Anno Domini 2006

Background to Anno Domini.

Anno Domini was first released as shareware to the general public on Thursday, 5th January 1995. The program was written in Turbo Pascal for Windows and released on the Windows 3 Operating System for PCs. The program was unique at the time in being able to generate perpetual calendars, events and astronomical data for any year between 1753 and 2153. The first users able to download and try the program for free for a 28 day trial period were those people who had access to the CompuServe network. The program became more widespread in December 1995 after being featured in leading UK computer magazine What PC? and a copy of the program was supplied on the front cover of the magazine. Further features appeared in PC Plus magazine in January 1995 and Personal Computer World in April 1997 when Anno Domini was the featured shareware program. The last 16-bit version of Anno Domni to be released was version 5.01 on the 14th February 1998.

More than three and a half years after the last 16-bit version of Anno Domini was released, a full 32-bit version of the program fully compatible with Windows 95 and Windows 98 operating systems was released on Tuesday, 14th August 2001. Completely rewritten in the Delphi programming language, many new features were introduced such as the Event Editor, Conversions, Clocks and Sundial which still form the heart of the current program today. The 32-bit version was released on the Internet via a new dedicated website, www.anno-domini.net which to this day continues to be the dedicated home of Anno Domini. Users from all over the world could now instantly purchase and register their copy of Anno Domini via the PayPal payment system. The latest version of the program, Anno Domini 2005, was released on the 1st October 2004 with features such high-resolution Sundials, solar/lunar eclipse calculations and countless calendar reports which can now be printed.

Historic Events of 1995.

The Kobe earthquake, the biggest to strike Japan in 47 years measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale caused 6,432 deaths with nearly 27,000 people were injured, and more than 45,000 homes were destroyed. (Jan 17). A nerve gas attack in a Tokyo subway kills eight and injures thousands (March 20). Forrest Gump wins the Academy award for Best Picture with leading actor Tom Hanks picking up the Oscar for Best Actor (Mar 27). A huge car bomb explodes at a government building in Oklahoma City killing 168 people, including 19 children, and injured more than 500 others (Apr 19). American and Russian spacecraft successfully dock in orbit for the first time in 20 years when the US space shuttle Atlantis docks with the Russian MIR Space Station (June 29). Up to 50,000 people have attended a memorial service in the Japanese city of Hiroshima on the 50th anniversary of the first atomic bombing (Aug 6). France explodes a nuclear device in Pacific causing worldwide protests (Sept. 5). Los Angeles jury finds former American Football star O. J. Simpson not guilty of murder charges (Oct. 3). Million Man March draws hundreds of thousands of black men to the US capital Washington (Oct. 16). Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin slain by Jewish extremist at peace rally (Nov. 4). Leaders of Bosnia, Serbia and Croatia sign the Dayton Accord in Paris to end more than three years of bitter conflict. (Dec 14).

History of the Development of Anno Domini (16-Bit): 1995 - 1998

Anno Domini v2.x

Anno Domini v3.x

Anno Domini v4.x

Anno Domini v5.x

Number of alternative world locations increased to seven to compare local times which now showed geodesic distance in either miles or kilometres. Moon Data dialog added showing exact percentage illumination and angle of tilt of the moon in the night sky along with it's altitude, compass position and distance from Earth all updated in real-time. Julian Calendars supported allowing perpetual calendars to be displayed as far back as 1 AD.

History of the Development of Anno Domini (32-Bit): 1998 - 2005 (To Follow!)