde 41
War of the Spider 43
Kel'Thuzad and the Forming of the Scourge 43
The Alliance Splinters 45
Chapter 5: Return Of The Burning Legion 46
The Scourge of Lordaeron 46
Sunwell - The Fall of Quel'Thalas 47
Archimonde's Return and the Flight to Kalimdor 47
The Battle of Mount Hyjal 49
The Betrayer Ascendant 49
Rise of the Blood Elves 50
Civil War in the Plaguelands 51
The Lich King Triumphant 51
Old Hatreds - The Colonization of Kalimdor 52

Chapter 1: Mythos
The Titans and the Shaping of the Universe

No one knows exactly how the universe began. Some theorize that a catastrophic cosmic explosion sent the infinite worlds spinning out into the vastness of the Great Dark - worlds that would one day bear life forms of wondrous and terrible diversity. Others believe that the universe was created as a whole by a single all-powerful entity. Though the exact origins of the chaotic universe remain uncertain, it is clear that a race of powerful beings arose to bring stability to the various worlds and ensure a safe future for the beings that would follow in their footsteps.
The Titans, colossal, metallic-skinned gods from the far reaches of the cosmos, explored the newborn universe and set to work on the worlds they encountered. They shaped the worlds by raising mighty mountains and dredging out vast seas. They breathed skies and raging atmospheres into being. It was all part of their unfathomable, far-sighted plan to create order out of chaos. They even empowered primitive races to tend to their works and maintain the integrity of their respective worlds.
Ruled by an elite sect known as the Pantheon, the Titans brought order to a hundred million worlds scattered throughout the Great Dark Beyond during the first ages of creation. The benevolent Pantheon, which sought to safeguard these structured worlds, was ever vigilant against the threat of attack from the vile extra-dimensional entities of the Twisting Nether. The Nether, an ethereal dimension of chaotic magics that connected the myriad worlds of the universe, was home to an infinite number of malefic, demonic beings who sought only to destroy life and devour the energies of the living universe. Unable to conceive of evil or wickedness in any form, the Titans struggled to find a way to end the demons' constant threat.

Sargeras and the Betrayal

Over time, demonic entities made their way into the Titans' worlds from the Twisting Nether, and the Pantheon elected its greatest warrior, Sargeras, to act as its first line of defense. A noble giant of molten bronze, Sargeras carried out his duties for countless millennia, seeking out and destroying these demons wherever he could find them. Over the eons, Sargeras encountered two powerful demonic races, both of which were bent on gaining power and dominance over the physical universe.
The eredar, an insidious race of devilish sorcerers, used their warlock magics to invade and enslave a number of worlds. The indigenous races of those worlds were mutated by the eredar's malevolent powers and turned into demons themselves. Though Sargeras' nearly limitless powers were more than enough to defeat the vile eredar, he was greatly troubled by the creatures' corruption and all-consuming evil. Incapable of fathoming such depravity, the great Titan began to slip into a brooding depression. Despite his growing unease, Sargeras rid the universe of the warlocks by trapping them within a corner of the Twisting Nether.
While his confusion and misery deepened, Sargeras was forced to contend with another group intent on disrupting the Titans' order: the Nathrezim. This dark race of vampiric demons (also known as dreadlords) conquered a number of populated worlds by possessing their inhabitants and turning them to the shadow. The nefarious, scheming dreadlords turned whole nations against one another by manipulating them into unthinking hatred and mistrust. Sargeras defeated the Nathrezim easily, but their corruption affected him deeply.
As doubt and despair overwhelmed Sargeras' senses, he lost all faith not only in his mission, but also in the Titans' vision of an ordered universe. Eventually he came to believe that the concept of order itself was folly, and that chaos and depravity were the only absolutes within the dark, lonely universe. His fellow Titans tried to persuade him of his error and calm his raging emotions, but he disregarded their more optimistic beliefs as self-serving delusions. Storming from their ranks forever, Sargeras set out to find his own place in the universe. Although the Pantheon was sorrowful at his departure, the Titans could never have predicted just how far their lost brother would go.
By the time Sargeras' madness had consumed the last vestiges of his valiant spirit, he believed that the Titans themselves were responsible for creation's failure. Deciding, at last, to undo their works throughout the universe, he resolved to form an unstoppable army that would set the physical universe aflame.
Even Sargeras' titanic form became distorted from the corruption that plagued his once-noble heart. His eyes, hair, and beard erupted in fire, and his metallic bronze skin split open to reveal an endless furnace of blistering hate.
In his fury, Sargeras shattered the prisons of the eredar and the Nathrezim and set the loathsome demons free. These cunning creatures bowed before the dark Titan's vast rage and offered to serve him in whatever malicious ways they could. From the ranks of the powerful Eredar, Sargeras picked two champions to command his demonic army of destruction. Kil'jaeden the Deceiver was chosen to seek out the darkest races in the universe and recruit them into Sargeras' ranks. The second champion, Archimonde the Defiler, was chosen to lead Sargeras' vast armies into battle against any who might resist the Titan's will.
Kil'jaeden's first move was to enslave the vampiric dreadlords under his terrible power. The dreadlords served as his personal agents throughout the universe, and they took pleasure in locating primitive races for their master to corrupt and bring into the fold. First amongst the dreadlords was Tichondrius the Darkener. Tichondrius served Kil'jaeden as the perfect soldier and agreed to bring Sargeras' burning will to all the dark corners of the universe.
The mighty Archimonde also empowered agents of his own. Calling upon the malefic pit lords and their barbarous leader, Mannoroth the Destructor, Archimonde hoped to establish a fighting elite that would scour creation of all life.
Once Sargeras saw that his armies were amassed and ready to follow his every command, he launched his raging forces into the vastness of the Great Dark. He referred to his growing army as the Burning Legion. To this date, it is still unclear how many worlds they consumed and burned on their unholy Burning Crusade across the universe.

The Old Gods and the Ordering of Azeroth

Unaware of Sargeras' mission to undo their countless works, the Titans continued to move from world to world, shaping and ordering each planet as they saw fit. Along their journey they happened upon a small world that its inhabitants would later name Azeroth. As the Titans made their way across the primordial landscape, they encountered a number of hostile elemental beings. These elementals, who worshipped a race of unfathomably evil beings known only as the Old Gods, vowed to drive the Titans back and keep their world inviolate from the invaders' metallic touch.
The Pantheon, disturbed by the Old Gods' penchant for evil, waged war upon the elementals and their dark masters. The Old Gods' armies were led by the most powerful elemental lieutenants: Ragnaros the Firelord, Therazane the Stonemother, Al'Akir the Windlord, and Neptulon the Tidehunter. Their chaotic forces raged across the face of the world and clashed with the colossal Titans. Though the elementals were powerful beyond mortal comprehension, their combined forces could not stop the mighty Titans. One by one, the elemental lords fell, and their forces dispersed.
The Pantheon shattered the Old Gods' citadels and chained the five evil gods far beneath the surface of the world. Without the Old Gods' power to keep their raging spirits bound to the physical world, the elementals were banished to an abyssal plane, where they would contend with one another for all eternity. With the elementals' departure, nature calmed, and the world settled into a peaceful harmony. The Titans saw that the threat was contained and set to work.
The Titans empowered a number of races to help them fashion the world. To help them carve out the fathomless caverns beneath the earth, the Titans created the dwarf-like earthen from magical, living stone. To help them dredge out the seas and lift the land from the sea floor, the Titans created the immense but gentle sea giants. For many ages the Titans moved and shaped the earth, until at last there remained one perfect continent. At the continent's center, the Titans crafted a lake of scintillating energies. The lake, which they named the Well of Eternity, was to be the fount of life for the world. Its potent energies would nurture the bones of the world and empower life to take root in the land's rich soil. Over time, plants, trees, monsters, and creatures of every kind began to thrive on the primordial continent. As twilight fell on the final day of their labors, the Titans named the continent Kalimdor: "land of eternal starlight".

Charge of the Dragonflights

Satisfied that the small world had been ordered and that their work was done, the Titans prepared to leave Azeroth. However, before they departed, they charged the greatest species of the world with the task of watching over Kalimdor, lest any force should threaten its perfect tranquility. In that age, there were many dragonflights. Yet there were five flights that held dominion over their brethren. It was these five flights that the Titans chose to shepherd the budding world. The greatest members of the Pantheon imbued a portion of their power upon each of the flights' leaders. These majestic dragons (as listed below) became known as the Great Aspects, or the Dragon Aspects.
Aman'Thul, the Highfather of the Pantheon, bestowed a portion of his cosmic power upon the massive bronze dragon, Nozdormu. The Highfather empowered Nozdormu to guard time itself and police the ever-spinning pathways of fate and destiny. The stoic, honorable Nozdormu became known as the Timeless One.
Eonar, the Titan patron of all life, gave a portion of her power to the red leviathan, Alexstrasza. Ever after, Alexstrasza would be known as the Life-Binder, and she would work to safeguard all living creatures within the world. Due to her supreme wisdom and limitless compassion for all living things, Alexstrasza was crowned the Dragonqueen and given dominion over her kind.
Eonar also blessed Alexstrasza's younger sister, the lithe green dragon Ysera, with a portion of nature's influence. Ysera fell into an eternal trance, bound to the waking Dream of Creation. Known as the Dreamer, she would watch over the growing wilds of the world from her verdant realm, the Emerald Dream.
Norgannon, the Titan lore keeper and master-magician, granted the blue dragon, Malygos, a portion of his vast power. From then on, Malygos would be known as the Spell-Weaver, the guardian of magic and hidden arcanum.
Khaz'goroth, the Titan shaper and forger of the world, bestowed some of his vast power upon the mighty black wyrm, Neltharion. The great-hearted Neltharion, known afterwards as the Earth-Warder, was given dominion over the earth and the deep places of the world. He embodied the strength of the world and served as Alexstrasza's greatest supporter.
Thus empowered, the Five Aspects were charged with the world's defense in the Titans' absence. With the dragons prepared to safeguard their creation, the Titans left Azeroth behind forever. Unfortunately it was only a matter of time before Sargeras learned of the newborn world's existence....

The Waking World and the Well of Eternity

Ten thousand years before the orcs and humans clashed in their First War, the world of Azeroth cradled only one massive continent, surrounded by the sea. That landmass, known as Kalimdor, was home to a number of disparate races and creatures, all vying for survival amongst the savage elements of the waking world. At the dark continent's center was a mysterious lake of incandescent energies. The lake, which would later be called the Well of Eternity, was the true heart of the world's magic and natural power. Drawing its energies from the infinite Great Dark beyond the world, the Well acted as a mystical fount, sending its potent energies out across the world to nourish life in all its wondrous forms.
In time, a primitive tribe of nocturnal humanoids cautiously made their way to the edges of the mesmerizing enchanted lake. The feral, nomadic humanoids, drawn by the Well's strange energies, built crude homes upon its tranquil shores. Over time, the Well's cosmic power affected the tribe, making them strong, wise, and virtually immortal. The tribe adopted the name Kaldorei, which meant "children of the stars" in their native tongue. To celebrate their budding society, they constructed great structures and temples around the lake's periphery.
The Kaldorei, or night elves as they would later be known, worshipped the moon goddess, Elune, and believed that she slept within the Well's shimmering depths during the daylight hours. The early night elf priests and seers studied the Well with an insatiable curiosity, driven to plumb its untold secrets and power. As their society grew, the night elves explored the breadth of Kalimdor and encountered its other denizens. The only creatures that gave them pause were the ancient and powerful dragons. The great serpentine beasts were often reclusive, but they did much to safeguard the known lands from potential threats. The night elves discovered that the dragons held themselves to be the protectors of the world - and agreed that they and their secrets were best left alone.
In time, the night elves' curiosity led them to meet and befriend a number of powerful entities, not the least of which was Cenarius, a mighty demigod of the primordial forestlands. The greathearted Cenarius grew fond of the inquisitive night elves and spent a great deal of time teaching them about the natural world. The tranquil Kaldorei developed a strong empathy for the living forests of Kalimdor and reveled in the harmonious balance of nature.
As the seemingly endless ages passed, the night elves' civilization expanded both territorially and culturally. Their temples, roads, and dwelling places stretched across the breadth of the dark continent. Azshara, the night elves' beautiful and gifted queen, built an immense, wondrous palace on the Well's shore that housed her favored servitors within its bejeweled halls. Her servitors, whom she called the Quel'dorei or "Highborne", doted on her every command and believed themselves to be greater than the rest of their brethren. Though Queen Azshara was loved equally by all of her people, the Highborne were secretly envied and disliked by the rest of the night elves.
Sharing the priests' curiosity towards the Well of Eternity, Azshara ordered the Highborne to plumb its secrets and reveal its true purpose in the world. The Highborne buried themselves in their work and studied the Well ceaselessly. In time they developed the ability to manipulate and control the Well's cosmic energies. As their experiments progressed, the Highborne found that they could use their newfound powers to either create or destroy at their leisure. The heedless Highborne had stumbled upon primitive magic and were now resolved to devote themselves to its mastery. Although they agreed that magic was inherently dangerous if handled irresponsibly, Azshara and her Highborne began to practice their spellcraft with reckless abandon. Cenarius and many wizened night elf scholars warned that only calamity would result from toying with the clearly volatile arts of magic. Even so, Azshara and her followers stubbornly continued to expand their burgeoning powers.
As their powers grew, a distinct change came over Azshara and the Highborne. The haughty, aloof upper class became increasingly callous and cruel towards their fellow night elves. A dark, brooding pall veiled Azshara's once-entrancing beauty. She began to withdraw from her loving subjects and refused to interact with any but her trusted Highborne priests.
A young scholar named Malfurion Stormrage, who had spent much of his time studying the primitive arts of druidism, began to suspect that a terrible power was corrupting the Highborne and his beloved queen. Though he could not conceive of the evil that was to come, he knew that the night elves' lives would soon be changed forever....

The War of the Ancients

The Highborne's reckless use of magic sent ripples of energy spiraling out from the Well of Eternity and into the Great Dark Beyond. The streaming ripples of energy were felt by terrible alien minds. Sargeras - the Great Enemy of all life, the Destroyer of Worlds - felt the potent ripples and was drawn to their distant point of origin. Spying the primordial world of Azeroth and sensing the limitless energies of the Well of Eternity, Sargeras was consumed by an insatiable hunger. The great dark god of the Nameless Void resolved to destroy the fledgling world and claim its energies as his own.
Sargeras gathered his vast Burning Legion and made his way towards the unsuspecting world of Azeroth. The Legion was comprised of a million screaming demons, all ripped from the far corners of the universe, and the demons hungered for conquest. Sargeras' lieutenants, Archimonde the Defiler and Mannoroth the Destructor, prepared their infernal minions to strike.
Queen Azshara, overwhelmed by the terrible ecstasy of her magic, fell victim to Sargeras' undeniable power and agreed to grant him entrance to her world. Even her Highborne servitors gave themselves over to magic's inevitable corruption and began to worship Sargeras as their god. To show their allegiance to the Legion, the Highborne aided their queen in opening a vast, swirling portal within the depths of the Well of Eternity.
Once all his preparations had been made, Sargeras began his catastrophic invasion of Azeroth. The warrior-demons of the Burning Legion stormed into the world through the Well of Eternity and laid siege to the night elves' sleeping cities. Led by Archimonde and Mannoroth, the Legion swarmed over the lands of Kalimdor, leaving only ash and sorrow in its wake. The demon warlocks called down searing infernals that crashed like hellish meteors into the graceful spires of Kalimdor's temples. A band of burning, bloodletting killers known as the Doomguard marched across Kalimdor's fields, slaughtering everyone in their path. Packs of wild, demonic felhounds ravaged the countryside unopposed. Though the brave Kaldorei warriors rushed to defend their ancient homeland, they were forced to give ground, inch by inch, before the fury of the Legion's onslaught.
It fell to Malfurion Stormrage to find help for his beleaguered people. Stormrage, whose own brother, Illidan, practiced the Highborne's magics, was incensed by the growing corruption amongst the upper class. Convincing Illidan to forsake his dangerous obsession, Malfurion set out to find Cenarius and muster a resistance force. The beautiful young priestess, Tyrande, agreed to accompany the brothers in the name of Elune. Though Malfurion and Illidan shared a love for the idealistic priestess, Tyrande's heart belonged to Malfurion alone. Illidan resented his brother's budding romance with Tyrande, but knew that his heartache was nothing compared to the pain of his magical addiction.
Illidan, who had grown dependent on magic's empowering energies, struggled to keep control of his nearly overwhelming hunger to tap the Well's energies once again. However, with Tyrande's patient support, he was able to restrain himself and help his brother find the reclusive demigod, Cenarius. Cenarius, who dwelt within the sacred Moonglades of the distant Mount Hyjal, agreed to help the night elves by finding the ancient dragons and enlisting their aid. The dragons, led by the great red leviathan, Alexstrasza, agreed to send their mighty flights to engage the demons and their infernal masters.
Cenarius, calling on the spirits of the enchanted forests, rallied an army of ancient tree-men and led them against the Legion in a daring ground assault. As the night elves' allies converged upon Azshara's temple and the Well of Eternity, all-out warfare erupted. Despite the strength of their newfound allies, Malfurion and his colleagues realized that the Legion could not be defeated by martial strength alone.
As the titanic battle raged around Azshara's capital city, the delusional queen waited in anticipation for Sargeras' arrival. The lord of the Legion was preparing to pass through the Well of Eternity and enter the ravaged world. As his impossibly huge shadow drew ever closer to the Well's raging surface, Azshara gathered the most powerful of her Highborne followers. Only by linking their magics together in one focused spell would they be able to create a gateway large enough for Sargeras to enter.
As the battle raged across the burning fields of Kalimdor, a terrible turn of events unfolded. The details of the event have been lost to time, but it is known that Neltharion, the Dragon Aspect of the Earth, went mad during a critical engagement against the Burning Legion. He began to split apart as flame and rage erupted from his dark hide. Renaming himself Deathwing, the burning dragon turned on his brethren and drove the five dragonflights from the field of battle.
Deathwing's sudden betrayal was so destructive that the five dragonflights never truly recovered. Wounded and shocked, Alexstrasza and the other noble dragons were forced to abandon their mortal allies. Malfurion and his companions, now hopelessly outnumbered, barely survived the ensuing onslaught.
Malfurion, convinced that the Well of Eternity was the demons' umbilical link to the physical world, insisted that it should be destroyed. His companions, knowing that the Well was the source of their immortality and powers, were horrified by the rash notion. Yet Tyrande saw the wisdom of Malfurion's theory, so she convinced Cenarius and their comrades to storm Azshara's temple and find a way to shut the Well down for good.

The Sundering of the World

Knowing that the Well's destruction would prevent him from ever wielding magic again, Illidan selfishly abandoned the group and set out to warn the Highborne of Malfurion's plan. Due to the insanity brought on by his addiction and the stinging resentment towards his brother's affair with Tyrande, Illidan felt no remorse at betraying Malfurion and siding with Azshara and her ilk. Above all else, Illidan vowed to protect the Well's power by any means necessary.
Heartbroken by his brother's departure, Malfurion led his companions into the heart of Azshara's temple. Yet as they stormed into the main audience chamber, they found the Highborne in the midst of their final dark incantation. The communal spell created an unstable vortex of power within the Well's turbulent depths. As Sargeras' ominous shadow drew ever closer to the surface, Malfurion and his allies rushed to attack.
Azshara, having received Illidan's warning, was more than prepared for them. Nearly all of Malfurion's followers fell before the mad queen's powers. Tyrande, attempting to attack Azshara from behind, was caught off-guard by the queen's Highborne guardsmen. Though she vanquished the guardsmen, Tyrande suffered grievous wounds at their hands. When Malfurion saw his love fall, he went into a murderous rage and resolved to end Azshara's life.
As the battle raged inside and outside of the temple, Illidan appeared from the shadows near the shores of the great Well. Producing a set of specially crafted vials, Illidan knelt and filled each with the Well's shimmering waters. Convinced that the demons would crush the night elves' civilization, he planned to steal the sacred waters and keep their energies for himself.
The ensuing battle between Malfurion and Azshara threw the Highborne's carefully crafted spellwork into chaos. The unstable vortex within the Well's depths exploded and ignited a catastrophic chain of events that would sunder the world forever. The massive explosion rocked the temple to its foundations and sent massive quakes ripping through the tortured earth. As the horrific battle between the Legion and the night elves' allies raged around and above the ruined capital city, the surging Well of Eternity buckled in upon itself and collapsed.
The resultant catastrophic explosion shattered the earth and blotted out the skies.
As the aftershocks from the Well's implosion rattled the bones of the world, the seas rushed in to fill the gaping wound left in the earth. Nearly eighty percent of Kalimdor's landmass had been blasted apart, leaving only a handful of separate continents surrounding the new, raging sea. At the center of the new sea, where the Well of Eternity once stood, was a tumultuous storm of tidal fury and chaotic energies. This terrible scar, known as the Maelstrom, would never cease its furious spinning. It would remain a constant reminder of the terrible catastrophe... and the utopian era that had been lost forever.
Somehow, against all odds, Queen Azshara and her Highborne elite managed to survive the ordeal. Tortured and twisted by the powers they had released, Azshara and her followers were dragged down beneath the raging sea by the Well's implosion. Cursed - transformed - they took on new shapes and became the hateful serpentine naga. Azshara herself expanded with hate and rage, becoming a massive monstrosity, reflecting the wickedness and malice that had always hidden within her core.
There, at the bottom of the Maelstrom, the naga built for themselves a new city, Nazjatar, from which they would rebuild their power. It would take over ten thousand years before the naga would reveal their existence to the surface world.

