From: Lee Daniel Crocker (lee@piclab.com)
Date: Mon Nov 18 2002 - 12:16:55 MST
> (Samantha Atkins <samantha@objectent.com>):
> John K Clark wrote:
>
> >"Samantha Atkins" <samantha@objectent.com> Wrote:
> >
> > >PCs existed before Gates. Apple was around as well
> > >as other PC companies.
> >
> >The first PC was the Altar 8080, it came out in 1975, the software it ran
> >on
> >came from Microsoft.
> >
>
> Incorrect. The Altair iirc (it is a long time ago even for me) required
> hand entry of hex codes to get programs up, even to get up an assembler.
> Microsoft was not even incorporated in 1975. Remember CP/M? Much
> later than 1975 and it was one of the, if not the first thing that could
> remotely be called an OS on micros. I would also point out that there
> were several PCs before the 8080 although it was the one that made the
> cover of Popular Electronics in that year.. It like most were hobbyist
> machines loving built from kits (I did two such beasts myself).
The Altair didn't become popular in that form. What made its sales
soar was the distribution of Microsoft's BASIC on cassette tape, which
was also popular on many CP/M machines.
-- Lee Daniel Crocker <lee@piclab.com> <http://www.piclab.com/lee/> "All inventions or works of authorship original to me, herein and past, are placed irrevocably in the public domain, and may be used or modified for any purpose, without permission, attribution, or notification."--LDC
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