As 3D Inspection Systems celebrates its leadership role in innovating inspection solutions over the past 25 years, we also celebrate notable advances in computing and portability technology, and other industry-shaping events.

 B.C.

From early times, innovators pursued easier to use, more compact technology. Centuries passed before technology reached the portability and affordability of today.

 1971

Texas Instruments releases first easily portable electronic calculator.

 1972-
 1974

ATARI founded; Pong released. Microprocessors for computers. ARPANET created, forerunner to Internet.

 1975

Microsoft founded by Bill Gates & Paul Allen

American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI) established. Carl Fowler later became early 410th member.

1976

 1976

Apple Computer, Inc. founded by Steve Wozniak & Steve Jobs. 

 1978-
 1981

Intel introduces new processors. Arcade  game 'Space Invaders' starts video game era. Commodore VIC-20.  MS-DOS/PC-DOS developed.

Carl Fowler begins doing home inspections; tired of spending nights typing, he invests in a KayPro and uses the WordStar word processor.

Florida Association of Building Inspectors, Inc. (FABI). est., with Carl Fowler as one of its founding members.

Carl Fowler serendipitously meets Charles Cubbage, who programs ATARI games, at a party. Charles agrees to write a custom program, which Carl begins using for his inspection reports.

1984

 1982-
 1984

Commodore 64, IBM Compaq Portable, IBM XT, IBM AT released. KayPro II 26-pound "portable" computer released

 1985

Microsoft Windows GUI development starts

National Association of Home Inspectors, Inc. (NAHI) established

Society of Accredited Marine Surveyors  (SAMS) established

1987

 1987

Developed cooperative by IBM and Micosoft as a successor to DOS, IBM releases OS/2, capable of swapping and multitasking, and running of DOS executables.   IBM and Microsoft later part ways.

3D Inspection Systems (Describe-Disclose-Disclaim) began in 1987, as an effort by early home inspection industry leaders to develop the first professional quality, narrative report writing software for the home and building inspection industry. Carl Fowler is primary founder.

 VGA released for PS/2 by IBM.
 

 1988

IBM PS/2 Model 30 286 released, based on 80286 processor and AT bus

 1989

World Wide Web invented by Tim Berners-Lee to benefit physicists, integrating hypertext and the Internet. Widespread popularity and access didn't start until 1993.

GRiD Computing: first pen-based computer.

International Association of Certified Home Inspectors (InterNACHI) est.

1990

 1990

Windows 3.0 introduced, DOS compatible.

 1991

KODAK PROFESSIONAL DCS digital camera debuts. At $20,000-$25,000, fewer then 1000 units sold between 1991-1994.

MS-DOS/PC-DOS 5.0 also released.

 1992

Windows 3.1 sells a million copies in its first 2 months. First retail CD-ROM debuts.

3D Inspection Systems bundles and sells portable GRiD computers pre-loaded with 3D software to inspectors.

 

1993

 1993

Commercial providers allowed to sell internet connections to individuals.

Microsoft.com goes online.  NT begins.

GRiD Convertible Notebooks running Windows 3.11 for mobile use released. Unique design folds screen over keyboard for use as a tablet with special pen.

Apple introduces Newton MessagePad.

 1995

Windows 95 launched by Microsoft.

3D explores digital pictures in reports; Real estate agents highly impressed.

3D features include customizable forms, colored text, report scrolling, application tabs, document features.

1996

 1996

First digital cameras, like the Kodak DC40, finally available at sub-$1000 pricing.

3D Inspection Systems releases its first version designed specifically for Windows95. 

1997

 1997

IBM's Deep Blue beats reigning World Chess Champion, Garry Kasparov, in a full chess match.

Microsoft bails Apple out of serious financial trouble after 18 months of losses, buying 100,000 non-voting shares worth $150 million.

3D Inspection Systems launches first website 

1998

 1998

Apple released iMac, back on road to profitability.

Microsoft released Windows 98, with support for USB and disk partitions greater than 2.1 GB, and far better hardware drivers support.

3D creates mobile software for use on hand-held Pocket PCs to collect field data

2000

 2000

Windows 2000 launches, Windows ME for the home market, Pocket PC 2000 (based on Windows CE 3.0) released.