Mount Hyjal and Illidan's Gift

The few night elves that survived the horrific explosion rallied together on crudely made rafts and slowly made their way to the only landmass in sight. Somehow, by the grace of Elune, Malfurion, Tyrande, and Cenarius had survived the Great Sundering. The weary heroes agreed to lead their fellow survivors and establish a new home for their people. As they journeyed in silence, they surveyed the wreckage of their world and realized that their passions had wrought the destruction all around them. Though Sargeras and his Legion had been ripped from the world by the Well's destruction, Malfurion and his companions were left to ponder the terrible cost of victory.
There were many Highborne who did survive the cataclysm unscathed. They made their way to the shores of the new land along with the other night elves. Though Malfurion mistrusted the Highborne's motivations, he was satisfied that they could cause no real mischief without the Well's energies.
As the weary mass of night elves landed upon the shores of the new land, they found that the holy mountain, Hyjal, had survived the catastrophe. Seeking to establish a new home for themselves, Malfurion and the night elves climbed the slopes of Hyjal and reached its windswept summit. As they descended into the wooded bowl, nestled between the mountain's enormous peaks, they found a small, tranquil lake. To their horror, they found that the lake's waters had been fouled by magic.
Illidan, having survived the Sundering as well, had reached Hyjal summit long before Malfurion and the night elves. In his mad bid to maintain the flows of magic in the world, Illidan had poured his vials, which contained the precious waters from the Well of Eternity, into the mountain lake. The Well's potent energies quickly ignited and coalesced into a new Well of Eternity. The exultant Illidan, believing that the new Well was a gift to future generations, was shocked when Malfurion hunted him down. Malfurion explained to his brother that magic was innately chaotic and that its use would inevitably lead to widespread corruption and strife. Still, Illidan refused to relinquish his magical powers.
Knowing full well where Illidan's ruthless schemes would eventually lead, Malfurion decided to deal with his power-crazed brother once and for all. With Cenarius' help, Malfurion sealed Illidan within a vast underground barrow prison, where he would remain chained and powerless until the end of time. To ensure his brother's containment, Malfurion empowered the young warden, Maiev Shadowsong, to be Illidan's personal jailor.
Concerned that destroying the new Well might bring about an even greater catastrophe, the night elves resolved to leave it be. However, Malfurion declared that they would never practice the arts of magic again. Under Cenarius' watchful eye, they began to study the ancient arts of druidism that would enable them to heal the ravaged earth and re-grow their beloved forests at the base of Mount Hyjal.

The World Tree and the Emerald Dream

For many years, the night elves worked tirelessly to rebuild what they could of their ancient homeland. Leaving their broken temples and roads to be overgrown, they constructed their new homes amidst the verdant trees and shadowed hills at Hyjal's base. In time, the dragons that had survived the great Sundering came forth from their secret abodes.
Alexstrasza the red, Ysera the green, and Nozdormu the bronze descended upon the druids' tranquil glades and surveyed the fruits of the night elves' labors. Malfurion, who had become an arch-druid of immense power, greeted the mighty dragons and told them about the creation of the new Well of Eternity. The great dragons were alarmed to hear the dark news and speculated that as long as the Well remained, the Legion might one day return and assault the world once again. Malfurion and the three dragons made a pact to keep the Well safe and ensure that the agents of the Burning Legion would never find their way back into the world.
Alexstrasza, the Lifebinder, placed a single, enchanted acorn within the heart of the Well of Eternity. The acorn, activated by the potent, magical waters, sprung to life as a colossal tree. The mighty tree's roots grew from the Well's waters, and its verdant canopy seemed to scrape the roof of the sky. The immense tree would be an everlasting symbol of the night elves' bond with nature, and its life-giving energies would extend out to heal the rest of the world over time. The night elves' gave their World Tree the new name Nordrassil, which meant "crown of the heavens" in their native tongue.
Nozdormu, the Timeless, placed an enchantment upon the World Tree to ensure that as long as the colossal tree stood, the night elves would never age or fall prey to sickness or disease.
Ysera, the Dreamer, also placed an enchantment upon the World Tree by linking it to her own realm, the ethereal dimension known as the Emerald Dream. The Emerald Dream, a vast, ever-changing spirit world, existed outside the boundaries of the physical world. From the Dream, Ysera regulated the ebb and flow of nature and the evolutionary path of the world itself. The night elf druids, including Malfurion himself, were bound to the Dream through the World Tree. As part of the mystical pact, the druids agreed to sleep for centuries at a time so that their spirits could roam the infinite paths of Ysera's Dreamways. Though the druids were grieved at the prospect of losing so many years of their lives to hibernation, they selflessly agreed to uphold their bargain with Ysera.

Exile of the High Elves

As the centuries passed, the night elves' new society grew strong and expanded throughout the budding forest that they came to call Ashenvale. Many of the creatures and species that were abundant before the Great Sundering, such as furbolgs and quilboars, reappeared and flourished in the land. Under the druids' benevolent leadership, the night elves enjoyed an era of unprecedented peace and tranquility under the stars.
However, many of the original Highborne survivors grew restless. Like Illidan before them, they fell victim to the withdrawal that came from the loss of their coveted magics. They were tempted to tap the energies of the Well of Eternity and exult in their magical practices. Dath'Remar, the brash, outspoken leader of the Highborne, began to mock the druids publicly, calling them cowards for refusing to wield the magic that he said was theirs by right. Malfurion and the druids dismissed Dath'Remar's arguments and warned the Highborne that any use of magic would be punishable by death. In an insolent and ill-fated attempt to convince the druids to rescind their law, Dath'Remar and his followers unleashed a terrible magical storm upon Ashenvale.
The druids could not bring themselves to put so many of their kin to death, so they decided to exile the reckless Highborne from their lands. Dath'Remar and his followers, glad to be rid of their conservative cousins at last, boarded a number of specially crafted ships and set sail upon the seas. Though none of them knew what awaited them beyond the waters of the raging Maelstrom, they were eager to establish their own homeland, where they could practice their coveted magics with impunity. The Highborne, or Quel'dorei, as Azshara had named them in ages past, would eventually set shore upon the eastern land men would call Lordaeron. They planned to build their own magical kingdom, Quel'Thalas, and reject the night elves' precepts of moon worship and nocturnal activity. Forever after, they would embrace the sun and be known only as the high elves.

The Sentinels and the Long Vigil

With the departure of their wayward cousins, the night elves turned their attention back to the safekeeping of their enchanted homeland. The druids, sensing that their time of hibernation was drawing near, prepared to sleep and leave their loved ones and families behind. Tyrande, who had become the High Priestess of Elune, asked her love, Malfurion, not to leave her for Ysera's Emerald Dream. But Malfurion, honor bound to enter the changing Dreamways, bid the priestess farewell and swore that they would never be apart so long as they held true to their love.
Left alone to protect Kalimdor from the dangers of the new world, Tyrande assembled a powerful fighting force from amongst her night elf sisters. The fearless, highly trained warrior women who pledged themselves to Kalimdor's defense became known as the Sentinels. Though they preferred to patrol the shadowy forests of Ashenvale on their own, they had many allies upon which they could call in times of urgency.
The demigod Cenarius remained nearby in the Moonglades of Mount Hyjal. His sons, known as the Keepers of the Grove, kept close watch on the night elves and regularly helped the Sentinels maintain peace in the land. Even Cenarius' shy daughters, the dryads, appeared in the open with increasing frequency.
The task of policing Ashenvale kept Tyrande busy, but without Malfurion at her side, she knew little joy. As the long centuries passed while the druids slept, her fears of a second demonic invasion grew. She could not shake the unnerving feeling that the Burning Legion might still be out there, beyond the Great Dark of the sky, plotting its revenge upon the night elves and the world of Azeroth.

Chapter 2: The New World
The Founding of Quel'Thalas

The high elves, led by Dath'Remar, left Kalimdor behind them and challenged the storms of the Maelstrom. Their fleets wandered the wreckage of the world for many long years, and they discovered mysteries and lost kingdoms along their sojourn. Dath'Remar, who had taken the name Sunstrider (or "he who walks the day"), sought out places of considerable ley power upon which to build a new homeland for his people.
His fleet finally landed on the beaches of the kingdom men would later call Lordaeron. Forging inland, the high elves founded a settlement within the tranquil Tirisfal Glades. After a few years, many of them began to go mad. It was theorized that something evil slept beneath that particular part of the world, but the rumors were never proven to be true. The high elves packed up their encampment and moved northward towards another land rich with ley energies.
As the high elves crossed the rugged, mountainous lands of Lordaeron, their journey became more perilous. Since they were effectively cut off from the life-giving energies of the Well of Eternity, many of them fell ill from the frigid climate or died from starvation. The most disconcerting change, however, was the fact that they were no longer immortal or immune to the elements. They also shrank somewhat in height, and their skin lost its characteristic violet hue. Despite their hardships, they encountered many wondrous creatures that had never been seen in Kalimdor. They also found tribes of primitive humans who hunted throughout the ancient forestlands. However, the direst threat they encountered were the voracious and cunning forest trolls of Zul'Aman.
These moss-skinned trolls could regenerate lost limbs and heal grievous physical injuries, but they proved to be a barbaric, evil race. The Amani empire stretched across most of northern Lordaeron, and the trolls fought hard to keep unwanted strangers from their borders. The elves developed a deep loathing for the vicious trolls and killed them on sight whenever they were encountered.
After many long years, the high elves finally found a land which was reminiscent of Kalimdor. Deep within the northern forests of the continent, they founded the kingdom of Quel'Thalas and vowed to create a mighty empire which would dwarf that of their Kaldorei cousins. Unfortunately they soon learned that Quel'Thalas was founded upon an ancient troll city that the trolls still held to be sacred. Almost immediately, the trolls began to attack the elven settlements en masse.
The stubborn elves, unwilling to give up their new land, utilized the magics which they had gleaned from the Well of Eternity and kept the savage trolls at bay. Under Dath'Remar's leadership, they were able to defeat the Amani warbands that outnumbered them ten to one. Some elves, wary of the Kaldorei's ancient warnings, felt that their use of magic might possibly draw the attention of the banished Burning Legion. Therefore, they decided to mask their lands within a protective barrier which would still allow them to work their enchantments. They constructed a series of monolithic Runestones at various points around Quel'Thalas which marked the boundaries of the magic barrier. The Runestones not only masked the elves' magic from extra-dimensional threats, but helped to frighten away the superstitious troll warbands as well.
As time wore on, Quel'Thalas became a shining monument to the high elves' efforts and magical prowess. Its beauteous palaces were crafted in the same architectural style as the ancient halls of Kalimdor, yet they were interwoven with the natural topography of the land. Quel'Thalas had become the shining jewel that the elves had longed to create. The Convocation of Silvermoon was founded as the ruling power over Quel'Thalas, though the Sunstrider Dynasty maintained a modicum of political power. Comprised of seven of the greatest high elf lords, the Convocation worked to secure the safety of the elven lands and people. Surrounded by their protective barrier, the high elves remained unmoved by the old warnings of the Kaldorei and continued to use magic flagrantly in almost all aspects of their lives.
For nearly four thousand years the high elves lived peacefully within the secluded safety of their kingdom. Nevertheless, the vindictive trolls were not so easily defeated. They plotted and schemed in the depths of the forests and waited for the numbers of their warbands to grow. Finally, a mighty troll army charged out from the shadowy forests and once again laid siege to the shining spires of Quel'Thalas.

Arathor and the Troll Wars

As the high elves fought for their lives against the trolls' fierce onslaught, the scattered, nomadic humans of Lordaeron fought to consolidate their own tribal lands. The tribes of early humanity raided each other's settlements with little heed for racial unification or honor. Yet one tribe, known as the Arathi, saw that the trolls were becoming too great a threat to ignore. The Arathi wished to bring all of the tribes under its rule so that they could provide a unified front against the troll warbands.
Over the course of six years, the cunning Arathi outmaneuvered and outfought the rival tribes. After every victory, the Arathi offered peace and equality to the conquered people; thus, they won the loyalty of those they had beaten. Eventually the Arathi tribe came to include many disparate tribes, and the ranks of its army grew vast. Confident that they could hold their own against the troll warbands or even the reclusive elves if need be, the Arathi warlords decided to construct a mighty fortress city in the southern regions of Lordaeron. The city-state, named Strom, became the capital of the Arathi nation, Arathor. As Arathor prospered, humans from all over the vast continent traveled south to the protection and safety of Strom.
United under one banner, the human tribes developed a strong, optimistic culture. Thoradin, the king of Arathor, knew that the mysterious elves in the northlands were under constant siege by the trolls, but refused to risk the safety of his people in defense of reclusive strangers. Many months passed as rumors of the elves' supposed defeat trickled down from the north. It was only when weary ambassadors from Quel'Thalas reached Strom that Thoradin realized how great the troll threat truly was.
The elves informed Thoradin that the troll armies were vast and that once the trolls had destroyed Quel'Thalas, they would move on to attack the southlands. The desperate elves, in dire need of military aid, hastily agreed to teach certain select humans to wield magic in exchange for their help against the warbands. Thoradin, distrustful of any magic, agreed to aid the elves out of necessity. Almost immediately, elven sorcerers arrived in Arathor and began to instruct a group of humans in the ways of magic.
The elves found that although humans were innately clumsy in their handling of magic, they possessed a startling natural affinity for it. One hundred men were taught the very basics of the elves' magical secrets: no more than was absolutely necessary to combat the trolls. Convinced that their human students were ready to aid in the struggle, the elves left Strom and traveled north alongside the mighty armies of King Thoradin.
The united elf and human armies clashed against the overwhelming troll warbands at the foot of the Alterac Mountains. The battle lasted for many days, but the unflagging armies of Arathor never tired or gave an inch of ground before the troll onslaught. The elven lords deemed that the time had come to release the powers of their magic upon the enemy. The hundred human magi and a multitude of elven sorcerers called down the fury of the heavens and set the troll armies ablaze. The elemental fires prevented the trolls from regenerating their wounds and burned their tortured forms from the inside out.
As the troll armies broke and attempted to flee, Thoradin's armies ran them down and slaughtered every last one of their soldiers. The trolls would never fully recover from their defeat, and history would never see the trolls rise as one nation again. Assured that Quel'Thalas was saved from destruction, the elves made a pledge of loyalty and friendship to the nation of Arathor and to the bloodline of its king, Thoradin. Humans and elves would nurture peaceful relations for ages to come.

The Guardians of Tirisfal

With the absence of trolls in the northlands, the elves of Quel'Thalas bent their efforts towards rebuilding their glorious homeland. The victorious armies of Arathor returned home to southlands of Strom. The human society of Arathor grew and prospered, yet Thoradin, fearful that his kingdom would splinter apart if it overextended itself, maintained that Strom was the center of the Arathorian empire. After many peaceful years of growth and commerce, mighty Thoradin died of old age, leaving Arathor's younger generation free to expand the empire beyond the lands of Strom.
The original hundred magi, who were tutored in the ways of magic by the elves, expanded their powers and studied the mystic disciplines of spell-weaving in much greater detail. These magi, initially chosen for their strong wills and noble spirits, had always practiced their magic with care and responsibility; however, they passed their secrets and powers onto a newer generation that had no concept of the rigors of war or the necessity for self-restraint. These younger magicians began to practice magic for personal gain rather than out of any responsibility towards their fellows.
As the empire grew and expanded into new lands, the young magicians also spread out into the southlands. Wielding their mystical powers, the magicians protected their brethren from the wild creatures of the land and made it possible for new city-states to be constructed in the wilderness. Yet, as their powers grew, the magicians became ever more conceited and isolated from the rest of society.
The second Arathorian city-state of Dalaran was founded in the lands north of Strom. Many fledgling wizards left the restraining confines of Strom behind and traveled to Dalaran, where they hoped to use their new powers with greater freedom. These magicians used their skills to build up the enchanted spires of Dalaran and reveled in the pursuit of their studies. The citizens of Dalaran tolerated the magicians' endeavors and built up a bustling economy under the protection of their magic-using defenders. Yet, as more and more magicians practiced their arts, the fabric of reality around Dalaran began to weaken and tear.
The sinister agents of the Burning Legion, who had been banished when the Well of Eternity collapsed, were lured back into the world by the heedless spellcasting of the magicians of Dalaran. Though these relatively weak demons did not appear in force, they did sow considerable confusion and chaos within the streets of Dalaran. Most of these demonic encounters were isolated events, and the ruling Magocrats did what they could to keep such events hidden from the public. The most powerful magicians were sent to capture the elusive demons, but they often found themselves hopelessly outmatched by the lone agents of the mighty Legion.
After a few months the superstitious peasantry began to suspect that their sorcerous rulers were hiding something terrible from them. Rumors of revolution began to sweep through the streets of Dalaran as the paranoid citizenry questioned the motives and practices of the magicians they had once admired. The Magocrats, fearing that the peasants would revolt and that Strom would take action against them, turned to the only group they felt would understand their particular problem: the elves.
Upon hearing the Magocrats' news of demonic activity in Dalaran, the elves quickly dispatched their mightiest wizards to the human lands. The elven wizards studied the energy currents in Dalaran and made detailed reports of all demonic activity that they beheld. They concluded that although there were only a few demons loose in the world, the Legion itself would remain a dire threat so long as humans continued to wield the forces of magic.
The Council of Silvermoon, which ruled over the elves of Quel'Thalas, entered into a secret pact with the Magocrat lords of Dalaran. The elves told the Magocrats about the history of ancient Kalimdor and of the Burning Legion, a history which still threatened the world. They informed the humans that so long as they used magic, they would need to protect their citizenry from the malicious agents of the Legion. The Magocrats proposed the notion of empowering a single mortal champion who would utilize their collective powers in order to fight a never-ending secret war against the Legion. It was stressed that the majority of mankind could never know about the Guardians or the threat of the Legion for fear that they would riot in fear and paranoia. The elves agreed to the proposal and founded a secret society that would watch over the selection of the Guardian and help to stem the rise of chaos in the world.
The society held its secret meetings in the shadowed Tirisfal Glades, where the high elves had first settled in Lordaeron. Thus, they named the secret sect the Guardians of Tirisfal. The mortal champions who were chosen to be Guardians were imbued with incredible powers of both elven and human magic. Though there would only ever be one Guardian at a time, they held such vast power that they could single-handedly fight back the Legion's agents wherever they were found in the world. The Guardian power was so great that only the Council of Tirisfal was allowed to choose potential successors to the mantle of Guardianship. Whenever a Guardian grew too old, or wearied of the secret war against chaos, the Council chose a new champion, and under controlled conditions, formally channeled the Guardian power into its new agent.
As the generations passed, Guardians defended the masses of humanity from the invisible threat of the Burning Legion throughout the lands of Arathor and Quel'Thalas. Arathor grew and prospered while the use of magic spread throughout the empire. Meanwhile, the Guardians kept careful watch for signs of demonic activity.

