On its site, Canon is marking the 25th anniversary of the EOS-1.
Two years earlier, Canon had done the unthinkable and abandoned its breech mount FD lens system and cameras in favor of an entirely new electronic approach. It was a bold and controversial move, and I remember some photographers "jumped ship" and went to Nikon.
With this new system, Canon introduced the electronic mount, which was not backward compatible with the FD system. I was a bit surprised that Canon offered no path for its many users to mount their favorite lenses onto the new cameras.
The EOS-1, which was released in 1989, was aimed at the pro photographer. Canon went on to sell massive amounts of its new Rebel SLRs. I remember that tennis pro Andre Agassi was a big part of their marketing campaign.
While Canon irked many of its loyal and long-time users when it abandoned the FD lenses and cameras, the move ended up being the correct one in terms of sales.
Canon has been deeply involved in industry-leading changes, whether you agree with them or not, including the introduction of plastic bodies, plastic lens elements and the division of its lens line into consumer (good enough) and professional (premium). You might be able to argue that Nikon started this with its "E" line for the Nikon EM, although I think there were really just a handful of E lenses.
Canon continues to use the EOS name today with its digital SLRs, although I notice that in some overseas markets, it uses different product names and numbers.