Windows 10 Users are now facing the End-of-Life of their OS since their particular computers have been classified as computer junk by Microsoft. So you may b...
I would encourage people to read “An Open Letter to Hobbyists” written by Bill Gates in 1976. It was pretty clear that Windows was always destined to be garbage. In the letter, Bill chastises people for sharing software and insists that all software should be payed for. He insists that good software can only exist if it costs money to use.
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?
Almost a year ago, Paul Allen and myself, expecting the hobby market to expand, hired Monte Davidoff and developed Altair BASIC. Though the initial work took only two months, the three of us have spent most of the last year documenting, improving and adding features to BASIC. Now we have 4K, 8K, EXTENDED, ROM and DISK BASIC. The value of the computer time we have used exceeds $40,000.
The feedback we have gotten from the hundreds of people who say they are using BASIC has all been positive. Two surprising things are apparent, however, 1) Most of these “users” never bought BASIC (less thank 10% of all Altair owners have bought BASIC), and 2) The amount of royalties we have received from sales to hobbyists makes the time spent on Altair BASIC worth less than $2 an hour.
Why is this? As the majority of hobbyists must be aware, most of you steal your software. Hardware must be paid for, but software is something to share. Who cares if the people who worked on it get paid?
Is this fair? One thing you don’t do by stealing software is get back at MITS for some problem you may have had. MITS doesn’t make money selling software. The royalty paid to us, the manual, the tape and the overhead make it a break-even operation. One thing you do do is prevent good software from being written. Who can afford to do professional work for nothing? What hobbyist can put 3-man years into programming, finding all bugs, documenting his product and distribute for free? The fact is, no one besides us has invested a lot of money in hobby software. We have written 6800 BASIC, and are writing 8080 APL and 6800 APL, but there is very little incentive to make this software available to hobbyists. Most directly, the thing you do is theft.
What about the guys who re-sell Altair BASIC, aren’t they making money on hobby software? Yes, but those who have been reported to us may lose in the end. They are the ones who give hobbyists a bad name, and should be kicked out of any club meeting they show up at.
I would appreciate letters from any one who wants to pay up, or has a suggestion or comment. Just write to me at 1180 Alvarado SE, #114, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 87108. Nothing would please me more than being able to hire ten programmers and deluge the hobby market with good software.
Throughout most of the 70s, software was not protected by copyright and was freely shared by Hobbyist computer users. Computer companies led legal efforts to make software copyright protected starting in 1969.
According to Brewster Kahle the legal characteristic of software changed also due to the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976.[12] The Commission on New Technological Uses of Copyrighted Works concluded in 1978 with the recommendations that became the Computer Software Copyright Act of 1980.[13]
Starting in February 1983 IBM adopted an “object-code-only” model for a growing list of their software and stopped shipping much of the source code,[14][15] even to licensees.
In 1983, binary software became copyrightable in the United States as well by the Apple vs. Franklin law decision,[16] before which only source code was copyrightable.[17]
Bill Gates got in early on a new market and used newly created laws to his financial advantage. His goal has always been to limit what people can do with computers and software. Each new version of Window become more restrictive due to new technology. When Windows XP reached end of support, people complained that Windows 7 had too many malicious features. When Windows 7 reached end of support, people complained that Windows 10 had too many malicious features. When Windows 10 reached end of support, people complained that Windows 11 had too many malicious features.
Richard Stallman started the GNU Project in 1983 with the goal of creating a full operating system that did not restrict users. He created the GNU Public License to protect the freedom of users. In 1993, Linus Torvalds applied GPL to the Linux Kernel and then people started to combine the Linux kernel with the GNU system.
From the very beginning, there has been always the capitalists who will take advantage of a new space, especially computing. Thus, this is why there also develops counterbalance, like the Free Software movement.
I would encourage people to read “An Open Letter to Hobbyists” written by Bill Gates in 1976. It was pretty clear that Windows was always destined to be garbage. In the letter, Bill chastises people for sharing software and insists that all software should be payed for. He insists that good software can only exist if it costs money to use.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Open_Letter_to_Hobbyists
Throughout most of the 70s, software was not protected by copyright and was freely shared by Hobbyist computer users. Computer companies led legal efforts to make software copyright protected starting in 1969.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proprietary_software
Bill Gates got in early on a new market and used newly created laws to his financial advantage. His goal has always been to limit what people can do with computers and software. Each new version of Window become more restrictive due to new technology. When Windows XP reached end of support, people complained that Windows 7 had too many malicious features. When Windows 7 reached end of support, people complained that Windows 10 had too many malicious features. When Windows 10 reached end of support, people complained that Windows 11 had too many malicious features.
Richard Stallman started the GNU Project in 1983 with the goal of creating a full operating system that did not restrict users. He created the GNU Public License to protect the freedom of users. In 1993, Linus Torvalds applied GPL to the Linux Kernel and then people started to combine the Linux kernel with the GNU system.
From the very beginning, there has been always the capitalists who will take advantage of a new space, especially computing. Thus, this is why there also develops counterbalance, like the Free Software movement.