> He is most often known as "the father of the personal computer."
(This looks like a good article/story that is not found on Wikipedia; just sharing these links for anyone who wants an overview / know what it is about, before diving into the story.)
Wow, the price list at the bottom of that Altair article: $439 for the computer (in kit form), $262 for the 4K word memory board, $124 for the serial teletype board, and $1500 for the teletype terminal. The terminal is twice as much as the rest put together!
The package was lost in the mail? Or did he not actually finish the computer on time and this was a dog ate the homework type excuse? Depends on the degree to which he was a hustler I guess.
It's pretty obvious from the accounts of the partners he worked with that he was a straight forward guy who did the opposite of what you suggest. If you read the story, he got a detail wrong, it wasn't due to an immediate bankruptcy of the railway, but a strike that eventually let to the bankruptcy of the railway operator. In any case, the computer did not get to its destination in time. We don't know if it ever got there or not as it had become irrelevant to the story.
His history shows that he did not compromise his integrity to gain a momentary advantage, so I doubt he'd have succumbed in that instance. He understood those things have a tendency to backfire. It's a different world now. That was towards the end of the era where deals could be done with a handshake.
Nit: Railway Express Agency was intimately connected with railroad infrastructure, but it was not actually a railway. It was, essentially, FedEx, only using railways for transport instead of their own planes.
Maybe Roberts and the Altair are becoming obscure to younger people, but in the traditional story of the personal computer neither he nor the Altair were "secret" or obscure. As the article mentions, Microsoft was founded by Gates and Allen to sell a BASIC interpreter for the Altair.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altair_8800
> It was the first commercially successful personal computer.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Roberts_(computer_engineer)
> He is most often known as "the father of the personal computer."
(This looks like a good article/story that is not found on Wikipedia; just sharing these links for anyone who wants an overview / know what it is about, before diving into the story.)
Wow, the price list at the bottom of that Altair article: $439 for the computer (in kit form), $262 for the 4K word memory board, $124 for the serial teletype board, and $1500 for the teletype terminal. The terminal is twice as much as the rest put together!
Musical tribute: http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2007/06/a_sign_o...
As sung by Frank Hayes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMS6G83NqFQ
I'd suggest reading the history of Digital Research, Inc. and Gary Kildall to get a more rounded perspective on this story.
The package was lost in the mail? Or did he not actually finish the computer on time and this was a dog ate the homework type excuse? Depends on the degree to which he was a hustler I guess.
It's pretty obvious from the accounts of the partners he worked with that he was a straight forward guy who did the opposite of what you suggest. If you read the story, he got a detail wrong, it wasn't due to an immediate bankruptcy of the railway, but a strike that eventually let to the bankruptcy of the railway operator. In any case, the computer did not get to its destination in time. We don't know if it ever got there or not as it had become irrelevant to the story.
When your company is running out of money and this is the only thing that can save you, you may do desperate things.
The reason it stood out was that he was flying himself to the meeting, so why did he ship the package separately if it was so important?
Anyhow it is unprovable so we can go with his reputation.
His history shows that he did not compromise his integrity to gain a momentary advantage, so I doubt he'd have succumbed in that instance. He understood those things have a tendency to backfire. It's a different world now. That was towards the end of the era where deals could be done with a handshake.
Nit: Railway Express Agency was intimately connected with railroad infrastructure, but it was not actually a railway. It was, essentially, FedEx, only using railways for transport instead of their own planes.
Every appearance of the word "Kirkland" here should be "Kirtland." We're talking about the Air Force base in Albuquerque, not Costco.
TIL after hearing the name a gazillion times that it's actually spelled with a "t". Apparently I am not alone...
Not hardly!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-glottalization
I am fortunate to have smart friends who introduced me to this not even a month ago.
Maybe Roberts and the Altair are becoming obscure to younger people, but in the traditional story of the personal computer neither he nor the Altair were "secret" or obscure. As the article mentions, Microsoft was founded by Gates and Allen to sell a BASIC interpreter for the Altair.
Yes, that's pretty bad linkbait. We've replaced the title with the subtitle above.
(2023)
Some more discussion then: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38680698
> The media at the time was talking excitedly about the launch of Microsoft Windows Vista and the new MacBook Pro.
Wouldn't Windows 7 have been the latest Windows at the time, or is this a joke calling Windows 7 just another version of Vista?
Wasn't Windows 7 a rebranding of Vista with some improvements, maybe just lipstick on a pig but still, I really don't know.
I do know I liked Win 7 way better than Vista.
"some improvements" is one of the best understatements.
It certainly was more than cosmetic, more like a complete makeover after incarceration in a health and wellness camp for a year