<zitat>
February 3, 1976
An Open Letter to Hobbyists
To me, the most critical thing in the hobby market right now is the
lack of good software courses, books and software itself. Without
good software and an owner who understands programming, a hobby
computer is wasted. Will quality software be written for the hobby
market?
Almost a year ago, Paul Allen and myself, expecting the hobby market
to expand, hired Monte Davidoff and developed Altair BASIC. Though
the initial work took only two months, the three of us have spent
most of the last year documenting, improving and adding features to
BASIC. Now we have 4K, 8K, EXTENDED, ROM and DISK BASIC. The value of
the computer time we have used exceeds $40,000.
The feedback we have gotten from the hundreds of people who say they
are using BASIC has all been positive. Two surprising things are
apparent, however, 1) Most of these "users" never bought BASIC (less
than 10% of all Altair owners have bought BASIC), and 2) The amount
of royalties we have received from sales to hobbyists makes the time
spent on Altair BASIC worth less than $2 an hour.
Why is this? As the majority of hobbyists must be aware, most of you
steal your software. Hardware must be paid for, but software is
something to share. Who cares if the people who worked on it get
paid?
Is this fair? One thing you don't do by stealing software is get back
at MITS for some problem you may have had. MITS doesn't make money
selling software. The royalty paid to us, the manual, the tape and
the overhead make it a break-even operation. One thing you do do is
prevent good software from being written. Who can afford to do
professional work for nothing? What hobbyist can put 3-man years into
programming, finding all bugs, documenting his product and distribute
for free? The fact is, no one besides us has invested a lot of money
in hobby software. We have written 6800 BASIC, and are writing 8080
APL and 6800 APL, but there is very little incentive to make this
software available to hobbyists. Most directly, the thing you do is
theft.
What about the guys who re-sell Altair BASIC, aren't they making
money on hobby software? Yes, but those who have been reported to us
may lose in the end. They are the ones who give hobbyists a bad name,
and should be kicked out of any club meeting they show up at.
I would appreciate letters from any one who wants to pay up, or has a
suggestion or comment. Just write to me at 1180 Alvarado SE, #114,
Albuquerque, New Mexico, 87108. Nothing would please me more than
being able to hire ten programmers and deluge the hobby market with
good software.
Bill Gates
General Partner, Micro-Soft
</zitat>
Da jammerte uns ein gewisser Herr Gates schon vor bald 30 Jahren
vor, dass sein geistiges "Eigentum" nicht respektiert wird. Was er
uns in diesem Brief nicht sagt: Die Basis für seine Arbeit war ein
frei erhältliches Unterrichtsmittel des Dartmouth College (BASIC),
das geistige "Eigentum" anderer notabene. Die Rechenzeit hat
40000$ gekostet, sagt Herr Gates. Ein Jahr früher hatte er der Firma
MITS für ihren Altair-Computer einen BASIC-Interpreter verkauft
welcher gar noch nicht existierte. Was lag also näher, als ein wenig
Rechenzeit der PDP-10 am Aiken Laboratory der Universität Harvard
(wo Herr Gates studierte) "abzuzweigen", um proprietäre Programme
zu schreiben? Nun, die Harvard-Uni war "not amused", da der Rechner
vom Steuerzahler finaziert war. Man stellte Herr Gates vor die Wahl,
die entwickelten Programme unter Public Domain zu stellen oder
aber die Universität zu verlassen. Wenig später tauchte Herr Gates
an der oben genannte Adresse auf.
Wozu dieser Exkurs in die Computergeschichte, fragt ihr?
Nun, um zu unterstreichen, dass Herr Gates schon im zarten Alter
von 20 Jahren keinen Respekt vor dem "Eigentum" anderer Leute
zeigte wenn es ihm in den Kram passte. Und IMHO: Er hat diesen
Respekt auch bis heute nicht gelernt...
checksum
February 3, 1976
An Open Letter to Hobbyists
To me, the most critical thing in the hobby market right now is the
lack of good software courses, books and software itself. Without
good software and an owner who understands programming, a hobby
computer is wasted. Will quality software be written for the hobby
market?
Almost a year ago, Paul Allen and myself, expecting the hobby market
to expand, hired Monte Davidoff and developed Altair BASIC. Though
the initial work took only two months, the three of us have spent
most of the last year documenting, improving and adding features to
BASIC. Now we have 4K, 8K, EXTENDED, ROM and DISK BASIC. The value of
the computer time we have used exceeds $40,000.
The feedback we have gotten from the hundreds of people who say they
are using BASIC has all been positive. Two surprising things are
apparent, however, 1) Most of these "users" never bought BASIC (less
than 10% of all Altair owners have bought BASIC), and 2) The amount
of royalties we have received from sales to hobbyists makes the time
spent on Altair BASIC worth less than $2 an hour.
Why is this? As the majority of hobbyists must be aware, most of you
steal your software. Hardware must be paid for, but software is
something to share. Who cares if the people who worked on it get
paid?
Is this fair? One thing you don't do by stealing software is get back
at MITS for some problem you may have had. MITS doesn't make money
selling software. The royalty paid to us, the manual, the tape and
the overhead make it a break-even operation. One thing you do do is
prevent good software from being written. Who can afford to do
professional work for nothing? What hobbyist can put 3-man years into
programming, finding all bugs, documenting his product and distribute
for free? The fact is, no one besides us has invested a lot of money
in hobby software. We have written 6800 BASIC, and are writing 8080
APL and 6800 APL, but there is very little incentive to make this
software available to hobbyists. Most directly, the thing you do is
theft.
What about the guys who re-sell Altair BASIC, aren't they making
money on hobby software? Yes, but those who have been reported to us
may lose in the end. They are the ones who give hobbyists a bad name,
and should be kicked out of any club meeting they show up at.
I would appreciate letters from any one who wants to pay up, or has a
suggestion or comment. Just write to me at 1180 Alvarado SE, #114,
Albuquerque, New Mexico, 87108. Nothing would please me more than
being able to hire ten programmers and deluge the hobby market with
good software.
Bill Gates
General Partner, Micro-Soft
</zitat>
Da jammerte uns ein gewisser Herr Gates schon vor bald 30 Jahren
vor, dass sein geistiges "Eigentum" nicht respektiert wird. Was er
uns in diesem Brief nicht sagt: Die Basis für seine Arbeit war ein
frei erhältliches Unterrichtsmittel des Dartmouth College (BASIC),
das geistige "Eigentum" anderer notabene. Die Rechenzeit hat
40000$ gekostet, sagt Herr Gates. Ein Jahr früher hatte er der Firma
MITS für ihren Altair-Computer einen BASIC-Interpreter verkauft
welcher gar noch nicht existierte. Was lag also näher, als ein wenig
Rechenzeit der PDP-10 am Aiken Laboratory der Universität Harvard
(wo Herr Gates studierte) "abzuzweigen", um proprietäre Programme
zu schreiben? Nun, die Harvard-Uni war "not amused", da der Rechner
vom Steuerzahler finaziert war. Man stellte Herr Gates vor die Wahl,
die entwickelten Programme unter Public Domain zu stellen oder
aber die Universität zu verlassen. Wenig später tauchte Herr Gates
an der oben genannte Adresse auf.
Wozu dieser Exkurs in die Computergeschichte, fragt ihr?
Nun, um zu unterstreichen, dass Herr Gates schon im zarten Alter
von 20 Jahren keinen Respekt vor dem "Eigentum" anderer Leute
zeigte wenn es ihm in den Kram passte. Und IMHO: Er hat diesen
Respekt auch bis heute nicht gelernt...
checksum