On Fri, 09 Feb 2007 19:50:22 +0000, Roy Schestowitz wrote:
> Didn't Bill take pride in the fact that he collected other people's
> code from the garbage at the back of some universities or
> businesses? On another occasion (captured on video that I watched
> recently), Bill Gates said that the Apple Mac was the best
> computer. It's well known that Gates worked with a Mac in the room
> as he copied it (Linus and Sun manuals is another story).
He's a fucking hypocrite. Happy to steal someone else's IP and
then whine when people steal 'his':
http://www.blinkenlights.com/classiccmp/gateswhine.html
| AN OPEN LETTER TO HOBBYISTS
| By William Henry Gates III
|
| 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
|
|
