Saved Altair 4K BASIC

From: Allison J Parent <allisonp_at_world.std.com>
Date: Tue Nov 10 18:32:57 1998

< > Entended BASIC - $350
< > w/ purchase - $150
<
< Sheesh! No wonder nobody paid for the stuff. These are bloated prices
< especially in 1976 dollars.

And at current prices a system with enough ram to run extended basic would
set you back at least $2000 and that does not include IO or terminal. One
caveat, you had to purchase the Altair from MITS and the minimum amount
of ram needed to run the package from them too.

FYI: in 1977 you could buy a chevy pickup for $6500 to put that price in
perspective.

The Processor Technology, Digital Group (later TDL) and other folks
were turning out software by the pound. It was cheap, good and available.

IT was the Gates debacal and people like PCC (AKA Doctor Dobbs) that
started the free software revolution and a legacy of so 20,000 free or
copyleft programs for the 8080/z80 families alone, likely as much for
6502 based systems.

Allison
Received on Tue Nov 10 1998 - 18:32:57 GMT