Bill Gates, Altair 8800, and BASIC: My Launch into the PC Revolution

My Early Days with Bill Gates and the Dawn of Personal Computing

Let me share a tale from the early days of personal computing, when I first crossed paths with Bill Gates. It's important to note that Bill is older than me. Back in 1975, as Bill was leaving Harvard to start Microsoft, I was skipping my final year of high school and diving straight into college. I was the youngest student in my engineering school that year, and both Bill and I were tinkering with the same technology: the Altair 8800 and the Digital Equipment PDP-10.

My high school computing experience was as formative as Bill's, but my aspirations were different. While I dabbled in computing, my true passion was building nuclear reactors. Yet, life had other plans for me, steering me away from nukes and towards PCs.

From Nukes to PCs

It all started with a teletype in my high school's computer "lab." When I pressed the Return key and it responded with "READY," it was a game-changer. In the 1970s, machines weren't interactive like they are today with tools like ChatGPT. That simple "READY" rewired my brain, showing me a new way to interact with technology.

Meanwhile, Bill Gates and Paul Allen were laying the groundwork for Microsoft. The Altair 8800, introduced by Ed Roberts in 1974 via an article in Popular Electronics, was a game-changer. It was the first commercially successful personal computing device, a far cry from the room-sized computers of the past. Initially, the Altair didn't come with software, but Gates and Allen saw an opportunity. They pitched a BASIC interpreter to Roberts, even though they hadn't written a single line of code at the time.

Building My Own Altair 8800

I couldn't afford the original $1,500 price tag for a fully assembled Altair 8800, which would be over $7,000 today. So, I waited until I could buy parts at swap meets and horse-trade my way to a complete set. Over a summer at my parents' home, I meticulously built the machine, hand-soldered the wires to the front panel, and toggled in a bootloader to load BASIC.

It took a week to enter all the code, but my dad accidentally cut the power, and I had to start over. Eventually, I got it working, and it was exhilarating.

The Brilliance of Altair BASIC

Microsoft's BASIC language was revolutionary. It was a higher-level language, making programming more accessible and less tedious than machine or assembly language. Without BASIC for the Altair and later Apple machines, personal computing might not have taken off as it did. It was fun, creative, and empowering.

Bill Gates recently released the original Altair BASIC source code, a testament to the impressive work he and Paul Allen did. It's a nostalgic trip to see the care they put into making it functional and maintainable.

Meeting Bill Gates

I met Bill only once, about a dozen years after Microsoft's founding, at a dinner where he was the guest speaker for Silicon Valley's Software Entrepreneurs' Forum. I was on the board of directors and made it a point to sit across from him. When I asked for advice for my new software startup, he surprised me by emphasizing the importance of cash flow. "Cash flow is everything," he said. I took that advice to heart, and it served me well in my business ventures.

The Impact of BASIC on My Career

Looking back, Microsoft's Altair BASIC played a significant role in my career shift from nuclear engineering to computer science. While in engineering school, I exhausted the computing curriculum and started teaching graduate courses. My academic advisor encouraged me to switch fully to computer science, seeing my passion for PCs and my Altair build. Without Microsoft's BASIC, I might have been stuck underground as a nuclear engineer, a path I wasn't particularly suited for.

BASIC was my gateway into programming, and though it's no longer popular, it holds a special place in my heart. It sparked my imagination and led me to excel in operating system design, language design, and computer science.

A Toast to the Pioneers

So, here's to Bill Gates, Paul Allen, Ed Roberts, and all the early pioneers who brought personal computing to the masses. Whether you started with BASIC on an Altair or a PDP-10, or discovered personal computing later, I'd love to hear your story. How did you first get hooked on programming, and what role did Microsoft's early software play in your journey?

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