Ironforge - the Awakening of the Dwarves

In the ancient times, after the Titans departed Azeroth, their children, known as the earthen, continued to shape and guard the deep recesses of the world. The earthen were largely unconcerned with the affairs of the surface-dwelling races and longed only to plumb the dark depths of the earth.
When the world was sundered by the Well of Eternity's implosion, the earthen were deeply affected. Reeling with the pain of the earth itself, the earthen lost much of their identity and sealed themselves within the stone chambers where they were first created. Uldaman, Uldum, Ulduar... these were the names of the ancient Titan cities where the earthen first took shape and form. Buried deep beneath the world, the earthen rested in peace for nearly eight thousand years.
Though it is unclear what awakened them, the earthen sealed within Uldaman eventually arose from their self-imposed slumber. These earthen found that they had changed significantly during their hibernation. Their rocky hides had softened and become smooth skin, and their powers over stone and earth had waned. They had become mortal creatures.
Calling themselves dwarves, the last of the earthen left the halls of Uldaman and ventured out into the waking world. Still lulled by the safety and wonders of the deep places, they founded a vast kingdom under the highest mountain in the land. They named their land Khaz Modan, or "Mountain of Khaz", in honor of the Titan shaper, Khaz'goroth. Constructing an altar for their Titan father, the dwarves crafted a mighty forge within the heart of the mountain. Thus, the city that grew around the forge would be called Ironforge ever after.
The dwarves, by nature fascinated with shaping gems and stone, set out to mine the surrounding mountains for riches and precious minerals. Content with their labors under the world, the dwarves remained isolated from the affairs of their surface-dwelling neighbors.

The Seven Kingdoms

Strom continued to act as the central hub of Arathor, but as with Dalaran, many new city-states arose across the continent of Lordaeron. Gilneas, Alterac, and Kul Tiras were the first city-states to arise, and although they each had their own customs and commercial workings, they all held to the unifying authority of Strom.
Under the vigilant watch of the Order of Tirisfal, Dalaran became the chief center of learning for magicians throughout the land. The Magocrats who ruled Dalaran founded the Kirin Tor, a specialized sect that was charged with cataloguing and researching every spell, artifact, and magic item known to mankind at the time.
Gilneas and Alterac became strong supporters of Strom and developed mighty armies that explored the mountainous southern lands of Khaz Modan. It was during this period that humans first met the ancient race of dwarves and traveled to their cavernous subterranean city of Ironforge. The humans and dwarves shared many secrets of metal-smithing and engineering and discovered a common love for battle and storytelling.
The city-state of Kul Tiras, founded upon a large island south of Lordaeron, developed a prosperous economy based on fishing and shipping. Over time, Kul Tiras built up a mighty fleet of merchant vessels that sailed throughout the known lands in search of exotic goods to trade and sell. Yet even as the economy of Arathor flourished, its strongest elements began to disintegrate.
In time, the lords of Strom sought to move their estates to the lush northlands of Lordaeron and leave the arid lands of the south. The heirs of King Thoradin, the last descendants of the Arathi bloodline, argued that Strom should not be abandoned and thus incurred the displeasure of the greater citizenry, who were likewise eager to leave. The lords of Strom, seeking to find purity and enlightenment in the untamed north, decided to leave their ancient city behind. Far to the north of Dalaran, the lords of Strom built a new city-state which they named Lordaeron. The entire continent would take its name from this city-state. Lordaeron became a mecca for religious travelers and all those who sought inner peace and security.
The descendents of the Arathi, left within the crumbling walls of ancient Strom, decided to travel south past the rocky mountains of Khaz Modan. Their journey finally ended after many long seasons, and they settled in the northern region of the continent they would name Azeroth. In a fertile valley they founded the kingdom of Stormwind, which quickly became a self-sufficient power in its own right.
The few warriors still left in Strom decided to remain and guard the ancient walls of their city. Strom was no longer the center of the empire, but it developed into a new nation known as Stromgarde. Though each of the city-states became prosperous in its own right, the empire of Arathor had effectively disintegrated. As each nation developed its own customs and beliefs, they became increasingly segregated from one another. King Thoradin's vision of a unified humanity had faded at last.

Aegwynn and the Dragon Hunt

As the politics and rivalries of the seven human nations waxed and waned, the line of Guardians kept its constant vigil against chaos. There were many Guardians over the years, but only one ever held the magical powers of Tirisfal at any given time. One of the last Guardians of the age distinguished herself as a mighty warrior against the shadow. Aegwynn, a fiery human girl, won the approbation of the Order and was given the mantle of Guardianship. Aegwynn vigorously worked to hunt down and eradicate demons wherever she found them, but she often questioned the authority of the male-dominated Council of Tirisfal. She believed that the ancient elves and the elderly men who presided over the council were too rigid in their thinking and not farsighted enough to put a decisive end to the conflict against chaos. Impatient with lengthy discussion and debate, she yearned to prove herself worthy to her peers and superiors, and as a result frequently chose valor over wisdom in crucial situations.
As her mastery over the cosmic power of Tirisfal grew, Aegwynn became aware of a number of powerful demons that stalked the icy northern continent of Northrend. Traveling to the distant north, Aegwynn tracked the demons into the mountains. There, she found that the demons were hunting one of the last surviving dragonflights and draining the ancient creatures of their innate magic. The mighty dragons, who had fled from the ever-advancing march of mortal societies, found themselves too evenly matched against the dark magics of the Legion. Aegwynn confronted the demons, and with help from the noble dragons, eradicated them. Yet, as the last demon was banished from the mortal world, a great storm erupted throughout the north. An enormous dark visage appeared in the sky above Northrend. Sargeras, the demon king and lord of the Burning Legion, appeared before Aegwynn and bristled with hellish energy. He informed the young Guardian that the time of Tirisfal was about to come to an end and that the world would soon bow before the onslaught of the Legion.
The proud Aegwynn, believing herself to be a match for the menacing god, unleashed her powers against Sargeras' avatar. With disconcerting ease, Aegwynn battered the demonlord with her powers and succeeded in killing his physical shell. Fearing that Sargeras' spirit would linger on, the naive Aegwynn locked the ruined husk of his body within one of the ancient halls of Kalimdor that had been blasted to the bottom of the sea when the Well of Eternity collapsed. Aegwynn would never know that she had done exactly as Sargeras had planned. She had inadvertently sealed the fate of the mortal world, for Sargeras, at the time of his corporeal death, had transferred his spirit into Aegwynn's weakened body. Unbeknownst to the young Guardian, Sargeras would remain cloaked within the darkest recesses of her soul for many long years.

War of the Three Hammers

The dwarves of Ironforge Mountain lived in peace for many long centuries. However, their society grew too large within the confines of their mountain cities. Though the mighty High King, Modimus Anvilmar, ruled over all dwarves with justice and wisdom, three powerful factions had arisen amongst the dwarven society.
The Bronzebeard clan, ruled by Thane Madoran Bronzebeard, held close ties to the High King and stood as the traditional defenders of Ironforge Mountain. The Wildhammer clan, ruled by Thane Khardros Wildhammer, inhabited the foothills and crags around the base of the mountain and sought to gain more control within the city. The third faction, the Dark Iron clan, was ruled by the sorcerer-thane Thaurissan. The Dark Irons hid within the deepest shadows under the mountain and plotted against both their Bronzebeard and the Wildhammer cousins.
For a time the three factions kept a tenuous peace, but tensions erupted when High King Anvilmar passed away from old age. The three ruling clans went to war for control of Ironforge itself. The dwarf civil war raged under the earth for many years. Eventually the Bronzebeards, who had the largest standing army, banished the Dark Irons and Wildhammers from under the mountain.
Khardros and his Wildhammer warriors traveled north through the barrier gates of Dun Algaz, and they founded their own kingdom within the distant peak of Grim Batol. There, the Wildhammers thrived and rebuilt their stores of treasure. Thaurissan and his Dark Irons did not fare as well. Humiliated and enraged by their defeat, they vowed revenge against Ironforge. Leading his people far to the south, Thaurissan founded a city (which he named after himself) within the beautiful Redridge Mountains. Prosperity and the passing of years did little to ease the Dark Iron's rancor toward their cousins. Thaurissan and his sorceress wife, Modgud, launched a two-pronged assault against both Ironforge and Grim Batol. The Dark Irons were intent on claiming all of Khaz Modan for their own.
The Dark Iron armies smashed against their cousins' strongholds and very nearly took both kingdoms. However, Madoran Bronzebeard ultimately led his clan to a decisive victory over Thaurissan's sorcerous army. Thaurissan and his servants fled back to the safety of their city, unaware of the events transpiring at Grim Batol, where Modgud's army would fare no better against Khardros and his Wildhammer warriors.
As she confronted the enemy warriors, Modgud used her powers to strike fear into their hearts. Shadows moved at her command, and dark things crawled up from the depths of the earth to stalk the Wildhammers in their own halls. Eventually Modgud broke through the gates and laid siege to the fortress itself. The Wildhammers fought desperately, Khardros himself wading through the roiling masses to slay the sorceress queen. With their queen lost, the Dark Irons fled before the fury of the Wildhammers. They raced south toward their king's stronghold, only to meet the armies of Ironforge, which had come to aid Grim Batol. Crushed between two armies, the remaining Dark Iron forces were utterly destroyed.
The combined armies of Ironforge and Grim Batol then turned south, intent on destroying Thaurissan and his Dark Irons once and for all. They had not gone far when Thaurissan's fury resulted in a spell of cataclysmic proportions. Seeking to summon a supernatural minion that would ensure his victory, Thaurissan called upon the ancient powers sleeping beneath the world. To his shock, and ultimately his doom, the creature that emerged was more terrible than any nightmare he could have imagined.
Ragnaros the Firelord, immortal lord of all fire elementals, had been banished by the Titans when the world was young. Now, freed by Thaurissan's call, Ragnaros erupted into being once again. Ragnaros' apocalyptic rebirth into Azeroth shattered the Redridge Mountains and created a raging volcano at the center of the devastation. The volcano, known as Blackrock Spire, was bordered by the Searing Gorge to the north and the Burning Steppes to the south. Though Thaurissan was killed by the forces he had unleashed, his surviving brethren were ultimately enslaved by Ragnaros and his elementals. They remain within the Spire to this day.
Witnessing the horrific devastation and the fires spreading across the southern mountains, King Madoran and King Khardros halted their armies and hastily turned back towards their kingdoms, unwilling to face the awesome wrath of Ragnaros.
The Bronzebeards returned to Ironforge and rebuilt their glorious city. The Wildhammers also returned home to Grim Batol. However, the death of the Modgud had left an evil stain on the mountain fortress, and the Wildhammers found it uninhabitable. They were bitter in their hearts over the loss of their beloved home. King Bronzebeard offered the Wildhammers a place to live within the borders of Ironforge, but the Wildhammers steadfastly refused. Khardros took his people north towards the lands of Lordaeron. Settling within the lush forests of the Hinterlands, the Wildhammers crafted the city of Aerie Peak, where the Wildhammers grew closer to nature and even bonded with the mighty gryphons of the area.
Seeking to retain relations and trade with their cousins, the dwarves of Ironforge constructed two massive arches, the Thandol Span, to bridge the gap between Khaz Modan and Lordaeron. Bolstered by mutual trade, the two kingdoms prospered. After the deaths of Madoran and Khardros, their sons jointly commissioned two great statues in honor of their fathers. The two statues would stand guard over the pass into the southlands, which had become volcanic in the wake of Ragnaros' scorching presence. They served as both a warning to all who would attack the dwarven kingdoms, and as a reminder of what price the Dark Irons paid for their crimes.
The two kingdoms retained close ties for some years, but the Wildhammers were much changed by the horrors they witnessed at Grim Batol. They took to living above ground on the slopes of Aerie Peak, instead of carving a vast kingdom within the mountain. The ideological differences between the two remaining dwarven clans eventually led to their parting of ways.

The Last Guardian

The Guardian Aegwynn grew powerful over the years and used the Tirisfal energies to greatly extend her life. Foolishly believing that she had defeated Sargeras for good, she continued to safeguard the world from the demon king's minions for nearly nine hundred years. However, the Council of Tirisfal finally decreed that her stewardship had come to an end. The Council ordered Aegwynn to return to Dalaran so that they could choose a new successor for the Guardian power. Yet Aegwynn, ever distrustful of the Council, decided to choose a successor on her own.
The proud Aegwynn planned to give birth to a son whom she would divest her power to. She had no intention of allowing the Order of Tirisfal to manipulate her successor as they had tried to manipulate her. Traveling to the southern nation of Azeroth, Aegwynn found the perfect man to father her son: a skilled human magician known as Nielas Aran. Aran was the court conjuror and advisor for Azeroth's king. Aegwynn seduced the magician and conceived a son by him. Nielas' natural affinity for magic would run deep within the unborn child and define the tragic steps the child would later take. The power of Tirisfal was also implanted in the child, yet it wasn't to awaken until he reached physical maturity.
Time passed, and Aegwynn gave birth to her son in a secluded grove. Naming the boy Medivh, which means "keeper of secrets" in the high elven tongue, Aegwynn believed that the boy would mature to become the next Guardian. Unfortunately the malignant spirit of Sargeras, which had been hiding inside her, had possessed the defenseless child while it was still in her womb. Aegwynn had no idea that the world's newest Guardian was already possessed by its greatest nemesis.
Certain that her baby was healthy and sound, Aegwynn delivered young Medivh to the court of Azeroth and left him there to be raised by his mortal father and his people. She then wandered into the wilderness and prepared to pass into whatever afterlife awaited her. Medivh grew to become a strong boy and had no idea of the potential power of his Tirisfalin birthright.
Sargeras bided his time until the youth's power manifested itself. By the time Medivh had reached his teenage years, he had become very popular in Azeroth for his magical prowess and often went off on adventures with his two friends: Llane, the prince of Azeroth, and Anduin Lothar, one of the last descendents of the Arathi bloodline. The three boys constantly caused mischief around the kingdom, but they were well liked by the general citizenry.
When Medivh reached the age of fourteen, the cosmic power inside him awakened and clashed with the pervasive spirit of Sargeras that lurked within his soul. Medivh fell into a catatonic state which lasted for many years. When he awakened from his coma, he found that he had grown to adulthood, and his friends Llane and Anduin had become the regents of Azeroth. Though he wished to use his incredible newfound powers to protect the land he called home, the dark spirit of Sargeras twisted his thoughts and emotions towards an insidious end.
Sargeras reveled within the darkening heart of Medivh, for he knew that his plans for the second invasion of the world were nearing completion, and that the world's last Guardian would bring them all to fruition.

Chapter 3: The Doom of Draenor
Kil'jaeden and the Shadow Pact

Around the time of Medivh's birth on Azeroth, Kil'jaeden the Deceiver sat and brooded amongst his followers within the Twisting Nether. The cunning demonlord, under orders of his master, Sargeras, was plotting the Burning Legion's second invasion of Azeroth. This time he would not allow any mistakes. Kil'jaeden surmised that he needed a new force to weaken Azeroth's defenses before the Legion even set foot upon the world. If the mortal races, such as the night elves and dragons, were forced to contend with a new threat, they would be too weak to pose any real resistance when the Legion's true invasion arrived.
It was at this time that Kil'jaeden discovered the lush world of Draenor floating peacefully within the Great Dark Beyond. Home to the shamanistic, clan-based orcs and the peaceful draenei, Draenor was as idyllic as it was vast. The noble orc clans roamed the open prairies and hunted for sport, while the inquisitive draenei built crude cities within the world's towering cliffs and peaks. Kil'jaeden knew that Draenor's denizens had great potential to serve the Burning Legion if they could be cultivated properly.
Of the two races, Kil'jaeden saw that the warrior orcs were more susceptible to the Legion's corruption. He enthralled the elder orc shaman, Ner'zhul, in much the same way that Sargeras brought Queen Azshara under his control in ages past. Using the cunning shaman as his conduit, the demon spread battle lust and savagery throughout the orc clans. Before long, the spiritual race was transformed into a bloodthirsty people. Kil'jaeden then urged Ner'zhul and his people to take the last step: to give themselves over entirely to the pursuit of death and war. Yet the old shaman, sensing that his people would be enslaved to hatred forever, somehow resisted the demon's command.
Frustrated by Ner'zhul's resistance, Kil'jaeden searched for another orc who would deliver his people into the Legion's hands. The clever demonlord finally found the willing disciple he sought - Ner'zhul's ambitious apprentice, Gul'dan. Kil'jaeden promised Gul'dan untold power in exchange for his utter obedience. The young orc became an avid student of demonic magic and developed into the most powerful mortal warlock in history. He taught other young orcs the arcane arts and strove to eradicate the orcs' shamanistic traditions. Gul'dan showed a new brand of magic to his brethren, a terrible new power that reeked of doom.
Kil'jaeden, seeking to tighten his hold over the orcs, helped Gul'dan found the Shadow Council, a secretive sect that manipulated the clans and spread the use of warlock magics throughout Draenor. As more and more orcs began to wield warlock magics, the gentle fields and streams of Draenor began to blacken and fade. Over time, the vast prairies the orcs had called home for generations withered away, leaving only red barren soil. The demon energies were slowly killing the world.

Rise of the Horde

The orcs became increasingly aggressive under the secret control of Gul'dan and his Shadow Council. They constructed massive arenas where the orcs honed their warrior skills in trials of combat and death. During this period, a few clan chieftains spoke out against the growing depravity in their race. One such chieftain, Durotan of the Frostwolf clan, warned against the orcs' losing themselves to hate and fury. His words fell on deaf ears, however, as stronger chieftains such as Grom Hellscream of the Warsong clan stepped forward to champion the new age of warfare and dominance.
Kil'jaeden knew that the orc clans were almost ready, but he needed to be certain of their ultimate loyalty. In secret, he had the Shadow Council summon Mannoroth the Destructor, the living vessel of destruction and rage. Gul'dan called the clan chieftains together and convinced them that drinking Mannoroth's raging blood would make them utterly invincible. Led by Grom Hellscream, all the clan chiefs except Durotan drank and thereby sealed their fates as slaves to the Burning Legion. Empowered by Mannoroth's rage, the chieftains unwittingly extended this subjugation to their unsuspecting brethren.
Consumed with the curse of this new bloodlust, the orcs sought to unleash their fury on any who stood before them. Sensing that the time had come, Gul'dan united the warring clans into a single unstoppable Horde. However, knowing that the various chieftains like Hellscream and Orgrim Doomhammer would vie for overall supremacy, Gul'dan set up a puppet warchief to rule over this new Horde. Blackhand the Destroyer, a particularly depraved and vicious orc warlord, was chosen to be Gul'dan's puppet. Under Blackhand's command, the Horde set out to test itself against the simple draenei.
Over the course of a few months, the Horde eradicated nearly every draenei living on Draenor. Only a scattered handful of survivors managed to evade the orcs' awesome wrath. Flushed with victory, Gul'dan reveled in the Horde's power and might. Still, he knew that without any enemies to fight, the Horde would consume itself with endless infighting in its unstoppable appetite for glorious slaughter.
Kil'jaeden knew that the Horde was finally prepared. The orcs had become the Burning Legion's greatest weapon. The cunning demon shared his knowledge with his waiting master, and Sargeras agreed that the time of his revenge had finally come.

