First PC Convention

Stealing software

Today in 1976, the World Altair Computer Convention, was held at the Airport Marina Hotel near Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Held over the course of three days (March 26-28), it was the world's first personal computer conference and was an overwhelming success, with 700 people from 46 states and seven countries attending.

The Altair 8800 was a build-it-yourself microcomputer kit designed by MITS (Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems) in 1974. It became a hit among hobbyists after it was featured on the cover of the January 1975 issue of Popular Electronics magazine.

Seeing a copy of the magazine at Harvard Square’s Out-of-Town newsstand, Paul Allen showed it to his high-school friend Bill Gates, a sophomore at Harvard University. Gates then contacted MITS and told them he and others were working on a BASIC interpreter for the Altair 8800. MITS agreed to meet for a demonstration and within a few weeks Gates and Allen developed from scratch a BASIC interpreter for the Altair computer. Gates and Allen founded Microsoft in 1976.

On March 27, 1976, 20-year-old Gates gave the keynote address at the World Altair Computer Convention. His main message? Don’t steal my software. A month earlier, Gates published in MITS’ newsletter an “open letter to Hobbyists.” CNBC:

In the letter, which Gates later would say “really became a cause celebre at the time,” the future billionaire complained about the widespread practice of computer users sharing the software he and Allen had developed without paying for it, calling the practice copyright infringement. Gates argued that in order for quality software to be developed for computers, that developers like himself needed to be paid fairly. Gates included his Albuquerque address at the end of the letter for “anyone who wants to pay up.”