Minecraft wiki entry for Timeline_of_events, associated text: 2 – Notch returns from the trip to the U.S.
10 – Java: Seecret Friday update 9 (Java Edition Alpha v1.1.0) released. Compasses introduced.
13 – Daniel "Kappische" Kaplan joins the Mojang team.[18]
18 – Java: The tenth Seecret Saturday update (Java Edition Alpha v1.1.1) released. Sneaking introduced. Minecraft technically becomes free-to-play for the weekend, due to the login server not working correctly.
23 – Minecraft Classic is available again on Minecraft.net.[19]