Chapter 4: Alliance And Horde
The Dark Portal and the Fall of Stormwind

As Kil'jaeden prepared the Horde for its invasion of Azeroth, Medivh continued to fight for his soul against Sargeras. King Llane, the noble monarch of Stormwind, grew wary of the darkness which seemed to taint the spirit of his former friend. King Llane shared his concerns with Anduin Lothar, the last descendent of the Arathi bloodline, whom he named his lieutenant-at-arms. Even so, neither man could have imagined that Medivh's slow descent into madness would bring about the horrors that were to come.
As a final incentive, Sargeras promised to bestow great power upon Gul'dan if he agreed to lead the Horde to Azeroth. Through Medivh, Sargeras told the warlock that he could become a living god if he found the undersea tomb where the Guardian Aegwynn had placed Sargeras' crippled body nearly a thousand years before. Gul'dan agreed and decided that once the denizens of Azeroth were beaten, he would find the legendary tomb and claim his reward. Assured that the Horde would serve his purposes, Sargeras ordered the invasion to begin.
Through a joint effort, Medivh and the warlocks of the Shadow Council opened the dimensional gateway known as the Dark Portal. This portal bridged the distance between Azeroth and Draenor, and it was large enough that armies might pass through it. Gul'dan dispatched orc scouts through the portal to survey the lands which they would conquer. The returning scouts assured the Shadow Council that the world of Azeroth was ripe for the taking.
Still convinced that Gul'dan's corruption would destroy his people, Durotan spoke out against the warlocks once more. The brave warrior claimed that warlocks were destroying the purity of the orcish spirit and that this reckless invasion would be their doom. Gul'dan, unable to risk killing such a popular hero, was forced to exile Durotan and his Frostwolf Clan into the far reaches of this new world.
After the exiled Frostwolves charged through the portal, only a few orc clans followed. These orcs quickly set up a base of operations within the Black Morass, a dark and swampy area far to the east of the kingdom of Stormwind. As the orcs began to branch out and explore the new lands, they came into immediate conflict with the human defenders of Stormwind. Though these skirmishes usually ended quickly, they did much to illustrate the weaknesses and strengths of both rival species. Llane and Lothar were never able to gather accurate data of the orcs' numbers and could only guess at how great a force they would have to contend with. After a few years the majority of the orcish Horde had crossed into Azeroth, and Gul'dan deemed that the time for the primary strike against humanity had come. The Horde launched its full might against the unsuspecting kingdom of Stormwind.
As the forces of Azeroth and the Horde clashed across the kingdom, internal conflicts began to take their toll on both armies. King Llane, who believed the bestial orcs to be incapable of conquering Azeroth, contemptuously held his position at his capital of Stormwind. However, Sir Lothar became convinced that the battle should be taken directly to the enemy, and he was forced to choose between his convictions and his loyalty to the king. Choosing to follow his instincts, Lothar stormed Medivh's tower-fortress of Karazhan with the help of the wizard's young apprentice, Khadgar. Khadgar and Lothar succeeded in vanquishing the possessed Guardian, whom they confirmed to be the source of the conflict. By killing Medivh's body, Lothar and the young apprentice inadvertently banished the spirit of Sargeras to the abyss. As a consequence, the pure, virtuous spirit of Medivh was also allowed to live on... and wander the astral plane for many years to come.
Although Medivh had been defeated, the Horde continued to dominate the defenders of Stormwind. As the Horde's victory drew nearer, Orgrim Doomhammer, one of the greatest orc chieftains, began to see the depraved corruption that had spread throughout the clans since their time in Draenor. His old comrade, Durotan, returned from exile and warned him yet again of Gul'dan's treachery. In speedy retribution, Gul'dan's assassins murdered Durotan and his family, leaving only his infant son alive. Unknown to Doomhammer was the fact that Durotan's infant son was found by the human officer, Aedelas Blackmoore, and taken as a slave.
That infant orc would one day rise to become the greatest leader his people would ever know.
Incensed by Durotan's death, Orgrim set out to free the Horde from demonic corruption and ultimately assumed the role of warchief of the Horde by killing Gul'dan's corrupt puppet, Blackhand. Under his decisive leadership the relentless Horde finally laid siege to Stormwind Keep. King Llane had severely underestimated the might of the Horde, and he watched helplessly as his kingdom fell to the green-skinned invaders. Ultimately King Llane was assassinated by one of the Shadow Council's finest killers: the half-orc, Garona.
Lothar and his warriors, returning home from Karazhan, hoped to stem the loss of life and save their once-glorious homeland. Instead, they returned too late and found their beloved kingdom in smoking ruins. The orcish Horde continued to ravage the countryside and claimed the surrounding lands for its own. Forced into hiding, Lothar and his companions swore a grim oath to reclaim their homeland at any cost.
The Alliance of Lordaeron

Lord Lothar rallied the remnants of Azeroth's armies after their defeat at Stormwind Keep, and then launched a massive exodus across the sea to the northern kingdom of Lordaeron. Convinced that the Horde would overcome all of humanity if left unchecked, the leaders of the seven human nations met and agreed to unite in what would become known as the Alliance of Lordaeron. For the first time in nearly three thousand years, the disparate nations of Arathor were once again united under a common banner. Appointed as Supreme Commander of the Alliance forces, Lord Lothar prepared his armies for the coming of the Horde.
Aided by his lieutenants, Uther the Lightbringer, Admiral Daelin Proudmoore, and Turalyon, Lothar was able to convince Lordaeron's demi-human races of the impending threat as well. The Alliance succeeded in gaining the support of the stoic dwarves of Ironforge and a small number of high elves of Quel'Thalas. The elves, led at that time by Anasterian Sunstrider, were largely uninterested in the coming conflict. However, they were duty-bound to aid Lothar because he was the last descendent of the Arathi bloodline, which had aided the elves in ages past.
The Horde, now led by Warchief Doomhammer, brought in ogres from its homeworld of Draenor and conscripted the disenfranchised Amani forest trolls into its fold. Setting out on a massive campaign to overrun the dwarf kingdom of Khaz Modan and the southern reaches of Lordaeron, the Horde effortlessly decimated all opposition.
The epic battles of the Second War ranged from large-scale naval skirmishes to massive aerial dogfights. Somehow the Horde had unearthed a powerful artifact known as the Demon Soul and used it to enslave the ancient Dragonqueen, Alexstrasza. Threatening to destroy her precious eggs, the Horde forced Alexstrasza to send her grown children to war. The noble red dragons were forced to fight for the Horde, and fight they did.
The war raged across the continents of Khaz Modan, Lordaeron, and Azeroth itself. As part of its northern campaign, the Horde succeeded in burning down the borderlands of Quel'Thalas, thereby ensuring the elves' final commitment to the Alliance's cause. The greater cities and townships of Lordaeron were razed and devastated by the conflict. Despite the absence of reinforcements and overwhelming odds, Lothar and his allies succeeded in holding their enemies at bay.
However, during the final days of the Second War, as the Horde's victory over the Alliance seemed almost assured, a terrible feud erupted between the two most powerful orcs on Azeroth. As Doomhammer prepared his final assault against the Capital City of Lordaeron - an assault that would have crushed the last remnants of the Alliance - Gul'dan and his followers abandoned their posts and set out to sea. The bewildered Doomhammer, having lost nearly half of his standing forces to Gul'dan's treachery, was forced to pull back and forsake his greatest chance at victory over the Alliance.
The power-hungry Gul'dan, obsessed with obtaining godhood itself, set out on a desperate search for the undersea Tomb of Sargeras that he believed held the secrets of ultimate power. Having already doomed his fellow orcs to become the slaves of the Burning Legion, Gul'dan thought nothing of his supposed duty to Doomhammer. Backed by the Stormreaver and Twilight's Hammer clans, Gul'dan succeeded in raising the Tomb of Sargeras from the sea floor. However, when he opened the ancient, flooded vault, he found only crazed demons awaiting him.
Seeking to punish the wayward orcs for their costly betrayal, Doomhammer sent his forces to kill Gul'dan and bring the renegades back into the fold. For his recklessness, Gul'dan was torn apart by the maddened demons he had set loose. With their leader dead, the renegade clans quickly fell before Doomhammer's enraged legions. Though the rebellion had been quelled, the Horde was unable to recoup the terrible losses it had suffered. Gul'dan's betrayal had afforded the Alliance not only hope, but also time to regroup and retaliate.
Lord Lothar, seeing that the Horde was fracturing from within, gathered the last of his forces and pushed Doomhammer south, back into the shattered heartland of Stormwind. There, the Alliance forces trapped the retreating Horde within the volcanic fortress of Blackrock Spire. Though Lord Lothar fell in battle at the Spire's base, his lieutenant, Turalyon, rallied the Alliance forces at the eleventh hour and drove the Horde back into the abysmal Swamp of Sorrows. Turalyon's forces succeeded in destroying the Dark Portal, the mystical gateway that connected the orcs to their homeworld of Draenor. Cut off from its reinforcements and fractured by infighting, the Horde finally buckled in upon itself and fell before the might of the Alliance.
The scattered orc clans were quickly rounded up and placed within guarded internment camps. Though it seemed that the Horde had been defeated for good, some remained highly skeptical that peace would last. Khadgar, now an Archmage of some renown, convinced the Alliance high command to build the fortress of Nethergarde that would watch over the ruins of the Dark Portal and ensure that there would be no further invasions from Draenor.
The Invasion of Draenor

As the fires of the Second War died down, the Alliance took aggressive steps to contain the orcish threat. A number of large internment camps, meant to house the captive orcs, were constructed in southern Lordaeron. Guarded by both the paladins and the veteran soldiers of the Alliance, the camps proved to be a great success. Though the captive orcs were tense and anxious to do battle once more, the various camp wardens, based at the old prison-fortress of Durnholde, kept the peace and maintained a strong semblance of order.
However, on the hellish world of Draenor, a new orcish army prepared to strike at the unsuspecting Alliance. Ner'zhul, the former mentor of Gul'dan, rallied the remaining orc clans under his dark banner. Aided by the Shadowmoon clan, the old shaman planned to open a number of portals on Draenor that would lead the Horde to new, unspoiled worlds. To power his new portals, he needed a number of enchanted artifacts from Azeroth. To procure them, Ner'zhul reopened the Dark Portal and sent his ravenous servants charging through it.
The new Horde, led by veteran chieftains such as Grom Hellscream and Kilrogg Deadeye (of the Bleeding Hollow clan), surprised the Alliance defense forces and rampaged through the countryside. Under Ner'zhul's surgical command, the orcs quickly rounded up the artifacts that they needed and fled back to the safety of Draenor.
King Terenas of Lordaeron, convinced that the orcs were preparing a new invasion of Azeroth, assembled his most trusted lieutenants. He ordered General Turalyon and the archmage, Khadgar, to lead an expedition through the Dark Portal to put an end to the orcish threat once and for all. Turalyon and Khadgar's forces marched into Draenor and repeatedly clashed with Ner'zhul's clans upon the ravaged Hellfire Peninsula. Even with the aid of the high elf Alleria Windrunner, the dwarf Kurdran Wildhammer, and the veteran soldier Danath Trollbane, Khadgar was unable to prevent Ner'zhul from opening his portals to other worlds.
Ner'zhul finally opened his portals to other worlds, but he did not foresee the terrible price he would pay. The portals' tremendous energies began to tear the very fabric of Draenor apart. As Turalyon's forces fought desperately to return home to Azeroth, the world of Draenor began to buckle in upon itself. Grom Hellscream and Kilrogg Deadeye, realizing that Ner'zhul's mad plans would doom their entire race, rallied the remaining orcs and escaped back to the relative safety of Azeroth.
On Draenor, Turalyon and Khadgar agreed to make the ultimate sacrifice by destroying the Dark Portal from their side. Though it would cost their lives, and the lives of their companions, they knew that it was the only way to ensure Azeroth's survival. Even as Hellscream and Deadeye hacked their way through the human ranks in a desperate bid for freedom, the Dark Portal exploded behind them. For them, and the remaining orcs on Azeroth, there would be no going back.
Ner'zhul and his loyal Shadowmoon clan passed through the largest of the newly created portals, as massive volcanic eruptions began to break Draenor's continents apart. The burning seas rose up and roiled the shattered landscape as the tortured world was finally consumed in a massive, apocalyptic explosion.

The Birth of the Lich King

Ner'zhul and his followers entered the Twisting Nether, the ethereal plane that connects all of the worlds scattered throughout the Great Dark Beyond. Unfortunately Kil'jaeden and his demonic minions were waiting for them. Kil'jaeden, who had sworn to take vengeance on Ner'zhul for his prideful defiance, slowly tore the old shaman's body apart, piece by piece. Kil'jaeden kept the shaman's spirit alive and intact, thus leaving Ner'zhul painfully aware of his body's gross dismemberment. Though Ner'zhul pleaded with the demon to release his spirit and grant him death, the demon grimly replied that the Blood Pact they had made long ago was still binding, and that Ner'zhul still had a purpose to serve.
The orcs' failure to conquer the world for the Burning Legion forced Kil'jaeden to create a new army to sow chaos throughout the kingdoms of the Azeroth. This new army could not be allowed to fall prey to the same petty rivalries and infighting that had plagued the Horde. It would have to be merciless and single-minded in its mission. This time, Kil'jaeden could not afford to fail.
Holding Ner'zhul's spirit helpless in stasis, Kil'jaeden gave him one last chance to serve the Legion or suffer eternal torment. Once again, Ner'zhul recklessly agreed to the demon's pact. Ner'zhul's spirit was placed within a specially crafted block of diamond-hard ice gathered from the far reaches of the Twisting Nether. Encased within the frozen cask, Ner'zhul felt his consciousness expand ten thousand-fold. Warped by the demon's chaotic powers, Ner'zhul became a spectral being of unfathomable power. At that moment, the orc known as Ner'zhul was shattered forever, and the Lich King was born.
Ner'zhul's loyal death knights and Shadowmoon followers were also transformed by the demon's chaotic energies. The wicked spellcasters were ripped apart and remade as skeletal liches. The demons had ensured that even in death, Ner'zhul's followers would serve him unquestioningly.
When the time was right, Kil'jaeden explained the mission for which he had created the Lich King. Ner'zhul was to spread a plague of death and terror across Azeroth that would snuff out human civilization forever. All those who died from the dreaded plague would arise as the undead, and their spirits would be bound to Ner'zhul's iron will forever. Kil'jaeden promised that if Ner'zhul accomplished his dark mission of scouring humanity from the world, he would be freed from his curse and granted a new, healthy body to inhabit.
Though Ner'zhul was agreeable and seemingly anxious to play his part, Kil'jaeden remained skeptical of his pawn's loyalties. Keeping the Lich King bodiless and trapped within the crystal cask assured his good conduct for the short term, but the demon knew that he would need to keep a watchful eye on him. To this end, Kil'jaeden called upon his elite demon guard, the vampiric dreadlords, to police Ner'zhul and ensure that he accomplished his dread task. Tichondrius, the most powerful and cunning of the dreadlords, warmed to the challenge; he was fascinated by the plague's severity and the Lich King's unbridled potential for genocide.

Icecrown and the Frozen Throne

Kil'jaeden cast Ner'zhul's icy cask back into the world of Azeroth. The hardened crystal streaked across the night sky and smashed into the desolate arctic continent of Northrend, burying itself deep within the Icecrown glacier. The frozen crystal, warped and scarred by its violent descent, came to resemble a throne, and Ner'zhul's vengeful spirit soon stirred within it.
From the confines of the Frozen Throne, Ner'zhul began to reach out his vast consciousness and touch the minds of Northrend's native inhabitants. With little effort, he enslaved the minds of many indigenous creatures, including ice trolls and fierce wendigo, and he drew their evil brethren into his growing shadow. His psychic powers proved to be almost limitless, and he used them to create a small army that he housed within Icecrown's twisting labyrinths. As the Lich King mastered his growing abilities under the dreadlords' persistent vigil, he discovered a remote human settlement on the fringe of the vast Dragonblight. On a whim, Ner'zhul decided to test his powers on the unsuspecting humans.
Ner'zhul cast a plague of undeath - which had originated from deep within the Frozen Throne, out into the arctic wasteland. Controlling the plague with his will alone, he drove it straight into the human village. Within three days, everyone in the settlement was dead, but shortly thereafter, the dead villagers began to rise as zombified corpses. Ner'zhul could feel their individual spirits and thoughts as if they were his own. The raging cacophony in his mind caused Ner'zhul to grow even more powerful, as if their spirits provided him with much-needed nourishment. He found it was child's play to control the zombies' actions and steer them to whatever end he wished.
Over the following months, Ner'zhul continued to experiment with his plague of undeath by subjugating every human inhabitant of Northrend. With his army of undead growing daily, he knew that the time for his true test was nearing.

The Battle of Grim Batol

Meanwhile, in the war-torn lands of the south, the scattered remnants of the Horde fought for their very survival. Though Grom Hellscream and his Warsong clan managed to evade capture, Deadeye and his Bleeding Hollow clan were rounded up and placed in the internment camps in Lordaeron. Notwithstanding these costly uprisings, the camps' wardens soon re-established control over their brutish charges.
However, unknown to the Alliance, a large force of orcs still roamed free in the northern wastes of Khaz Modan. The Dragonmaw clan, led by the infamous warlock Nekros, was using an ancient artifact known as the Demon Soul to control the Dragonqueen, Alexstrasza, and her dragonflight. With the Dragonqueen as his hostage, Nekros built up a secret army within the abandoned - some say cursed - Wildhammer stronghold of Grim Batol. Planning to unleash his forces and the mighty red dragons on the Alliance, Nekros hoped to reunite the Horde and continue its conquest of Azeroth. His vision did not come to pass: a small group of resistance fighters, led by the human mage Rhonin managed to destroy the Demon Soul and free the Dragonqueen from Nekros' command.
In their fury, Alexstrasza's dragons tore Grim Batol apart and incinerated the greater bulk of the Dragonmaw clan. Nekros' grand schemes of reunification came crashing down as the Alliance troops rounded up the remaining orc survivors and threw them into the waiting internment camps. The Dragonmaw clan's defeat signaled the end of the Horde, and the end of the orcs' furious bloodlust.

Lethargy of the Orcs

Months passed, and more orc prisoners were rounded up and placed within the internment camps. As the camps began to overflow, the Alliance was forced to construct new camps in the plains south of the Alterac Mountains. To properly maintain and supply the growing number of camps, King Terenas levied a new tax on the Alliance nations. This tax, along with increased political tensions over border disputes, created widespread unrest. It seemed that the fragile pact that had forged the human nations together in their darkest hour would break at any given moment.
Amidst the political turmoil, many of the camp wardens began to notice an unsettling change come over their orc captives. The orcs' efforts to escape from the camps or even fight amongst themselves had greatly decreased in frequency over time. The orcs were becoming increasingly aloof and lethargic. Though it was difficult to believe, the orcs - once held as the most aggressive race ever seen on Azeroth - had completely lost their will to fight. The strange lethargy confounded the Alliance leaders and continued to take its toll on the rapidly weakening orcs.
Some speculated that some strange disease, contractible only by orcs, brought about the baffling lethargy. But Archmage Antonidas of Dalaran posed a different hypothesis. Researching what little he could find of orcish history, Antonidas learned that the orcs had been under the crippling influence of demonic power for generations. He speculated that the orcs had been corrupted by these powers even before their first invasion of Azeroth. Clearly, demons had spiked the orcs' blood, and in turn the brutes had been granted unnaturally heightened strength, endurance, and aggression.
Antonidas theorized that the orcs' communal lethargy was not actually a disease, but a consequence of racial withdrawal from the volatile warlock magics that had made them fearsome, bloodlusted warriors. Though the symptoms were clear, Antonidas was unable to find a cure for the orcs' present condition. Then too, many of his fellow mages, as well as a few notable Alliance leaders, argued that finding a cure for the orcs would be an imprudent venture. Left to ponder the orcs' mysterious condition, Antonidas' conclusion was that the orcs' cure would have to be a spiritual one.

The New Horde

The chief warden of the internment camps, Aedelas Blackmoore, watched over the captive orcs from his prison-stronghold, Durnholde. One orc in particular had always held his interest: the orphaned infant he had found nearly eighteen years before. Blackmoore had raised the young male as a favored slave and named him Thrall. Blackmoore taught the orc about tactics, philosophy, and combat. Thrall was even trained as a gladiator. All the while, the corrupt warden sought to mold the orc into a weapon.
Despite his harsh upbringing, young Thrall grew into a strong, quick-witted orc, and he knew in his heart that a slave's life was not for him. As he grew to maturity, he learned about his people, the orcs, whom he had never met: after their defeat, most of them had been placed in internment camps. Rumor had it that Doomhammer, the orc leader, had escaped from Lordaeron and gone into hiding. Only one rogue clan still operated in secret, trying to evade the watchful eyes of the Alliance.
The resourceful yet inexperienced Thrall decided to escape from Blackmoore's fortress and set off to find others of his kind. During his journeys Thrall visited the internment camps and found his once-mighty race to be strangely cowed and lethargic. Having not found the proud warriors he hoped to discover, Thrall set out to find the last undefeated orc chieftain, Grom Hellscream.
Constantly hunted by the humans, Hellscream nevertheless held onto the Horde's unquenchable will to fight. Aided only by his own devoted Warsong clan, Hellscream continued to wage an underground war against the oppression of his beleaguered people. Unfortunately, Hellscream could never find a way to rouse the captured orcs from their stupor. The impressionable Thrall, inspired by Hellscream's idealism, developed a strong empathy for the Horde and its warrior traditions.
Seeking the truth of his own origins, Thrall traveled north to find the legendary Frostwolf clan. Thrall learned that Gul'dan had exiled the Frostwolves during the early days of the First War. He also discovered that he was the son and heir of the orc hero Durotan, the true chieftain of the Frostwolves who had been murdered in the wilds nearly twenty years before.
Under the tutelage of the venerable shaman Drek'Thar, Thrall studied his people's ancient shamanistic culture, which had been forgotten under Gul'dan's evil rule. Over time, Thrall became a powerful shaman and took his rightful place as chieftain of the exiled Frostwolves. Empowered by the elements themselves and driven to find his destiny, Thrall set off to free the captive clans and heal his race of demonic corruption.
During his travels, Thrall found the aged warchief, Orgrim Doomhammer, who had been living as a hermit for many years. Doomhammer, who had been a close friend of Thrall's father, decided to follow the young, visionary orc and help him free the captive clans. Supported by many of the veteran chieftains, Thrall ultimately succeeded in revitalizing the Horde and giving his people a new spiritual identity.
To symbolize his people's rebirth, Thrall returned to Blackmoore's fortress of Durnholde and put a decisive end to his former master's plans by laying siege to the internment camps. This victory was not without its price: during the liberation of one camp, Doomhammer fell in battle.
Thrall took up Doomhammer's legendary warhammer and donned his black plate-armor to become the new warchief of the Horde. During the following months, Thrall's small but volatile Horde laid waste to the internment camps and stymied the Alliance's best efforts to counter his clever strategies. Encouraged by his best friend and mentor, Grom Hellscream, Thrall worked to ensure that his people would never be slaves again.

