What was the title of Bill Gates’s 1976 message defending software copyright for hobbyist computer users?
Answer
An Open Letter to Hobbyists
Bill Gates’s 1976 message defending software copyright for hobbyist computer users was titled “An Open Letter to Hobbyists.”
Gates published the letter in the Homebrew Computer Club Newsletter in February 1976. He argued that many computer enthusiasts were copying Altair BASIC without paying for it, making it difficult for software developers to earn enough money to continue producing programs.
The letter became an early statement of the commercial software industry’s concerns about unauthorized copying. It also showed Gates’s belief that software should be treated as intellectual property rather than freely exchanged like a hardware design.
A common mix-up is to call this Microsoft’s first software product. The letter was not software; it was a public argument about the economics and legality of copying Microsoft’s Altair BASIC.