timeline milestones in computer history?

Answer 1

Here's some basics -- see the source link for more.

1835 - Charles Babbage invents "analytical engine", first programmable machine
1943 - ENIAC, first large-scale digital computer developed
1954 - FORTRAN programming language
1957 - Integrated circuits (aka microchips) invented
1965 - Email invented
1969 - ARPANET invented, which eventually grows into the Internet
1977 - Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak produce the Apple II, the first popular pre-built home computer
1979 - First computer bulletin board system (BBS)
1979 - USENET online discussion forums created
1981 - IBM produces the IBM Personal Computer, forerunner of modern PCs
1982 - Compaq creates first portable computer, forerunner of the laptop
1983 - DNS makes standardized domain names possible
1984 - Apple introduces the Macintosh
1985 - First version of Microsoft Windows
1989 - World Wide Web invented
1991 - Linux started
1993 - Doom, first popular real-time networked game
1995 - Sun creates Java, first popular cross-platform language
1996 - ICQ, first IM client
1996 - Microsoft buys Spyglass Mosaic and renames it Internet Explorer
1997 - Personal home pages, corporate websites, online communities become common as Internet becomes accessible to the mainstream
1997 - First portable MP3 player
1999 - Napster created, first major P2P filesharing network
2000 - D-Link produces first consumer Wi-Fi access point

Answer 2

Go to the library and get a good book on this subject and there are many available. I happen to like "The Complete Idiot's Guides" for subjects such as this. It is much safer to read a book than take advice from total strangers on a complex subject like this.