War of the Spider

While Thrall was liberating his brethren in Lordaeron, Ner'zhul continued to build up his power base in Northrend. A great citadel was erected above the Icecrown Glacier and manned by the growing legions of the dead. Yet as the Lich King extended his influence over the land, one shadowy empire stood against his power. The ancient subterranean kingdom of Azjol-Nerub, which had been founded by a race of sinister humanoid spiders, sent their elite warrior-guard to attack Icecrown and end the Lich King's mad bid for dominance. Much to his frustration, Ner'zhul found that the evil nerubians were immune not only to the plague, but to his telepathic domination as well.
The nerubian spider-lords commanded vast forces and had an underground network that stretched nearly half the breadth of Northrend. Their hit-and-run tactics on the Lich King's strongholds stymied his efforts to root them out time after time. Ultimately Ner'zhul's war against the nerubians was won by attrition. With the aid of the sinister dreadlords and innumerable undead warriors, the Lich King invaded Azjol-Nerub and brought its subterranean temples crashing down upon the spider lords' heads.
Though the nerubians were immune to his plague, Ner'zhul's growing necromantic powers allowed him to raise the spider-warriors' corpses and bend them to his will. As a testament to their tenacity and fearlessness, Ner'zhul adopted the nerubians' distinctive architectural style for his own fortresses and structures. Left to rule his kingdom unopposed, the Lich King began preparing for his true mission in the world. Reaching out into the human lands with his vast consciousness, the Lich King called out to any dark soul that would listen....

Kel'Thuzad and the Forming of the Scourge

There were a handful of powerful individuals scattered throughout the world who heard the Lich King's mental summons from Northrend. Most notable of them was the archmage of Dalaran, Kel'Thuzad, who was one of senior members of the Kirin Tor, Dalaran's ruling council. He had been considered a maverick for years due to his insistence on studying the forbidden arts of necromancy. Driven to learn all he could of the magical world and its shadowy wonders, he was frustrated by what he saw as his peers' outmoded and unimaginative precepts. Upon hearing the powerful summons from Northrend, the archmage bent all of his considerable will to communing with the mysterious voice. Convinced that the Kirin Tor was too squeamish to seize the power and knowledge inherent in the dark arts, he resigned himself to learn what he could from the immensely powerful Lich King.
Leaving behind his fortune and prestigious political standing, Kel'Thuzad abandoned the ways of the Kirin Tor and left Dalaran forever. Prodded by the Lich King's persistent voice in his mind, he sold his vast holdings and stored away his fortunes. Traveling alone over many leagues of both land and sea, he finally reached the frozen shores of Northrend. Intent on reaching Icecrown and offering his services to the Lich King, the archmage passed through the ravaged, war-torn ruins of Azjol-Nerub. Kel'Thuzad saw firsthand the scope and ferocity of Ner'zhul's power. He began to realize that allying himself with the mysterious Lich King might be both wise and potentially fruitful.
After long months of trekking through the harsh arctic wastelands, Kel'Thuzad finally reached the dark glacier of Icecrown. He boldly approached Ner'zhul's dark citadel and was shocked when the undead guardsmen silently let him pass as though he was expected. Kel'Thuzad descended deep into the cold earth and found his way down to the bottom of the glacier. There, in the endless cavern of ice and shadows, he prostrated himself before the Frozen Throne and offered his soul to the dark lord of the dead.
The Lich King was pleased with his latest conscript. He promised Kel'Thuzad immortality and great power in exchange for his loyalty and obedience. Eager for dark knowledge and power, Kel'Thuzad accepted his first great mission: to go into the world of men and found a new religion that would worship the Lich King as a god.
To help the archmage accomplish his mission, Ner'zhul left Kel'Thuzad's humanity intact. The aged yet still charismatic wizard was charged with using his powers of illusion and persuasion to lull the downtrodden, disenfranchised masses of Lordaeron into a state of trust and belief. Then, once he had their attention, he would offer them a new vision of what society could be - and a new figurehead to call their king.
Kel'Thuzad returned to Lordaeron in disguise, and over the span of three years, he used his fortune and intellect to gather a clandestine brotherhood of like-minded men and women. The brotherhood, which he called the Cult of the Damned, promised its acolytes social equality and eternal life on Azeroth in exchange for their service and obedience to Ner'zhul. As the months passed, Kel'Thuzad found many eager volunteers for his new cult amongst the tired, overburdened laborers of Lordaeron. It was surprisingly easy for Kel'Thuzad to achieve his goal: namely, to transfer the citizens' faith in the Holy Light into belief in Ner'zhul's dark shadow. As the Cult of the Damned grew in size and influence, Kel'Thuzad made sure to hide its workings from the authorities of Lordaeron.
With Kel'Thuzad's success in Lordaeron, the Lich King made the final preparations for his assault against human civilization. Placing his plague-energies into a number of portable artifacts called plague-cauldrons, Ner'zhul ordered Kel'Thuzad to transport the cauldrons to Lordaeron, where they would be hidden within various cult-controlled villages. The cauldrons, protected by the loyal cultists, would then act as plague-generators, sending the plague seeping out across the unsuspecting farmlands and cities of northern Lordaeron.
The Lich King's plan worked perfectly. Many of Lordaeron's northern villages were contaminated almost immediately. Just as in Northrend, the citizens who contracted the plague died and arose as the Lich King's willing slaves. The cultists under Kel'Thuzad were eager to die and be raised again in their dark lord's service. They exulted in the prospect of immortality through undeath. As the plague spread, more and more feral zombies arose in the northlands. Kel'Thuzad looked upon the Lich King's growing army and named it the Scourge, for soon it would march upon the gates of Lordaeron and scour humanity from the face of the world.

The Alliance Splinters

Unaware of the death cults forming in their lands, the leaders of the Alliance nations began to bicker and argue over territorial holdings and decreasing political influence. King Terenas of Lordaeron began to suspect that the fragile pact they had forged during their darkest hour would not last for much longer. Terenas had convinced the Alliance leaders to lend money and laborers to help rebuild the southern kingdom of Stormwind, which had been destroyed during the orcish occupation of Azeroth. The higher taxes that resulted, along with the high expense of maintaining and operating the numerous orc internment camps, led many leaders - Genn Greymane of Gilneas in particular - to believe that their kingdoms would be better off seceding from the Alliance.
To make matters worse, the high elves of Silvermoon brusquely rescinded their allegiance to the Alliance, stating that the humans' poor leadership had led to the burning of their forests during the Second War. Terenas fought back his impatience and quietly reminded the elves that nothing of Quel'Thalas would have remained if not for the hundreds of valiant humans who'd given their lives to defend it. Nonetheless, the elves stubbornly decided to go their own way. In the wake of the elves' departure, Gilneas and Stromgarde seceded as well.
Though the Alliance was falling apart, King Terenas still had allies that he could count on. Both Admiral Proudmoore of Kul Tiras and the young king, Varian Wrynn of Azeroth, remained committed to the Alliance. Furthermore, the wizards of the Kirin Tor, led by the Archmage Antonidas, pledged Dalaran's steadfast support to Terenas' rule. Perhaps most reassuring of all was the pledge of the mighty dwarven king, Magni Bronzebeard, who vowed that the dwarves of Ironforge would forever owe a debt of honor to the Alliance for liberating Khaz Modan from the Horde's control.

Chapter 5: Return Of The Burning Legion
The Scourge of Lordaeron

After preparing for many long months, Kel'Thuzad and his Cult of the Damned finally struck the first blow by releasing the plague of undeath upon Lordaeron. Uther and his fellow paladins investigated the infected regions in the hope of finding a way to stop the plague. Despite their efforts, the plague continued to spread and threatened to tear the Alliance apart.
As the ranks of the undead swept across Lordaeron, Terenas' only son, Prince Arthas, took up the fight against the Scourge. Arthas succeeded in killing Kel'Thuzad, but even so, the undead ranks swelled with every soldier that fell defending the land. Frustrated and stymied by the seemingly unstoppable enemy, Arthas took increasingly extreme steps to conquer them. Finally Arthas' comrades warned him that he was losing his hold on his humanity.
Arthas' fear and resolve proved to be his ultimate undoing. He tracked the plague's source to Northrend, intending to end its threat forever. Instead, Prince Arthas eventually fell prey to the Lich King's tremendous power. Believing that it would save his people, Arthas took up the cursed runeblade, Frostmourne. Though the sword did grant him unfathomable power, it also stole his soul and transformed him into the greatest of the Lich King's death knights. With his soul cast aside and his sanity shattered, Arthas led the Scourge against his own kingdom. Ultimately, Arthas murdered his own father, King Terenas, and crushed Lordaeron under the Lich King's iron heel.

Sunwell - The Fall of Quel'Thalas

Though he had defeated all of the people he now saw as his enemies, Arthas was still haunted by the ghost of Kel'Thuzad. The ghost told Arthas that he needed to be revived for the next phase of the Lich King's plan. To revive him, Arthas needed to bring Kel'Thuzad's remains to the mystical Sunwell, hidden within the high elves' eternal kingdom of Quel'Thalas.
Arthas and his Scourge invaded Quel'Thalas and laid siege to the elves' crumbling defenses. Sylvanas Windrunner, the Ranger-General of Silvermoon, put up a valiant fight, but Arthas eventually eradicated the high elf army and battled through to the Sunwell. In a cruel gesture of his dominance, he even raised Sylvanas' defeated body as a banshee, cursed to endless undeath in the service of Quel'Thalas' conqueror.
Ultimately, Arthas submerged Kel'Thuzad's remains within the holy waters of the Sunwell. Although the potent waters of Eternity were fouled by this act, Kel'Thuzad was reborn as a sorcerous lich. Resurrected as a far more powerful being, Kel'Thuzad explained the next phase of the Lich King's plan. By the time Arthas and his army of the dead turned southward, not one living elf remained in Quel'Thalas. The glorious homeland of the high elves, which had stood for more than nine thousand years, was no more.

Archimonde's Return and the Flight to Kalimdor

Once Kel'Thuzad was whole again, Arthas led the Scourge south to Dalaran. There the lich would obtain the powerful spellbook of Medivh, and use it to summon Archimonde back into the world. From that point on, Archimonde himself would begin the Legion's final invasion. Not even the wizards of the Kirin Tor could stop Arthas' forces from stealing Medivh's book, and soon Kel'Thuzad had all he needed to perform his spell. After ten thousand years, the mighty demon Archimonde and his host emerged once again upon the world of Azeroth. Yet Dalaran was not their final destination. Under orders from Kil'jaeden himself, Archimonde and his demons followed the undead Scourge to Kalimdor, bent on destroying Nordrassil, the World Tree.
In the midst of this chaos, a lone, mysterious prophet appeared to lend the mortal races guidance. This prophet proved to be none other than Medivh, the last Guardian, miraculously returned from the Beyond to redeem himself for past sins. Medivh told the Horde and the Alliance of the dangers they faced and urged them to band together. Jaded by generations of hate, the orcs and humans would have none of it. Medivh was forced to deal with each race separately, using prophecy and trickery to guide them across the sea to the legendary land of Kalimdor. The orcs and humans soon encountered the long-hidden civilization of the Kaldorei.
The orcs, led by Thrall, suffered a series of setbacks on their journey across Kalimdor's Barrens. Though they befriended Cairne Bloodhoof and his mighty tauren warriors, many orcs began to succumb to the demonic bloodlust that had plagued them for years. Thrall's greatest lieutenant, Grom Hellscream, even betrayed the Horde by giving himself over to his baser instincts. As Hellscream and his loyal Warsong warriors stalked through the forests of Ashenvale, they clashed with the ancient night elf Sentinels. Certain that the orcs had returned to their warlike ways, the demigod Cenarius came forth to drive Hellscream and his orcs back. Yet Hellscream and his orcs, overcome with supernatural hate and rage, managed to kill Cenarius and corrupt the ancient forestlands. Ultimately, Hellscream redeemed his honor by helping Thrall defeat Mannoroth, the demon lord who first cursed the orcs with his bloodline of hate and rage. With Mannoroth's death, the orcs' blood-curse was finally brought to an end.
While Medivh worked to convince the orcs and humans of the need for an alliance, the night elves fought the Legion in their own secretive ways. Tyrande Whisperwind, the immortal High Priestess of the night elf Sentinels, battled desperately to keep the demons and undead from overrunning the forests of Ashenvale. Tyrande realized that she needed help, so she set out to awaken the night elf druids from their thousand-year slumber. Calling upon her ancient love, Malfurion Stormrage, Tyrande succeeded in galvanizing her defenses and driving the Legion back. With Malfurion's help, nature herself rose up to vanquish the Legion and its Scourge allies.
While searching for more of the hibernating druids, Malfurion found the ancient barrow prison in which he had chained his brother, Illidan. Convinced that Illidan would aid them against the Legion, Tyrande set him free. Though Illidan did aid them for a time, he eventually fled to pursue his own interests.
The night elves braced themselves and fought the Burning Legion with grim determination. The Legion had never ceased in its desire for the Well of Eternity, long the source of strength for the World Tree and itself the heart of the night elf kingdom. If their planned assault on the Tree was successful, the demons would literally tear the world apart.

The Battle of Mount Hyjal

Under Medivh's guidance, Thrall and Jaina Proudmoore - the leader of the human forces in Kalimdor - realized that they had to put aside their differences. Similarly, the night elves, led by Malfurion and Tyrande, agreed that they must unite if they hoped to defend the World Tree. Unified in purpose, the races of Azeroth worked together to fortify the World Tree's energies to their utmost. Empowered by the very strength of the world, Malfurion succeeded in unleashing Nordrassil's primal fury, utterly destroying Archimonde and severing the Legion's anchor to the Well of Eternity. The final battle shook the continent of Kalimdor to its roots. Unable to draw power from the Well itself, the Burning Legion crumbled under the combined might of the mortal armies.
The Betrayer Ascendant

During the Legion's invasion of Ashenvale, Illidan was released from his barrow prison after ten thousand years of captivity. Though he sought to appease his comrades, he soon reverted to true form and consumed the energies of a powerful warlock artifact known as the Skull of Gul'dan. By doing so, Illidan developed demonic features and vastly magnified power. He also gained some of Gul'dan's old memories - especially those of the Tomb of Sargeras, the island dungeon rumored to hold the remains of the Dark Titan, Sargeras.
Bristling with power and free to roam the world once more, Illidan set out to find his own place in the great scheme of things. However, Kil'jaeden confronted Illidan and made him an offer he could not refuse. Kil'jaeden was angered by Archimonde's defeat at Mount Hyjal, but he had greater concerns than vengeance. Sensing that his creation, the Lich King, was growing too powerful to control, Kil'jaeden ordered Illidan to destroy Ner'zhul and put an end to the undead Scourge once and for all. In exchange, Illidan would receive untold power and a true place amongst the remaining lords of the Burning Legion.
Illidan agreed and immediately set out to destroy the Frozen Throne, the icy crystal cask in which the Lich King's spirit resided. Illidan knew that he would need a mighty artifact to destroy the Frozen Throne. Using the knowledge he had gained from Gul'dan's memories, Illidan decided to seek out the Tomb of Sargeras and claim the Dark Titan's remains. He called in some old Highborne debts and lured the serpentine naga from their dark undersea lairs. Led by the cunning witch Lady Vashj the naga helped Illidan reach the Broken Isles, where Sargeras' Tomb was rumored to be located.
As Illidan set out with the naga, Warden Maiev Shadowsong began to hunt him. Maiev had been Illidan's jailor for ten thousand years and relished the prospect of recapturing him. However, Illidan outsmarted Maiev and her Watchers and succeeded in claiming the Eye of Sargeras despite their efforts. With the powerful Eye in his possession, Illidan traveled to the former wizard-city of Dalaran. Strengthened by the city's ley power lines, Illidan used the Eye to cast a destructive spell against the Lich King's citadel of Icecrown in distant Northrend. Illidan's attack shattered the Lich King's defenses and ruptured the very roof of the world. At the final moment, Illidan's destructive spell was stopped when his brother Malfurion and the Priestess Tyrande arrived to aid Maiev.
Knowing that Kil'jaeden would not be pleased with his failure to destroy the Frozen Throne, Illidan fled to the barren dimension known as Outland: the last remnants of Draenor, the orcs' former homeworld. There he planned to evade Kil'jaeden's wrath and plan his next moves. After they succeeded in stopping Illidan, Malfurion and Tyrande returned home to Ashenvale Forest to watch over their people. Maiev, however, would not quit so easily, and followed Illidan to Outland, determined to bring him to justice.

Rise of the Blood Elves

At this time, the undead Scourge had essentially transformed Lordaeron and Quel'Thalas into the toxic Plaguelands. There were only a few pockets of Alliance resistance forces left. One such group, consisting primarily of high elves, was led by the last of the Sunstrider dynasty: Prince Kael'thas. Kael, an accomplished wizard himself, grew wary of the failing Alliance. The high elves grieved for the loss of their homeland and decided to call themselves blood elves in honor of their fallen people. Yet as they worked to keep the Scourge at bay, they suffered greatly at being cut off from the Sunwell that had empowered them. Desperate to find a cure for his people's racial addiction to magic, Kael did the unthinkable: he embraced his people's Highborne ancestry and joined with Illidan and his naga in hopes of finding a new magical power source upon which to feed. The remaining Alliance commanders condemned the blood elves as traitors and cast them out for good.
With no place left to go, Kael and his blood elves followed Lady Vashj to Outland to help contest the warden, Maiev, who had recaptured Illidan. With the combined naga and blood elf forces, they managed to defeat Maiev and free Illidan from her grasp. Based in Outland, Illidan gathered his forces for a second strike against the Lich King and his fortress of Icecrown.

Civil War in the Plaguelands

Ner'zhul, the Lich King, knew that his time was short. Imprisoned within the Frozen Throne, he suspected that Kil'jaeden would send his agents to destroy him. The damage caused by Illidan's spell had ruptured the Frozen Throne; thus, the Lich King was losing his power daily. Desperate to save himself, he called his greatest mortal servant to his side: the death knight Prince Arthas.
Though his powers were drained by the Lich King's weakness, Arthas had been involved in a civil war in Lordaeron. Half of the standing undead forces, led by the banshee Sylvanas Windrunner, staged a coup for control over the undead empire. Arthas, called by the Lich King, was forced to leave the Scourge in the hands of his lieutenant, Kel'Thuzad, as the war escalated throughout the Plaguelands.
Ultimately, Sylvanas and her rebel undead (known as the Forsaken) claimed the ruined capital city of Lordaeron as their own. Constructing their own bastion beneath the wrecked city, the Forsaken vowed to defeat the Scourge and drive Kel'Thuzad and his minions from the land.
Weakened, but determined to save his master, Arthas reached Northrend only to find Illidan's naga and blood elves waiting for him. He and his nerubian allies raced against Illidan's forces to reach the Icecrown Glacier and defend the Frozen Throne.

The Lich King Triumphant

Even weakened as he was, Arthas ultimately outmaneuvered Illidan and reached the Frozen Throne first. Using his runeblade, Frostmourne, Arthas shattered the Lich King's icy prison and thereby released Ner'zhul's enchanted helm and breastplate. Arthas placed the unimaginably powerful helm on his head and became the new Lich King. Ner'zhul and Arthas' spirits fused into a single mighty being, just as Ner'zhul had always planned. Illidan and his troops were forced to flee back to Outland in disgrace, while Arthas became one of the most powerful entities the world had ever known.
Currently Arthas, the new and immortal Lich King, resides in Northrend; he is rumored to be rebuilding the citadel of Icecrown. His trusted lieutenant, Kel'Thuzad, commands the Scourge in the Plaguelands. Sylvanas and her rebel Forsaken hold only the Tirisfal Glades, a small portion of the war-torn kingdom.

