prehysteries of new media: >> Bill Gates, "An Open Letter to Hobbyists", 1976

<< preface

this blog is nina wenhart's collection of resources on the various histories of new media art. it consists mainly of non or very little edited material i found flaneuring on the net, sometimes with my own annotations and comments, sometimes it's also textparts i retyped from books that are out of print.

it is also meant to be an additional resource of information and recommended reading for my students of the prehystories of new media class that i teach at the school of the art institute of chicago in fall 2008.

the focus is on the time period from the beginning of the 20th century up to today.

2008-07-14

>> Bill Gates, "An Open Letter to Hobbyists", 1976

click to enlarge the letter

the description below is from wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Bill_Gates_Letter_to_Hobbyists.jpg

Description	Homebrew Computer Club Newsletter Volume 2, Issue 1, January 31, 1976 A LETTER FROM MITS - Just as the Newsletter was in final preparation a letter arrived from Bill Gates via MITS. Reproduced (the only MITS "software" we have ever reproduced) on page 2, it should be read by every computer hobbyist. Surely many of you will want to write to Bill. Send a copy of your correspondence to me at the HOMEBREW COMPUTER CLUB NEWSLETTER, P. 0. Box 626, Mountain View, CA 94042 and I will try to summarize your comments. Editor: Robert Reiling Dave Bunnell of MITS sent the letter via special delivery mail to every major computer publication in the country. The letter was also published in MITS Computer Notes (February 1976, page 3), People's Computer Company (March 1976), and Radio-Electronics (May 1976, pages 14 and 16).
Source	DigiBarn Computer Museum: http://www.digibarn.com/collections/newsletters/homebrew/V2_01/index.html Original scanned by Len Shustek. This image was cleaned up and reduced to 120 dpi by Michael Holley
Date	December 30, 2007
Author	Swtpc6800 en:User:Swtpc6800 Michael Holley
Permission (Reusing this image)	Bill Gates sent this "Open Letter" to the Homebrew Computer Club and an exact copy was printed in the January 1976 issue of the Homebrew Computer Club Newsletter. The Homebrew Computer Club Newsletter was published between 1975 and 1977 without a copyright notice and is in the public domain. When a person sends a letter to the editor of a newspaper or magazine it is assumed it will be printed under the copyright of that publication. The author has the right to send the letter to multiple publications and each can print it. Bill Gates did just that. In addition to Homebrew Computer Club Newsletter, the letter was printed in the February 1976 issue of Computer Notes, the March 1976 issue of People's Computer Company and the May 1976 issue of Radio Electronics. It is apparent from reading the letter that Mr. Gates wanted it published and he did not include a copyright notice or other restrictions. Since he distributed (published) the letter without a copyright notice before 1978, the letter is in the public domain.