LICENSE

EDIT: Originally this was an April fools joke but if you are crazy enough to use this for anything feel free to use the code under the MIT license.

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 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.

(Signed)

Bill Gates
General Partner, Micro-Soft