Old Hatreds - The Colonization of Kalimdor

Though victory was theirs, the mortal races found themselves in a world shattered by war. The Scourge and the Burning Legion had all but destroyed the civilizations of Lordaeron, and had almost finished the job in Kalimdor. There were forests to heal, grudges to bury, and homelands to settle. The war had wounded each race deeply, but they had selflessly banded together to attempt a new beginning, starting with the uneasy truce between the Alliance and Horde.
Thrall led the orcs to the continent of Kalimdor, where they founded a new homeland with the help of their tauren brethren. Naming their new land Durotar after Thrall's murdered father, the orcs settled down to rebuild their once-glorious society. Now that the demon curse was ended, the Horde changed from a warlike juggernaut into more of a loose coalition, dedicated to survival and prosperity rather than conquest. Aided by the noble tauren and the cunning trolls of the Darkspear tribe, Thrall and his orcs looked forward to a new era of peace in their own land.
The remaining Alliance forces under Jaina Proudmoore settled in southern Kalimdor. Off the eastern coast of Dustwallow Marsh, they built the rugged port city of Theramore. There, the humans and their dwarven allies worked to survive in a land that would always be hostile to them. Though the defenders of Durotar and Theramore kept the tentative truce with one another, the fragile colonial serenity was not meant to last.
The peace between the orcs and humans was shattered by the arrival of a massive Alliance fleet in Kalimdor. The mighty fleet, under the command of Grand Admiral Daelin Proudmoore (Jaina's father), had left Lordaeron before Arthas had destroyed the kingdom. Having sailed for many grueling months, Admiral Proudmoore was searching for any Alliance survivors he could find.
Proudmoore's armada posed a serious threat to the stability of the region. As a renowned hero of the Second War, Jaina's father was a staunch enemy of the Horde, and he was determined to destroy Durotar before the orcs could gain a foothold in the land.
The Grand Admiral forced Jaina to make a terrible decision: support him in battle against the orcs and betray her newfound allies, or fight her own father to maintain the fragile peace that the Alliance and the Horde had finally attained. After much soul-searching, Jaina chose the latter and helped Thrall defeat her crazed father. Unfortunately Admiral Proudmoore died in battle before Jaina could reconcile with him or prove that orcs were no longer bloodthirsty monsters. For her loyalty, the orcs allowed Jaina's forces to return home safely to Theramore.

History of Google

2009-05-03T18:30:00.000+07:00

This article covers the history of Google, the popular web-based search engine.

Early history

Larry Page and Sergey Brin in 2003.

Google began in January 1996 as a research project by Larry Page, a Ph.D. student at Stanford.^[1] In search for a dissertation theme, Page considered—among other things—exploring the mathematical properties of the World Wide Web, understanding its link structure as a huge graph.^[2] His supervisor Terry Winograd encouraged him to pick this idea (which Page later recalled as "the best advice I ever got"^[3]) and Page focused on the problem of finding out which web pages link to a given page, considering the number and nature of such backlinks to be valuable information about that page (with the role of citations in academic publishing in mind).^[2] In his research project, nicknamed "BackRub", he was soon joined by Sergey Brin, a fellow Stanford Ph.D. student and close friend, whom he had first met in the summer of 1995 in a group of potential new students which Brin had volunteered to show around the campus.^[2] Page's web crawler began exploring the web in March 1996, setting out from Page's own Stanford home page as its only starting point.^[2] To convert the backlink data that it gathered into a measure of importance for a given web page, Brin and Page developed the PageRank algorithm.^[2] Analyzing BackRub's output—which, for a given URL, consisted of a list of backlinks ranked by importance—it occurred to them that a search engine based on PageRank would produce better results than existing techniques (existing search engines at the time essentially ranked results according to how many times the search term appeared on a page).^[2]^[4] A small search engine called RankDex was already exploring a similar strategy.^[5]

Convinced that the pages with the most links to them from other highly relevant Web pages must be the most relevant pages associated with the search, Page and Brin tested their thesis as part of their studies, and laid the foundation for their search engine. By early 1997, the backrub page described the state as follows:^[6]

Some Rough Statistics (from August 29th, 1996)
Total indexable HTML urls: 75.2306 Million
Total content downloaded: 207.022 gigabytes
...

BackRub is written in Java and Python and runs on several Sun Ultras and Intel Pentiums running Linux. The primary database is kept on an Sun Ultra II with 28GB of disk. Scott Hassan and Alan Steremberg have provided a great deal of very talented implementation help. Sergey Brin has also been very involved and deserves many thanks.

-Larry Page page@cs.stanford.edu

Originally the search engine used the Stanford website with the domain google.stanford.edu. The domain google.com was registered on September 15, 1997. They formally incorporated their company, Google Inc., on September 4, 1998 at a friend's garage in Menlo Park, California.

The name "Google" originated from a misspelling of "googol,"^[7]^[8] which refers to the number represented by a 1 followed by one-hundred zeros. Having found its way increasingly into everyday language, the verb, "google," was added to the Merriam Webster Collegiate Dictionary and the Oxford English Dictionary in 2006, meaning, "to use the Google search engine to obtain information on the Internet."^[9]^[10]

By the end of 1998, Google had an index of about 60 million pages.^[11] The home page was still marked "BETA", but an article in Salon.com already argued that Google's search results were better than those of competitors like Hotbot or Excite.com, and praised it for being more technologically innovative than the overloaded portal sites (like Yahoo!, Excite.com, Lycos, Netscape's Netcenter, AOL.com, Go.com and MSN.com) which at that time, during the growing dot-com bubble, were seen as "the future of the Web", especially by stock market investors.^[11]

In March 1999, the company moved into offices at 165 University Avenue in Palo Alto, home to several other noted Silicon Valley technology startups.^[12] After quickly outgrowing two other sites, the company leased a complex of buildings in Mountain View at 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway from Silicon Graphics (SGI) in 1999.^[13] The company has remained at this location ever since, and the complex has since become known as the Googleplex (a play on the word googolplex, a 1 followed by a googol of zeros). In 2006, Google bought the property from SGI for $319 million.^[14]

The Google search engine attracted a loyal following among the growing number of Internet users, who liked its simple design.^[15] In 2000, Google began selling advertisements associated with search keywords.^[1] The ads were text-based to maintain an uncluttered page design and to maximize page loading speed.^[1] Keywords were sold based on a combination of price bid and click-throughs, with bidding starting at $.05 per click.^[1] This model of selling keyword advertising was pioneered by Goto.com (later renamed Overture Services, before being acquired by Yahoo! and rebranded as Yahoo! Search Marketing).^[16]^[17]^[18] While many of its dot-com rivals failed in the new Internet marketplace, Google quietly rose in stature while generating revenue.^[1]

Google's declared code of conduct is "Don't be evil", a phrase which they went so far as to include in their prospectus (aka "red herring" or "S-1") for their IPO, noting, "We believe strongly that in the long term, we will be better served — as shareholders and in all other ways — by a company that does good things for the world even if we forgo some short term gains."

The Google site often includes humorous features such as cartoon modifications of the Google logo to recognize special occasions and anniversaries.^[19] Known as "Google Doodles", most have been drawn by Google's international webmaster, Dennis Hwang.^[20] Not only may decorative drawings be attached to the logo, but the font design may also mimic a fictional or humorous language such as Star Trek Klingon and Leet.^[21] The logo is also notorious among web users for April Fool's Day tie-ins and jokes about the company.

Financing and initial public offering

The first funding for Google as a company was secured in August 1998 in the form of a $100,000USD contribution from Andy Bechtolsheim, co-founder of Sun Microsystems, given to a corporation which did not yet exist.^[22]

On June 7th, 1999, a round of equity funding totalling $25 million was announced^[23]; the major investors being rival venture capital firms Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Sequoia Capital.^[22]

In October 2003, while discussing a possible initial public offering of shares (IPO), Microsoft approached the company about a possible partnership or merger.^{[citation needed]} However, no such deal ever materialized. In January 2004, Google announced the hiring of Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group to arrange an IPO. The IPO was projected to raise as much as $4 billion.

On April 29, 2004, Google made an S-1 form SEC filing for an IPO to raise as much as $2,718,281,828. This alludes to Google's corporate culture with a touch of mathematical humor as e ≈ 2.718281828. April 29 was also the 120th day of 2004, and according to section 12(g) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, "a company must file financial and other information with the SEC 120 days after the close of the year in which the company reaches $10 million in assets and/or 500 shareholders, including people with stock options."^[24] Google has stated in its annual filing for 2004 that every one of its 3,021 employees, "except temporary employees and contractors, are also equity holders, with significant collective employee ownership", so Google would have needed to make its financial information public by filing them with the SEC regardless of whether or not they intended to make a public offering. As Google stated in the filing, their, "growth has reduced some of the advantages of private ownership. By law, certain private companies must report as if they were public companies. The deadline imposed by this requirement accelerated our decision." The SEC filing revealed that Google turned a profit every year since 2001 and earned a profit of $105.6 million on revenues of $961.8 million during 2003.

In May 2004, Google officially cut Goldman Sachs from the IPO, leaving Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse First Boston as the joint underwriters. They chose the unconventional way of allocating the initial offering through an auction (specifically, a "Dutch auction"), so that "anyone" would be able to participate in the offering. The smallest required account balances at most authorized online brokers that are allowed to participate in an IPO, however, are around $100,000. In the run-up to the IPO the company was forced to slash the price and size of the offering, but the process did not run into any technical difficulties or result in any significant legal challenges. The initial offering of shares was sold for $85 a piece. The public valued it at $100.34 at the close of the first day of trading, which saw 22,351,900 shares change hands.

Google's initial public offering took place on August 19, 2004. A total of 19,605,052 shares were offered at a price of $85 per share.^[25] Of that, 14,142,135 (another mathematical reference as √2 ≈ 1.4142135) were floated by Google and 5,462,917 by selling stockholders. The sale raised US$1.67 billion, and gave Google a market capitalization of more than $23 billion.^[26] The vast majority of Google's 271 million shares remained under Google's control. Many of Google's employees became instant paper millionaires. Yahoo!, a competitor of Google, also benefited from the IPO because it owns 2.7 million shares of Google.^[27]

The company is listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the ticker symbol GOOG.

Growth

The first iteration of Google production servers was built with inexpensive hardware and was designed to be very fault-tolerant

In February 2003, Google acquired Pyra Labs, owner of Blogger, a pioneering and leading web log hosting website. Some analysts considered the acquisition inconsistent with Google's business model. However, the acquisition secured the company's competitive ability to use information gleaned from blog postings to improve the speed and relevance of articles contained in a companion product to the search engine, Google News.

At its peak in early 2004, Google handled upwards of 84.7% of all search requests on the World Wide Web through its website and through its partnerships with other Internet clients like Yahoo!, AOL, and CNN. In February 2004, Yahoo! dropped its partnership with Google, providing an independent search engine of its own. This cost Google some market share, yet Yahoo!'s move highlighted Google's own distinctiveness, and today the verb "to google" has entered a number of languages (first as a slang verb and now as a standard word), meaning, "to perform a web search" (a possible indication of "Google" becoming a genericized trademark).

Analysts speculate that Google's response to its separation from Yahoo! will be to continue to make technical and visual enhancements to personalized searches, using the personal data that is gathering from orkut, Gmail, and Google Product Search to produce unique results based on the user. Frequently, new Google enhancements or products appear in its inventory. Google Labs, the experimental section of Google.com, helps Google maximize its relationships with its users by including them in the beta development, design and testing stages of new products and enhancements of already existing ones.^[28]

After the IPO, Google's stock market capitalization rose greatly and the stock price more than quadrupled. On August 19, 2004 the number of shares outstanding was 172.85 million while the "free float" was 19.60 million (which makes 89% held by insiders). In January 2005 the number of shares outstanding was up 100 million to 273.42 million, 53% of that was held by insiders, which made the float 127.70 million (up 110 million shares from the first trading day). The two founders are said to hold almost 30% of the outstanding shares. The actual voting power of the insiders is much higher, however, as Google has a dual class stock structure in which each Class B share gets ten votes compared to each Class A share getting one. Page says in the prospectus that Google has, "a dual class structure that is biased toward stability and independence and that requires investors to bet on the team, especially Sergey and me." The company has not reported any treasury stock holdings as of the Q3 2004 report.

On June 1, 2005, Google shares gained nearly four percent after Credit Suisse First Boston raised its price target on the stock to $350. On that same day, rumors circulated in the financial community that Google would soon be included in the S&P 500.^[29] When companies are first listed on the S&P 500 they typically experience a bump in share price due to the rapid accumulation of the stock within index funds that track the S&P 500. The rumors, however, were premature and Google was not added to the S&P 500 until 2006. Nevertheless, on June 7, 2005, Google was valued at nearly $52 billion, making it one of the world's biggest media companies by stock market value.

On August 18, 2005 (one year after the initial IPO), Google announced that it would sell 14,159,265 (another mathematical reference as π ≈ 3.14159265) more shares of its stock to raise money. The move would double Google's cash stockpile to $7 billion. Google said it would use the money for "acquisitions of complementary businesses, technologies or other assets".^[30]

Additionally, Google has also recently formed a partnership with Sun Microsystems to help share and distribute each other's technologies. As part of the partnership Google will hire employees to help in the open source office program OpenOffice.org.^[31]

With Google's increased size comes more competition from large mainstream technology companies. One such example is the rivalry between Microsoft and Google.^[32] Microsoft has been touting its MSN Search engine to counter Google's competitive position. Furthermore, the two companies are increasingly offering overlapping services, such as webmail (Gmail vs. Hotmail), search (both online and local desktop searching), and other applications (for example, Microsoft's Windows Live Local competes with Google Earth). Some have even suggested that in addition to an Internet Explorer replacement Google is designing its own Linux-based operating system called Google OS to directly compete with Microsoft Windows. There were also rumors of a Google web browser, fueled much by the fact that Google is the owner of the domain name "gbrowser.com". These were later proven when google released Google Chrome. This corporate feud is most directly expressed in hiring offers and defections. Many Microsoft employees who worked on Internet Explorer have left to work for Google. This feud boiled over into the courts when Kai-Fu Lee, a former vice-president of Microsoft, quit Microsoft to work for Google. Microsoft sued to stop his move by citing Lee's non-compete contract (he had access to much sensitive information regarding Microsoft's plans in China).

Google and Microsoft reached a settlement out of court on 22 December 2005, the terms of which are confidential.^[33]

Click fraud has also become a growing problem for Google's business strategy. Google's CFO George Reyes said in a December 2004 investor conference that "something has to be done about this really, really quickly, because I think, potentially, it threatens our business model."^[34] Some have suggested that Google is not doing enough to combat click fraud. Jessie Stricchiola, president of Alchemist Media, called Google, "the most stubborn and the least willing to cooperate with advertisers", when it comes to click fraud.

While the company's primary market is in the web content arena, Google has also recently began to experiment with other markets, such as radio and print publications. On January 17, 2006, Google announced that it had purchased the radio advertising company dMarc, which provides an automated system that allows companies to advertise on the radio.^[35] This will allow Google to combine two advertising media—the Internet and radio—with Google's ability to laser-focus on the tastes of consumers. Google has also begun an experiment in selling advertisements from its advertisers in offline newspapers and magazines, with select advertisements in the Chicago Sun-Times.^[36] They have been filling unsold space in the newspaper that would have normally been used for in-house advertisements.

During the third quarter 2005 Google Conference Call, Eric Schmidt said, "We don't do the same thing as everyone else does. And so if you try to predict our product strategy by simply saying well so and so has this and Google will do the same thing, it's almost always the wrong answer. We look at markets as they exist and we assume they are pretty well served by their existing players. We try to see new problems and new markets using the technology that others use and we build."

After months of speculation, Google was added to the Standard & Poor's 500 index (S&P 500) on March 31, 2006.^[37] Google replaced Burlington Resources, a major oil producer based in Houston that had been acquired by ConocoPhillips.^[38]. The day after the announcement Google's share price rose by 7%^[39].

Over the course of the past decade, Google has become quite well known for its corporate culture and innovative, clean products, and has had a major impact on online culture. In July 2006, the verb, "to google", was officially added to both the Merriam Webster Collegiate Dictionary as well as the Oxford English Dictionary, meaning, "to use the Google search engine to obtain information on the Internet."^[40]^[41]

Philanthropy

In 2004, Google formed a non-profit philanthropic wing, Google.org, giving it a starting fund of $1 billion.^[42] The express mission of the organization is to help with the issues of climate change (see also global warming), global public health, and global poverty. Among its first projects is to develop a viable plug-in hybrid electric vehicle that can attain 100 mpg. The current director is Dr. Larry Brilliant.^[43]

Acquisitions

Since 2001, Google has acquired several small start-up companies, often consisting of innovative teams and products. One of the earlier companies that Google bought was Pyra Labs. They were the creators of Blogger, a weblog publishing platform, first launched in 1999. This acquisition led to many premium features becoming free. Pyra Labs was originally formed by Evan Williams, yet he left Google in 2004. In early 2006, Google acquired Upstartle, a company responsible for the online collaborative word processor, Writely. The technology in this product was combined with Google Spreadsheets to become Google Docs & Spreadsheets.

On October 9, 2006, Google announced that it would buy the popular online video site YouTube for $1.65 billion.^[44] The brand, YouTube, will continue to exist, and will not merge with Google Video. Meanwhile, Google Video signed an agreement with Sony BMG Music Entertainment and the Warner Music Group, for both companies to deliver music videos to the site.^[45] The deal was finalized by November 13.^[46]

On October 31, 2006, Google announced that it had purchased JotSpot, a company that helped pioneer the market for collaborative, web-based business software to bolster its position in the online document arena. ^[47]

On March 17, 2007, Google announced its acquisition of two more companies. The first is Gapminder's Trendalyzer software, a company that specializes in developing information technology for provision of free statistics in new visual and animated ways^[48] On the same day, Google also announced its acquisition of Adscape Media, a small in-game advertising company based in San Francisco, California.^[49]

Google also acquired PeakStream Technologies.

Partnerships

Google has worked with several corporations, in order to improve production and services.

On September 28, 2005, Google announced a long-term research partnership with NASA which would involve Google building a 1-million square foot R&D center at NASA's Ames Research Center. NASA and Google are planning to work together on a variety of areas, including large-scale data management, massively distributed computing, bio-info-nano convergence, and encouragement of the entrepreneurial space industry. The new building would also include labs, offices, and housing for Google engineers.^[50] In October 2006, Google formed a partnership with Sun Microsystems to help share and distribute each other's technologies. As part of the partnership Google will hire employees to help the open source office program OpenOffice.org.^[51]

Time Warner's AOL unit and Google unveiled an expanded partnership on December 21, 2005, including an enhanced global advertising partnership and a $1 billion investment by Google for a 5% stake in AOL.^[52] As part of the collaboration, Google plans to work with AOL on video search and offer AOL's premium-video service within Google Video. This did not allow users of Google Video to search for AOL's premium-video services. Display advertising throughout the Google network will also increase.

In August 2003, Google signed a $900 million offer with News Corp.'s Fox Interactive Media unit to provide search and advertising on MySpace and other News Corp. websites including IGN, AmericanIdol.com, Fox.com, and Rotten Tomatoes, although Fox Sports is not included as a deal already exists between News Corp. and MSN.^[53] ^[54]

On 6 December 2006, British Sky Broadcasting released details of a Sky and Google alliance.^[55] This includes a feature where Gmail will link with Sky and host a mail service for Sky, incorporating the email domain "@sky.com".

In January 2009, Google announced a partnership with the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, allowing the Pope to have his own channel on YouTube. ^[56]

New mobile top-level domain

In coordination with several other major corporations, including Microsoft, Nokia, Samsung, and Ericsson, Google provided financial support in the launch of the .mobi top level domain created specifically for the mobile internet, stating that it is supporting the new domain extension to help set the standards that will define the future of mobile content and improve the experience of Google users.^[57] In early 2006, Google launched Google.mobi, a mobile search portal offering several Google mobile products, including stripped-down versions of its applications and services for mobile users.^[58] On September 17, 2007, Google launched, "Adsense for Mobile", a service to its publishing partners providing the ability to monetize their mobile websites through the targeted placement of mobile text ads.^[59] Also in September, Google acquired the mobile social networking site, Zingku.mobi, to "provide people worldwide with direct access to Google applications, and ultimately the information they want and need, right from their mobile devices."^[60]

Legal battles

Gonzalez v. Google

On Wednesday, January 18, 2006, the U.S. Justice Department filed a motion to compel in United States district court in San Jose seeking a court order that would compel search engine company Google Inc. to turn over, "a multi-stage random sample of one million URL’s", from Google’s database, and a computer file with, "the text of each search string entered onto Google’s search engine over a one-week period (absent any information identifying the person who entered such query)."^[61] Google maintains that their policy has always been to assure its users privacy and anonymity, and challenged the subpoena. On March 18, 2006, a federal judge ruled that while Google must surrender 50,000 random URLs, the Department of Justice did not meet the necessary burden to force Google to disclose any search terms entered by its users.

