The History of Rhino: a few interesting dates

You can find an interesting story in my 3-article series entitled:
Flexible Design and Scripting: A Computational Tale in the Digital Era

Here below are some interesting Rhino/Grasshopper time steps about their evolution (source McNeel.com):

• May 1992 – First meeting with AG. Applied Geometry (AG) came to us for assistance in integrating their AGLib, NURBS geometry library in AutoCAD. AG customers included Alias Research, Spatial, Honda, and Tecnomatix.
• Jul 1992 – Produced prototype in AutoCAD after about three days of work.
• Nov 1992 – McNeel/AG agreement to develop AccuModel, NURBs modeling for AutoCAD. McNeel would do the marketing and AG would do all the development. McNeel would provide AutoCAD development support as needed.
• Nov 1992 – Michael Gibson hired as an intern. He brought Sculptura, a mesh modeller that he had done as a class project.
• Mar 1993 – Sculptura released,
• Mar 1993 – McNeel takes over as the lead on the AccuModel development.
• Jul 1993 – Sculptura 2 prototype ready for NURBS.
• Nov 1993 – Sculptura 2 nicknamed Rhinoceros.
• Jan 1994 – New McNeel/AG agreement. McNeel licensed AGLib from AG and AG was to provide the needed AGLib enhancements and maintenance.
• Apr 1994 – Rhino beta released on the Graphic Alternative BBS. This was our first version of a public beta program.
• May 1994 – Dr. Dale Lear hired from AG. We found that we needed in-house geometry expertise to develop the functionality and usability required by our clients.
• May 1994 – Alias Research agrees to purchase AG. Alias was AG’s largest customer and they felt that one of their advantages was the geometry technology.
• May 1994 – First commercial products completed using AccuModel. Ed Monk & Son Naval Architect released an 82-foot sports fishing boat.
• Jul 1994 – Geometry development begins in earnest. Alias didn’t seem to be interested in the geometry library business.
• Aug 1994 – Sculptura renamed Rhinoceros after we determined that we would not be able to resolve the trademark problems with AccuModel.
• Aug 1994 – Private showing of Rhino at SIGGRAPH.
• Nov 1994 – Sale of AG to Alias final.
• Mar 1995 – McNeel provides Alias with the first installment of geometry technology.
• Jun 1995 – Alias purchased by Silicon Graphics.
• Jun 1995 – McNeel receives the last update of AGLib.
• May 1997 – Last build of AccuModel for AutoCAD. As the Rhino product progressed we decided that it would be better to focus on the Windows version.
• Sep 1997 – 50,000 beta sites and growing fast without any promotional effort on our part.
• Jul 1998 – 100,000 beta sites.
• Jul 1998 – Announced October release at SIGGRAPH.
• Oct 1998 – Rhino version 1.0 released.
• Dec 1998 – First 5,000 shipped.
• Jan 1999 – Japanese version released
• Jan 1999 – First public beta of 1.1 released.
• Jan 1999 – First European reseller meeting in Barcelona.
• Mar 1999 – First third-party book on Rhino published.
• May 1999 – Korean version released.
• Aug 2000 – First public beta of Rhino 2.0 and Flamingo released.
• Aug 2001 – Rhino 2.0 shipped.
• Dec 2001 – Flamingo shipped.
• Nov 2001 – Inside Rhinoceros published.
• Nov 2002 – Rhino 3.0 released.
• Dec 2002 – Flamingo 1.1 released.
• Jul 2003 – Penguin 1.0 released.
• Jul 2004 – Bongo 1.0 released.
• Feb 2007 – Rhino 4.0 released.
• Dec 2007 – Penguin 2.0 released.
• Mar 2008 – Added Grasshopper to Rhino for Windows.
• Sep 2010 – First Rhino FabLab opened.
• Apr 2011 – Online training launched.
• Apr 2012 – Flamingo nXt released.
• Oct 2012 – Rhino 5 for Windows released.
• Jan 2013 – Zoo 5 released (completely rewritten).
• Sep 2013 – Bongo 2.0 released.
• Feb 2015 – Electronic shipping begins worldwide.
• Jun 2015 – Rhino 5 for Mac released.
• Jan 2016 – First beta of Grasshopper for Mac.
• Feb 2018 – Rhino 6 for Windows released.
• Jul 2019 – Rhino 6 for Mac released.
• Nov 2020 – Rhino 7 for Mac and Windows released
• Dec 2020 – Rhino.Inside.Revit released