3D Inspection Systems expands website

2001

 2001

Windows XP released, becoming one of the most popular operating systems in history, and Microsoft's longest flagship operating system.

Windows XP finally merged the NT/2000 and 95/98/ME families together, becoming mainstream for business and consumers alike.

Although Microsoft produced its final service pack for XP in 2008, and officially ended mainstream support in 2009, it is still in use on many computers today.
 

3D’s version 5 single-click “Actions” pane revolutionizes access to favorite documents, forms, summaries, images, standard paragraphs, text, etc.

2002

 2002

Windows "Tablet PC" debuts, with touch screen and handwriting recognition,  nearly eliminating need for a keyboard and mouse.

Mac OS X released

Pocket3D software for Windows Mobile has new interface & form editing capabilities. Version 6 of 3D introduces Client Server option for use with SQL, & 3D website is redesigned 
 

2003

 2003

Windows Mobile 2003 released by Microsoft, starting a new "Windows Mobile" line of PDAs to replace older CE and Pocket PC lineup.

Microsoft also launches Windows Server 2003, a more friendly and performance improving update to Windows Server 2000, descendant of NT.

Apple opens iTunes store.
Skype VoIP goes public.

 

3D Version 7 adds major on-the-fly master form editing capabilities, and images can be inserted from memory directly into Pocket3D.

2004

 2004

 Google introduces Gmail

3D Inspection Systems develops a mobile app for Palm OS, which doesn't succeed due to device fragmentation and Windows Mobile surpassing Palm abilities. Pocket3D now includes bookmarks, inspector notes, etc. 

3D Version 9 brings Office Management abilities to all editions, one-click data Backup, report upload delivery, new program panes, and more. Less expensive Focus solutions introduced for new inspectors and specialized industries.

2005

 2005

Windows Mobile 5.0 released by Microsoft, and is later updated again in 2007 to Windows Mobile 6.  Expanded variety of new PDAs become available.
 

3D Inspection Systems redesigns website

 

2006

 2006

Apple announces Boot Camp, which will allow their users to run the popular Windows XP operating system on their computers.

Amazon.com opens Amazon Web Services (AWS) to provide cloud server space and traffic scalable to businesses with changing needs.

Microsoft releases it's portable media player Zune.

New 3D feature allows printing inspection data in a different order than collected.

2007

 2007

Windows Vista released.

First iPhone unveiled by Apple, exclusive to AT&T in the US, and with private app store.

Version 11 series provides a turning point in new print, PDF indexing, image, and export options, automated sentence completion and observation grouping, and expanded on-the-fly form editing abilities on PDAs.

2008

 2008

Android OS phones introduced, later gaining in popularity 2010 onward with release of version 2.2+

3D website undergoes major renovation consistent with its current design and expands content.

2009

 2009

Windows 7 released. Windows Mobile 6.5.1 brings finger-friendly user interface.

3D Inspection Systems releases new Phone3D mobile app for the clean and easy Windows Phone 7.

New Cloud3D Services allow simple over the air report transfer between devices. 

2010

 2010

iPad first released, popularizing limited-function multimedia tablets.

Windows Phone 7 family released.

First Android tablets also appear.

3D Inspection Systems releases new mobile app for Android phones and tablets.

An untold variety of lightweight tablets are available for easy mobile inspecting, including popular 7" and 10" sized models.  Photos can be taken directly with Android tablets or phones or Windows Phones right into reports.

2011

 2011

Android devices capture #1 spot in global marketshare of all "mobile" OS platforms.

500 million+ licenses Microsoft sold to date is more than all of the Macs, iPhones, iPads, and Android-based devices that have been sold, combined.  Microsoft prepares for Windows 8.

3D Inspection Systems celebrates its Silver Anniversary! After 25 years of leading the inspection reporting software industry, we are proud to continue working hard to implement modern technology to save inspectors time and effort.

Thanks for taking this journey with us down memory lane.

2012

 2012

We look forward to see what new technologies will bring to the table as the decade progresses.

With no other inspection software company as experienced as 3D, our innovations are often imitated, but never quite duplicated!