ERA Four developments COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY

2009-05-03T18:23:00.002+07:00

Can not be denied that one of the main causes of the occurrence of the coming era of globalization is faster than all of the allegations was that the rapid development of information technology. Implementation of the Internet, electronic commerce, electronic data interchange, virtual office, telemedicine, intranet, and others have been through the physical boundaries between countries. Merger between telecommunications with computer technology have produced a revolution in the field of information systems. Data or information on the antiquity must take many days to be processed before sent to the other side of the world, this can be done in seconds.

Not excessive when one of the IBM experts with the development of automotive as follows: "if the world of automotive experience fast progress of information technology, at this time could have produced a car based diesel fuel, which can be run maximum speed up to 10,000 km / hr, with the purchase price only about 1 U.S. dollar! ". The micro, there are enough interesting things to learn, that is how the evolution of information technology have significantly affect competition between companies in the world, especially in the services sector. In general, there are four periods or eras of information system development, starting from the first computer to found at this time. Fourth era is (Cash et.al., 1992) occurred not only because it triggered by the development of computer technology in such a rapid, but also supported by new theories about the modern management of the company. Management experts and organizations such as Peter Drucker, Michael Hammer, Porter, is coloring the views of the management of information technology in the modern era. It is therefore understandable that many companies, especially in developing countries (third world), which is still difficult new theories on management, organization, and information technology because it is still stick factors local culture or behavior that affect the local resources human beings. Not so often wonder if I still found the company with computer equipment that modern, but is still used as instruments of administrative notabene use of the computer era is the first in the world in the early 1960s.

ERA computerization
This period begins around 1960 when the Mainframe and mini computer companies like IBM introduced to the industry. Ability to calculate quickly cause such a lot of companies that utilize for the purpose of data processing (data processing). Use of computers in this period aimed to increase efficiency, as proven to work, the computer is much more efficient (in terms of time and cost) compared with hiring in tens HR for similar things. In the era, the atmosphere has not been seen in such a tight competition. The number of companies are still relatively small. Most of the large companies are not direct "monopolize certain markets, because there are no competitors that means. Almost all large companies are moving in the field of infrastructure (electricity and telecommunications) and mining at the time to buy computer equipment to assist the day-to-day administration. Organization needs the most time on the computer when it is back to the administration office, mainly related to accounting and finance. On the other hand, the ability to do the calculation Mainframe complex also used to help companies complete the problem-technical operational problem, such as simulation-simulation calculations on the mining and manufacturing industries.

ERA INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Advances in technology combined with a digital telecommunications have brought the computer to enter the time-period of "revolution"-it. In the early 1970's, technology, PC or Personal Computer was introduced as an alternative start of a mini computer. With a set of computers that can be put in the work table (desktop), a manager or engineers can obtain data or information which have been processed by the computer (with a speed that is almost the same as the speed of a mini computer, even Mainframe). Use computers in the company not only to improve efficiency, but more of a process to support a more effective workplace. Unlike in the era of computerization where the computer only to "private property" Division EDP (Electronic Data Processing)
company, in this era of both individuals in the organization can take advantage of computer sophistication, such as to prepare a database, spreadsheet, and data processing (end-user computing). Computer usage among the company's increasingly popularity, especially with the supported nature of competition has changed from monopoli a free market. Indirectly, the company has been utilizing computer technology is very efficient and effective than companies that are still part of the process is managed manually. In the era of the computer enters this new phase, namely as a facility that can provide competitive advantage for companies, especially those engaged in the service or services.

Theories of modern management organization started intensively introduced in the early 1980s. One theory of the most learned and applied is about the management changes (change management). Almost all the theoretical framework of change management emphasized the importance of information technology as one of the main components that must be considered by companies that want to win in business competition. Unlike the two previous era that put more emphasis on the elements of technology, in this era of change management that is more emphasized information system, where computer and information technology is a component of the system. The key to the success of companies in the era of 1980s is the creation and control of information quickly and accurately. Information in the company as dianalogikan blood circulation in the blood of man which must always flow with the regular, rapid, ongoing, to places that need it (strategic). Emphasized by some management experts, that informasilah of the company that has competitive advantage in the macro environment "regulated free market." In this period, the philosophical change from the traditional company to a modern company located on the management to see how the performance of key companies. Traditional organizational structure of the company see as the key measurement of performance, so that everything is measured based on the hierarchical divisions or departments. In modern organizational theory, where free competition has caused customers must choose the clever-clever and diverse products in the market, the creation of products or services (the provision of services) to customers is a key company performance. This condition is often associated with the management of the terms such as "market driven" or "customer base company" is essentially the same, namely the company's performance will be assessed from the satisfaction of customers. It is clear in the new format of competition, the role of computers and information technology, which combined with other components such as processes, procedures, organizational structure, human resources, corporate culture, management, and other related components, in the form of better information systems, is one of the key strategic success of the company.

Can not be denied that customer satisfaction lies in the quality of services. Basically, a customer in selecting the product or service need, the company will seek to sell products or services: cheaper (cheaper), better (better), and faster (faster). Is the role of information systems as a major component in providing competitive benefits of the company. Therefore, the key to the performance of the company is in the process that occurs both in the company (back office) and the jog directly with customers (front office). With the focus on the creation process (business process) is efficient, effective, and are okay with a company will have a reliable performance. No wonder that in the era of 1980 until the early 1990s to many companies that make BPR (BusinessProcess Reengineering), structural, implementation of ISO-9000, TQM implementation, installation and
the corporate information systems (SAP, Oracle, BAAN), and others. Utilization of information technology looks very dominate in every program management changes made companies

Era of globalization INFORMATION
Many books that have not explicitly enter the last era in the history of the evolution of information technology. The phenomenon is visible is that since mid-1980s, the development of the field of information technology (computers and telecommunications) in such a rapid, so that if the graphic is described, the progress that's going to be exponentially. When an international seminar on the Internet held in San Francisco in 1996, information technology practitioners who previously worked together in research to introduce the Internet to the industry is fairly claim that they never suspect the internet will be like this. Ibaratnya they see that the seed is planted tree magic, which suddenly split itself into a giant tree of the high-pitched. Difficult to found a theory that can explain all the phenomena that occurred since the early 1990s, but the fact that there could be as follows:
Nothing can hold lajunya development of information technology. Existence has been a border-line between the countries in terms of information flow. There is no country that is able to prevent flowing information from or to foreign countries, because of restrictions between countries is not known in the virtual world of computer. Application of technologies such as LAN, WAN, GlobalNet, Intranet, Internet, Ekstranet, the day the more evenly and be entrenched in the community. Proven very difficult to determine the appropriate legal device and effective to prevent all things related to the creation and flow of information. Companies had also not bound by the limits of physical again. Through the virtual world of computer, someone can find customers in the whole society of the world connected to the Internet network. Difficult to count the amount of money or investment that flows freely through the Internet network. Trade transactions can easily be done in cyberspace through electronic transaction with the draw electronic money.
Not rare that the company must eventually return defines the vision and mission of the business, especially a romp in the field of services. Convenience-ease of the device offered a sophisticated information technology has changed the management company so that the mindset is not that rare company change stir work other sectors. For third world countries or the developing, dilemmas about the use of information technology greatly felt. A hand in many companies are not ready because the structure of culture or to its human resources, while at the other big investment should be issued for purchase of information technology devices. Does not have information technology, does not mean the company can compete with other multi-national, alias must roll mats.

The last thing most of the management puzzle is the fact that the business environment in which there is currently such a dynamic and often changed. Changes that occur not only as the impact that such a tight competition, but because of external factors such as political (democracy), economic (the crisis), social, cultural (reform), which does not directly result in policies and new regulations the company must be obeyed. Operationally, of course, this phenomenon is very difficult for practitioners of information technology in preparing the system. Not rare in the middle of the construction of information systems, change occurs so that the needs analysis should be held back against the system that will be built. With the look of this, clearly visible akan needs new information technology that is suitable for the company, the technology is capable of adaptive change. Practitioners of the challenges ahead with the products, application-based objects, such as oop (Object Oriented Programming), OODBMS (Object Oriented Database Management System), Object Technology, Distributed Object, and so forth.

CHANGES AS paradigm TERMS
From fourth on the era, seen how the nature of competition and progress in information technology since used in the computer industry, to the closely related and the other one. Entering the century of information means to enter the world with new technology, information technology. Practice of information technology means seoptimum may need to change mindset. Changing mindset is very difficult to do, basically because "people do not like to change". If the current world advanced and neighboring countries Indonesia already has a special commitment to take part in the creation of the components of information system, how about Indonesia? Still want to become a consumer country? Or have become a country capable of producing? At least, that there must be first in every human is a willingness to change. Without a "willingness to change", is very imposible of Indonesia could take advantage of information technology to rebuild a nation destroyed swallowed a crisis at this time.

History of Microsoft Windows

2009-05-03T18:09:00.002+07:00

In 1983 Microsoft announced the development of Windows, a graphical user interface (GUI) for its own operating system (MS-DOS), which had shipped for IBM PC and compatible computers since 1981. Since then, Microsoft has shipped many versions of Windows, and the product line has changed from a GUI product to a modern operating system.

Early history: an expansion of MS-DOS

Early Windows logo

Main articles: Windows 1.0, Windows 2.0, and Windows 2.1x

The first independent version of Microsoft Windows, version 1.0, released on 20 November 1985, achieved little popularity. It was originally going to be called "Interface Manager" but Rowland Hanson, the head of marketing at Microsoft, convinced the company that the name would be more appealing to consumers. Windows 1.0 was not a complete operating system, but rather an "operating environment" that extended MS-DOS, and shared the latter's inherent flaws and problems. The first version of Microsoft Windows included a simple graphics painting program called Windows Paint, Windows Write, a simple word processor, an appointment "calendar", a "cardfiler", a "Microsoft notepad", a "clock", a " control panel", a "computer terminal", "Clipboard", and RAM driver. It also included the MS-DOS Executive and a game called Reversi.

Microsoft had worked with Apple Computer to develop several Desk Accessories and other minor pieces of software that were included with early Macintosh system software. As part of the related business negotiations, Microsoft had licensed certain aspects of the Macintosh user interface from Apple; in later litigation, a district court summarized these aspects as "screen displays". In the development of Windows 1.0, Microsoft intentionally limited its borrowing of certain GUI elements from the Macintosh user interface, in order to comply with its license.

For example, windows were only displayed "tiled" on the screen; that is, they could not overlap or overlie one another. There was no trash can icon with which to delete files, since Apple claimed ownership of the rights to that paradigm.

Microsoft Windows version 2 came out on 9 December 1987, and proved slightly more popular than its predecessor. Much of the popularity for Windows 2.0 came by way of its inclusion as a "run-time version" with Microsoft's new graphical applications, Excel and Word for Windows. They could be run from MS-DOS, executing Windows for the duration of their activity, and closing down Windows upon exit.

Microsoft Windows received a major boost around this time when Aldus PageMaker appeared in a Windows version, having previously run only on Macintosh. Some computer historians date this, the first appearance of a significant and non-Microsoft application for Windows, as the beginning of the success of Windows.

Versions 2.0x used the real-mode memory model, which confined it to a maximum of 1 megabyte of memory. In such a configuration, it could run under another multitasker like DESQview, which used the 286 Protected Mode.

Later, two new versions were released: Windows/286 2.1 and Windows/386 2.1. Like previous versions of Windows, Windows/286 2.1 used the real-mode memory model, but was the first version to support the "High Memory Area|HMA". Windows/386 2.1 had a protected mode kernel with LIM-standard EMS emulation, the predecessor to XMS which would finally change the topology of IBM PC computing. All Windows and DOS-based applications at the time were real mode, running over the protected mode kernel by using the virtual 8086 mode, which was new with the 80386 processor.

Version 2.03, and later 3.0, faced challenges from Apple over its overlapping windows and other features Apple charged mimicked the ostensibly copyrighted "look and feel" of its operating system and "embodie[d] and generated a copy of the Macintosh" in its OS. Judge William Schwarzer dropped all but 10 of Apple's 189 claims of copyright infringement, and ruled that most of the remaining 10 were over uncopyrightable ideas.

Success with Windows 3.0

Windows 3.0 screenshot.

Main article: Windows 3.0

Microsoft Windows scored a significant success with Windows 3.0, released in 1990. In addition to improved capabilities given to native applications, Windows also allowed users to better multitask older MS-DOS based software compared to Windows/386, thanks to the introduction of virtual memory.

Windows 3.0's user interface was finally a serious competitor to the user interface of the Macintosh computer. PCs had improved graphics by this time, due to VGA video cards, and the Protected/Enhanced mode allowed Windows applications to use more memory in a more painless manner than their DOS counterparts could. Windows 3.0 could run in Real, Standard, or 386 Enhanced modes, and was compatible with any Intel processor from the 8086/8088 up to the 80286 and 80386. This was the first version to run Windows programs in protected mode, although the 386 enhanced mode kernel was an enhanced version of the protected mode kernel in Windows/386.

A "multimedia" version, Windows 3.0 with Multimedia Extensions 1.0, was released several months later. This was bundled with "multimedia upgrade kits", comprising a CD-ROM drive and a sound card, such as the Creative Labs Sound Blaster Pro. This version was the precursor to the multimedia features available in Windows 3.1 and later, and was part of Microsoft's specification for the Multimedia PC.

The features listed above and growing market support from application software developers made Windows 3.0 wildly successful, selling around 10 million copies in the two years before the release of version 3.1. Windows 3.0 became a major source of income for Microsoft, and led the company to revise some of its earlier plans.

A step sideways: OS/2

OS/2 logo

Main article: OS/2

During the mid to late 1980s, Microsoft and IBM had cooperatively been developing OS/2 as a successor to DOS. OS/2 would take full advantage of the aforementioned Protected Mode of the Intel 80286 processor and up to 16MB of memory. OS/2 1.0, released in 1987, supported swapping and multitasking and allowed running of DOS executables.

A GUI, called the Presentation Manager (PM), was not available with OS/2 until version 1.1, released in 1988. Its API was incompatible with Windows. (Among other things, Presentation Manager placed X,Y coordinate 0,0 at the bottom left of the screen like Cartesian coordinates, while Windows put 0,0 at the top left of the screen like most other computer window systems.) Version 1.2, released in 1989, introduced a new file system, HPFS, to replace the FAT file system.

By the early 1990s, conflicts developed in the Microsoft/IBM relationship. They cooperated with each other in developing their PC operating systems, and had access to each others' code. Microsoft wanted to further develop Windows, while IBM desired for future work to be based on OS/2. In an attempt to resolve this tension, IBM and Microsoft agreed that IBM would develop OS/2 2.0, to replace OS/2 1.3 and Windows 3.0, while Microsoft would develop a new operating system, OS/2 3.0, to later succeed OS/2 2.0.

This agreement soon however fell apart, and the Microsoft/IBM relationship was terminated. IBM continued to develop OS/2, while Microsoft changed the name of its (as yet unreleased) OS/2 3.0 to Windows NT. Both retained the rights to use OS/2 and Windows technology developed up to the termination of the agreement; Windows NT, however, was to be written anew, mostly independently (see below).

After an interim 1.3 version to fix up many remaining problems with the 1.x series, IBM released OS/2 version 2.0 in 1992. This was a major improvement: it featured a new, object-oriented GUI, the Workplace Shell (WPS), that included a desktop and was considered by many to be OS/2's best feature. Microsoft would later imitate much of it in Windows 95. Version 2.0 also provided a full 32-bit API, offered smooth multitasking and could take advantage of the 4 gigabytes of address space provided by the Intel 80386. Still, much of the system still had 16-bit code internally which required, among other things, device drivers to be 16-bit code as well. This was one of the reasons for the chronic shortage of OS/2 drivers for the latest devices. Version 2.0 could also run DOS and Windows 3.0 programs, since IBM had retained the right to use the DOS and Windows code as a result of the breakup.

Windows 3.1 and NT

Microsoft Windows logo (1992-2000)

Windows 3.11 screenshot.

Main articles: Windows 3.1x, Windows NT, and Windows NT 3.1

In response to the impending release of OS/2 2.0, Microsoft developed Windows 3.1, which includes several minor improvements to Windows 3.0 (such as display of TrueType scalable fonts, developed jointly with Apple), but primarily consists of bugfixes and multimedia support. It also excludes support for Real mode, and only runs on an 80286 or better processor. Later Microsoft also released Windows 3.11, a touch-up to Windows 3.1 which includes all of the patches and updates that followed the release of Windows 3.1 in 1992. Around the same time, Microsoft released Windows for Workgroups (WfW), available both as an add-on for existing Windows 3.1 installations and in a version that included the base Windows environment and the networking extensions all in one package. Windows for Workgroups includes improved network drivers and protocol stacks, and support for peer-to-peer networking. One optional download for WfW was the "Wolverine" TCP/IP protocol stack, which allowed for easy access to the Internet through corporate networks. There are two versions of Windows for Workgroups, WfW 3.1 and WfW 3.11. Unlike the previous versions, Windows for Workgroups 3.11 only runs in 386 Enhanced mode, and requires at least an 80386SX processor.

All these versions continued version 3.0's impressive sales pace. Even though the 3.1x series still lacked most of the important features of OS/2, such as long file names, a desktop, or protection of the system against misbehaving applications, Microsoft quickly took over the OS and GUI markets for the IBM PC. The Windows API became the de-facto standard for consumer software.

Meanwhile Microsoft continued to develop Windows NT. The main architect of the system was Dave Cutler, one of the chief architects of VMS at Digital Equipment Corporation (later purchased by Compaq, now part of Hewlett-Packard).^[1] Microsoft hired him in August 1988 to create a successor to OS/2, but Cutler created a completely new system instead. Cutler had been developing a follow-on to VMS at DEC called Mica, and when DEC dropped the project he brought the expertise and around 20 engineers with him to Microsoft. DEC also believed he brought Mica's code to Microsoft and sued.^[2] Microsoft eventually paid $150 million U.S. and agreed to support DEC's Alpha CPU chip in NT.

Windows NT 3.1 (Microsoft marketing wanted Windows NT to appear to be a continuation of Windows 3.1) arrived in Beta form to developers at the July 1992 Professional Developers Conference in San Francisco.^[3] Microsoft announced at the conference its intentions to develop a successor to both Windows NT and Windows 3.1's replacement (code-named Chicago), which would unify the two into one operating system. This successor was codenamed Cairo. In hindsight, Cairo was a much more difficult project than Microsoft had anticipated and, as a result, NT and Chicago would not be unified until Windows XP. Parts of Cairo have still not made it into Windows as of 2009 - specifically, the WinFS file system, which was the much touted Object File System of Cairo. Microsoft announced that they have discontinued the separate release of WinFS for Windows XP and Windows Vista^[4] and will gradually incorporate the technologies developed for WinFS in other products and technologies, notably Microsoft SQL Server.

Driver support was lacking due to the increased programming difficulty in dealing with NT's superior hardware abstraction model. This problem plagued the NT line all the way through Windows 2000. Programmers complained that it was too hard to write drivers for NT, and hardware developers were not going to go through the trouble of developing drivers for a small segment of the market. Additionally, although allowing for good performance and fuller exploitation of system resources, it was also resource-intensive on limited hardware, and thus was only suitable for larger, more expensive machines.

However, these same features made Windows NT perfect for the LAN server market (which in 1993 was experiencing a rapid boom, as office networking was becoming common). NT also had advanced network connectivity options and the efficient NTFS file system. Windows NT version 3.51 was Microsoft's entry into this field, and took away market share from Novell (the dominant player) in the following years.

One of Microsoft's biggest advances initially developed for Windows NT was a new 32-bit API, to replace the legacy 16-bit Windows API. This API was called Win32, and from then on Microsoft referred to the older 16-bit API as Win16. The Win32 API had three main implementations: one for Windows NT, one for Win32s (which was a subset of Win32 which could be used on Windows 3.1 systems), and one for Chicago. Thus Microsoft sought to ensure some degree of compatibility between the Chicago design and Windows NT, even though the two systems had radically different internal architectures. Windows NT was the first Windows operating system based on a hybrid kernel.

