Saved Altair 4K BASIC

From: Paul Braun <nerdware_at_laidbak.com>
Date: Tue Nov 10 22:42:25 1998

Date sent: Mon, 9 Nov 1998 11:53:04 -0500 (EST)
Send reply to: classiccmp_at_u.washington.edu
From: cswiger <cswiger_at_wilma.widomaker.com>
To: "Discussion re-collecting of classic computers" <classiccmp_at_u.washington.edu>
Subject: Saved Altair 4K BASIC

<<snip>>
> Curious what the copyright situation on BASIC (or related
> products) is? Certainly Gate's hasn't released it into
> public domain.
>
>
>

Considering that BASIC was a language developed and written by somebody
else, and that Gates & Allen simply took someone else's language and
adapted it for a specific machine (like, say, for example, QDOS) (OK, they paid
a little for it. But it started out as someone else's..) it still seems kinda odd that
he would get so bent out of shape about somebody stealing a copy of the
program that he himself stole.

But who are we to question. He managed to turn that skill into a tidy sum.

I love the comment someone on the list made about hiring 10,000 programmers
and deluging the market with bad software. The only problem is, everyone just
said "OK, Bill. Here's my checking account. Don't worry about fixing the bugs --
kinda gives your software 'character'."





Paul Braun
NerdWare -- The History of the PC and the Nerds who brought it to you.
nerdware_at_laidbak.com
www.laidbak.com/nerdware
Received on Tue Nov 10 1998 - 22:42:25 GMT