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?

Bill Gates’s Open Letter to Hobbyists from the Homebrew Computer Club Newsletter, January 1976. View All Credits. 1 7.1K 13 4. An Open Letter to Hobbyists. To me, the most critical thing in the ...

The Open Letter to Hobbyists was an open letter written by Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft, to early personal computer hobbyists, in which Gates expresses dismay at the rampant copyright infringement taking place in the hobbyist community, particularly with regard to his company's software.

AN OPEN LETTER TO HOBBYISTS. By William Henry Gates III. 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.

Bill Gates' Open Letter to Hobbyists. 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.

The author has the right to send the letter to multiple publications and each can print it. Bill Gates did just that. In addition to Homebrew Computer Club Newsletter, the letter was printed in the February 1976 issue of Computer Notes, the March 1976 issue of People's Computer Company and the May 1976 issue of Radio Electronics. It is apparent from reading the letter that Mr. Gates wanted it published and he did not include a copyright notice or other restrictions.

The Open Letter to Hobbyists is a 1976 open letter written by Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft, to early private pc hobbyists, during which Gates expresses dismay on the rampant software program piracy going down within the hobbyist group, significantly with regard to his firm’s software program. MITS provided a whole Altair system with two MITS 4K Dynamic RAM boards, a serial interface board and Altair BASIC for $995.

Why did Bill Gates write an open letter to hobbyists? In the letter, Gates expressed frustration with most computer hobbyists who were using his company’s Altair BASIC software without having paid for it. He asserted that such widespread unauthorized copying in effect discouraged developers from investing time and money in creating high ...