Symbolics Dead
Symbolics
KindCompany
Founded1980
Defunct1993
StatusDead
FoundersRussell Noftsker
FieldLisp machines
Sourcebitsavers.org ↗
The MIT AI Lab's commercial half — the 3600 series, Genera, and the first .com domain ever registered (symbolics.com, 1985). Bankrupt when workstations killed Lisp hardware.
1960198020002020
Created Symbolics 3600
Founded in 1980 to commercialize the MIT AI Lab's Lisp machine — Noftsker hired most of the lab's hackers, prompting Greenblatt to found rival LMI and Richard Stallman's revenge-hacking years.
The 3600 series was the most advanced development environment ever sold; Genera ran an entire OS in Lisp. Workstations caught up; Symbolics filed Chapter 11 in 1993. symbolics.com, registered March 15, 1985, was the first .com domain ever.