Windows 95

Windows 95 Logo

Windows 95 screenshot.

Main article: Windows 95

After Windows 3.11, Microsoft began to develop a new consumer oriented version of the operating system code-named Chicago. Chicago was designed to have support for 32-bit preemptive multitasking like OS/2 and Windows NT, although a 16-bit kernel would remain for the sake of backward compatibility. The Win32 API first introduced with Windows NT was adopted as the standard 32-bit programming interface, with Win16 compatibility being preserved through a technique known as "thunking". A new GUI was not originally planned as part of the release, although elements of the Cairo user interface were borrowed and added as other aspects of the release (notably Plug and Play) slipped.

Microsoft did not change all of the Windows code to 32-bit; parts of it remained 16-bit (albeit not directly using real mode) for reasons of compatibility, performance and development time. Additionally it was necessary to carry over design decisions from earlier versions of Windows for reasons of backwards compatibility, even if these design decisions no longer matched a more modern computing environment. These factors eventually began to impact the operating system's efficiency and stability.

Microsoft marketing adopted Windows 95 as the product name for Chicago when it was released on 24 August 1995. Microsoft had a double gain from its release: first it made it impossible for consumers to run Windows 95 on a cheaper, non-Microsoft DOS; secondly, although traces of DOS were never completely removed from the system, and a version of DOS would be loaded briefly as a part of the booting process, Windows 95 applications ran solely in 386 Enhanced Mode, with a flat 32-bit address space and virtual memory. These features make it possible for Win32 applications to address up to 2 gigabytes of virtual RAM (with another 2GB reserved for the operating system), and in theory prevented them from inadvertently corrupting the memory space of other Win32 applications. In this respect the functionality of Windows 95 moved closer to Windows NT, although Windows 95/98/ME did not support more than 512 megabytes of physical RAM without obscure system tweaks.

IBM continued to market OS/2, producing later versions in OS/2 3.0 and 4.0 (also called Warp). Responding to complaints about OS/2 2.0's high demands on computer hardware, version 3.0 was significantly optimized both for speed and size. Before Windows 95 was released, OS/2 Warp 3.0 was even shipped preinstalled with several large German hardware vendor chains. However, with the release of Windows 95, OS/2 began to lose market share.

It is probably impossible to choose one specific reason why OS/2 failed to gain much market share. While OS/2 continued to run Windows 3.1 applications, it lacked support for anything but the Win32s subset of Win32 API (see above). Unlike with Windows 3.1, IBM did not have access to the source code for Windows 95 and was unwilling to commit the time and resources to emulate the moving target of the Win32 API. IBM also introduced OS/2 into the United States v. Microsoft case, blaming unfair marketing tactics on Microsoft's part, but many people would probably agree that IBM's own marketing problems and lack of support for developers contributed at least as much to the failure.^{[original research?]}

Microsoft went on to release five different versions of Windows 95:

Windows 95 - original release
Windows 95 A - included Windows 95 OSR1 slipstreamed into the installation.
Windows 95 B - (OSR2) included several major enhancements, Internet Explorer (IE) 3.0 and full FAT32 file system support.
Windows 95 B USB - (OSR2.1) included basic USB support.
Windows 95 C - (OSR2.5) included all the above features, plus IE 4.0. This was the last 95 version produced.

OSR2, OSR2.1, and OSR2.5 were not released to the general public, rather, they were available only to OEMs that would preload the OS onto computers. Some companies sold new hard drives with OSR2 preinstalled (officially justifying this as needed due to the hard drive's capacity).

The first Microsoft Plus! add-on pack was sold for Windows 95.

Windows NT 4.0

Windows NT logo

Main article: Windows NT 4.0

Microsoft released Windows NT 4.0, which features the new Windows 95 interface on top of the Windows NT kernel. (a patch was available for developers to make NT 3.51 use the new UI, but it was quite buggy).

Windows NT 4.0 came in four versions:

Windows NT 4.0 Workstation
Windows NT 4.0 Server
Windows NT 4.0 Server, Enterprise Edition (includes support for 8-way SMP and clustering)
Windows NT 4.0 Terminal Server

Windows 98

Windows 98 logo

Windows 98 screenshot.

Main article: Windows 98

On 25 June 1998, Microsoft released Windows 98, which was widely regarded as a minor revision of Windows 95, but generally found to be more stable and reliable than its 1995 predecessor. It included new hardware drivers and better support for the FAT32 file system which allows support for disk partitions larger than the 2 GB maximum accepted by Windows 95. The USB support in Windows 98 is far superior to the token, unreliable support provided by the OEM editions of Windows 95. It also controversially integrated the Internet Explorer browser into the Windows GUI and Windows Explorer file manager, prompting the opening of the United States v. Microsoft case, dealing with the question of whether Microsoft was abusing its hold on the PC operating system market to unfairly compete with companies such as Netscape.

In 1999, Microsoft released Windows 98 Second Edition, an interim release whose most notable feature was the addition of Internet Connection Sharing, which was a form of network address translation, allowing several machines on a LAN (Local Area Network) to share a single Internet connection. Hardware support through device drivers was increased. Many minor problems present in the original Windows 98 were found and fixed which make it, according to many, the most stable release of Windows 9x family.

Windows 2000

Windows 2000 logo

Windows 2000 screenshot.

Main article: Windows 2000

Microsoft released Windows 2000, known during its development cycle as Windows NT 5.0, in February 2000. It was successfully deployed both on the server and the workstation markets. Amongst Windows 2000's most significant new features was Active Directory, a near-complete replacement of the NT 4.0 Windows Server domain model, which built on industry-standard technologies like DNS, LDAP, and Kerberos to connect machines to one another. Terminal Services, previously only available as a separate edition of NT 4, was expanded to all server versions. A number of features from Windows 98 were incorporated as well, such as an improved Device Manager, Windows Media Player, and a revised DirectX that made it possible for the first time for many modern games to work on the NT kernel. Windows 2000 is also the last NT-kernel Windows operating system to lack Product Activation.

While Windows 2000 upgrades were available for Windows 95 and Windows 98, it was not intended for home users.^[5] It lacked device drivers for many common consumer devices such as scanners and printers^{[citation needed]}.

Windows 2000 was available in six editions:

Windows 2000 Professional
Windows 2000 Server
Windows 2000 Advanced Server
Windows 2000 Datacenter Server
Windows 2000 Advanced Server Limited Edition
Windows 2000 Datacenter Server Limited Edition

Windows Millennium Edition (Me)

Windows Me logo

Main article: Windows Me

In September 2000, Microsoft introduced Windows Me (Millennium Edition), which upgraded Windows 98 with enhanced multimedia and Internet features. It also introduced the first version of System Restore, which allowed users to revert their system state to a previous "known-good" point in the case of system failure. System Restore was a notable feature that made its way into Windows XP. The first version of Windows Movie Maker was introduced as well.

Windows Me was conceived as a quick one-year project that served as a stopgap release between Windows 98 and Windows XP. Many of the new features were available from the Windows Update site as updates for older Windows versions, (System Restore and Windows Movie Maker were exceptions). As a result, Windows Me was not acknowledged as a unique Operating System along the lines of 95 or 98. Windows Me was widely criticised for serious stability issues, and for lacking real mode DOS support, to the point of being referred to as the "Mistake Edition". Windows Me was the last operating system to be based on the Windows 9x (monolithic) kernel and MS-DOS. It is also the last 32-bit release of Microsoft Windows which does not include Product Activation.

Windows XP

The Windows logo, redesigned with the release of Windows XP, used until 4 December 2006.

Windows XP screenshot - showing the Sample Pictures folder, Sample Music folder, and Control Panel, with the blue Luna scheme and Bliss desktop.

Main article: Windows XP

Windows Server 2003

Main article: Windows Server 2003

On 24 April 2003 Microsoft launched Windows Server 2003, a notable update to Windows 2000 Server encompassing many new security features, a new "Manage Your Server" wizard that simplifies configuring a machine for specific roles, and improved performance. It has the version number NT 5.2. A few services not essential for server environments are disabled by default for stability reasons, most noticeable are the "Windows Audio" and "Themes" services; Users have to enable them manually to get sound or the "Luna" look as per Windows XP. The hardware acceleration for display is also turned off by default, users have to turn the acceleration level up themselves if they trust the display card driver.

December 2005, Microsoft released Windows Server 2003 R2, which is actually Windows Server 2003 with SP1 (Service Pack 1) plus an add-on package. Among the new features are a number of management features for branch offices, file serving, printing and company-wide identity integration.

Windows Server 2003 is available in six editions:

Web Edition (32-bit)
Standard Edition (32 and 64-bit)
Enterprise Edition (32 and 64-bit)
Datacenter Edition (32 and 64-bit)
Small Business Server (32 and 64-bit)
Storage Server (OEM channel only)

Thin client: Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs

Main article: Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs

In July 2006, Microsoft released a thin-client version of Windows XP Service Pack 2, called Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs (WinFLP). It is only available to Software Assurance customers. The aim of WinFLP is to give companies a viable upgrade option for older PCs that are running Windows 95, 98, and Me that will be supported with patches and updates for the next several years. Most user applications will typically be run on a remote machine using Terminal Services or Citrix.

Windows Home Server

Main article: Windows Home Server

Windows Home Server (codenamed Q, Quattro) is a server product based on Windows Server 2003, designed for consumer use. The system was announced on January 7th, 2007 by Bill Gates. Windows Home Server can be configured and monitored using a console program that can be installed on a client PC. Such features as Media Sharing, local and remote drive backup and file duplication are all listed as features.

Windows Vista

Windows Vista logo

Windows Vista, showing its new Aero Glass interface, Welcome Center and Start menu.

Main article: Windows Vista

The current client version of Windows, Windows Vista (codenamed Longhorn) was released on 30 November 2006[1] to business customers, with consumer versions following on 30 January 2007. Windows Vista intended to have enhanced security by introducing a new restricted user mode called User Account Control, replacing the "administrator-by-default" philosophy of Windows XP. Vista also features new graphics features, the Windows Aero GUI, new applications (such as Windows Calendar, Windows DVD Maker and some new games including Chess, Mahjong, and Purble Place)^[6], a revised and more secure version of Internet Explorer, a new version of Windows Media Player, and a large number of underlying architectural changes.

Windows Vista ships in several editions:^[7]

Starter (only available in developing countries)
Home Basic
Home Premium
Business
Enterprise (only available to large businesses and enterprises)
Ultimate (combines both Home Premium and Enterprise)

All editions (except Starter edition) are currently available in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. The biggest advantage of the 64-bit version is breaking the 4 gigabyte memory barrier, which 32-bit computers cannot fully access. In the first year after Vista's release, most installations were still 32-bit, due to poor driver support of the 64-bit version.

Windows Server 2008

Windows Server 2008, released on 27 February 2008, was originally known as Windows Server Codename "Longhorn". Windows Server 2008 builds on the technological and security advances first introduced with Windows Vista, and is significantly more modular than its predecessor, Windows Server 2003. At the Professional Developers Conference (PDC) 2008, Microsoft announced Windows Server 2008 R2, as the server variant of Windows 7. Windows Server 2008 R2 will ship in 64-bit only.

Windows Server 2008 is available in ten editions:

Windows Server 2008 Standard Edition (32-bit and 64-bit)
Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Edition (32-bit and 64-bit)
Windows Server 2008 Datacenter Edition (32-bit and 64-bit)
Windows HPC Server 2008
Windows Web Server 2008 (32-bit and 64-bit)
Windows Storage Server 2008 (32-bit and 64-bit)
Windows Small Business Server 2008 (32-bit and 64-bit)
Windows Essential Business Server 2008 (32-bit and 64-bit)
Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-based Systems
Windows Server 2008 Foundation Server

Windows 7

This article or section contains information about scheduled or expected future software.
The content may change as the software release approaches and more information becomes available.

Windows 7 logo

Main article: Windows 7

Brief History of MS Office

2009-05-03T17:51:00.010+07:00

Long history of travel to Microsoft Office at this time, many changes and additions since the first time the facility was launched on 30 August 1992. Office at that time the application is given the name of Microsoft Office version 3.0. In the Microsoft Office version to include Microsoft Word as word processing, Microsoft Excel for number processing, Microsoft PowerPoint presentation used as a powerful application and Microsoft Mail is used to receive and send email.

Once popular with the Microsoft Office 3.0, in 1995, Microsoft re-launches a Microsoft Office 95 at the same time that Microsoft launched its operating system Microsoft Windows 95. At the operating system is Microsoft Windows total recast version 3.1 and Windows for workgroup 3:11, a significant change in the history of the PC system operais at that time. Pekembangan line with the operating system Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Office continues to own and develop the well-established and continue digandrungi and used by most people in the computer world, including in Indonesia.

Until the year 2000-an Microsoft has launched several versions of Microsoft Office and still remain in use as a mainstay application modern office. Some versions of Microsoft Office that are still widely used at this time, among others, Microsoft Office 2000, Microsoft Office XP (2002) and Microsoft Office 2003.

In fact still a lot of ability to Microsoft Office 2003 still has not been left out by users. However, with developments in technology and the operating system that is also growing, then outside again akan alleged Microsoft launched Microsoft Office 2007 with Windows Vista at the same moment that will be present in the middle of the computer world.

10 Virtual World Famous Brands Of 100 Other Brands

2009-05-03T17:21:00.005+07:00

Brand name or the name of most famous brands and have a high value assets, most often associated with the product popular.

But the first entry in the virtual world in 10 famous brand name of 100 other brands. Google Search one of the company data on the Internet have entered the ranking of 10. Followed by Amazon.com, eBay and Yahoo.

2008 Rank	Country of Origin	Sector	2008 Brand Value ($m)
1	United States	Beverages	66,667
2	United States	Computer Services	59,031
3	United States	Computer Software	59,007
4	United States	Diversified	53,086
5	Finland	Consumer Electronics	35,942
6	Japan	Automotive	34,050
7	United States	Computer Hardware	31,261
8	United States	Restaurants	31,049
9	United States	Media	29,251
10	United States	Internet Services	25,590
11	Germany	Automotive	25,577
12	United States	Computer Hardware	23,509
13	Germany	Automotive	23,298
14	United States	Personal Care	22,689
15	United States	Financial Services	21,940
16	France	Luxury	21,602
17	United States	Computer Services	21,306
18	United States	Tobacco	21,300
19	United States	Financial Services	20,174
20	Japan	Automotive	19,079
21	Republic of Korea	Consumer Electronics	17,689
22	Sweden	Apparel	13,840
23	United States	Computer Software	13,831
24	United States	Computer Hardware	13,724
25	Japan	Consumer Electronics	13,583
26	United States	Beverages	13,249
27	United Kingdom	Financial Services	13,143
28	Switzerland	Beverages	13,056
29	United States	Sporting Goods	12,672
30	United States	Transportation	12,621
31	Germany	Computer Software	12,228
32	United States	Computer Hardware	11,695
33	United States	Alcohol	11,438
34	United States	Financial Services	11,399
35	Sweden	Home Furnishings	10,913
36	Japan	Computer Hardware	10,876
37	United States	Financial Services	10,773
38	United States	Financial Services	10,331
39	United States	Food	9,710
40	Japan	Consumer Electronics	8,772
41	Switzerland	Financial Services	8,740
42	United States	Financial Services	8,696
43	Netherlands	Diversified	8,325
44	Canada	Media	8,313
45	Italy	Luxury	8,254
46	United States	Internet Services	7,991
47	United States	Computer Services	7,948
48	Germany	Diversified	7,943
49	United States	Automotive	7,896
50	United States	Automotive	7,609
51	France	Personal Care	7,508
52	United States	Media	7,193
53	Germany	Automotive	7,047
54	United States	Financial Services	7,022
55	France	Financial Services	7,001
56	United States	Food	6,646
57	United States	Personal Care	6,437
58	United States	Internet Services	6,434
59	United States	Computer Hardware	6,393
60	France	Luxury	6,355
61	United States	Food	6,105
62	Spain	Apparel	5,955
63	Switzerland	Food	5,592
64	United States	Restaurants	5,582
65	United States	Internet Services	5,496
66	France	Food	5,408
67	Germany	Automotive	5,407
68	United States	Diversified	5,288
69	United States	Personal Care	5,264
70	Germany	Sporting Goods	5,072
71	Switzerland	Luxury	4,956
72	Republic of Korea	Automotive	4,846
73	Canada	Consumer Electronics	4,802
74	United States	Personal Care	4,636
75	Germany	Automotive	4,603
76	France	Luxury	4,575
77	United States	Apparel	4,357
78	Japan	Consumer Electronics	4,281
79	Switzerland	Luxury	4,236
80	United States	Luxury	4,208
81	United States	Restaurants	4,097
82	Germany	Financial Services	4,033
83	France	Alcohol	3,951
84	United Kingdom	Energy	3,911
85	United States	Restaurants	3,879
86	Netherlands	Financial Services	3,768
87	United States	Consumer Electronics	3,721
88	United States	Consumer Electronics	3,682
89	United Kingdom	Alcohol	3,590
90	Japan	Automotive	3,588
91	Italy	Luxury	3,585
92	United States	Personal Care	3,582
93	Italy	Automotive	3,527
94	Italy	Luxury	3,526
95	France	Alcohol	3,513
96	United States	Hospitality	3,502
97	Netherlands	Energy	3,471
98	Germany	Personal Care	3,401
99	United States	Transportation	3,359
100	United States	Financial Services	3,338

The Top 10 Software Brands

2009-05-03T17:18:00.001+07:00

Dave Bailey, Computing, Tuesday 21 April 2009 at 14:28:00 Which software and IT sector brands are worth the most? In tough times, IT buyers typically play safe and buy from the best brands.
Marketing analyst group Brand Finance has been poring over the figures, attempting to establish the best brands in IT.
Here are the top 10 software/IT sector brands - excluding hardware.
10.
Norton While security vendor Symantec has become a big player in the software market through a number of acquisitions, its Norton brand is still the jewel in its crown.
Brand value: $3.3bn (£2.3bn).
9.
Xbox Despite all the problems Microsoft has gone through with the actual hardware, Xbox appears to be the world's most popular games console.
Modern real-time online games are a far cry from the non-networked, block-graphic efforts of 25 years ago.
Brand value: $3.9bn 8.
eBay The online marketplace is still the world's most popular auction site, but was sidetracked by its purchase of popular software telephony vendor Skype.
One failed integration project later, eBay is looking to IPO Skype off, but may wait until global markets take a turn for the better.
Brand value: $4.0bn 7.
Yahoo Still hanging in there, despite turning down a near $45bn offer from Microsoft nearly 14 months ago, although recent online rumours are indicating some kind of broader deal on an advertising partnership.
Brand value: $4.7bn.
6.
SAP The only non-US brand making it into the top 10, the German software maker has become synonymous with enterprise applications - although competition from the likes of Oracle and software as a service vendor Salesforce.com remains intense.
Brand value: $6.1bn.
5.
Amazon.com Seattle-based online retailer is still the 800lb gorilla in the business.
But today Amazon is more than simply a bookseller - its Elastic Cloud Compute and Simple Storage Service has seen it become a cloud computing trailblazer.
Brand value: $7.5bn.
4.
Cisco Cisco, not content with dominating the network market, recently announced it is to develop its own blade servers, giving enterprise buyers the potential to buy an end-to-end Cisco platform.
Brand value: $10.8bn.
3.
Oracle This acquisitive company has built its reputation on its enterprise database software - and extremely competitive nature.
Its most recent acquisition, the proposed $7.4bn deal for Sun Microsystems, sees it scoop up Java, Solaris and MySQL.
Founder and chief executive Larry Ellison described the acquisition of Java as the company's most significant software deal yet - quite some claim for a company that has been voraciously sucking up rivals in the past few years.
Brand value: $11.8bn.
2.
Google When a company's name has become a verb, it is a fair bet the brand is well established.
Google's dominance of internet search, and its ability to sell advertising against that, has seen it become one of the world's most valuable brands.
One possible cloud on the horizon has been the global collapse in advertising spending.
Nevertheless, Google remains a formidable operation.
Brand value: $29.3bn.
1.
Microsoft No surprise here, even though the Redmond-based software titan has suffered a rare hiccup with the poor reaction to its Windows Vista operating system - which is probably why Microsoft is moving heaven and earth to get Windows 7 released, to provide a supported alternative to Vista.
Latest news is that the Windows 7 release candidate will be available in May.
Brand value: $30.1bn.