Before Apple, there was Altair: Ed Roberts died on 4/1

[ztirffritz]

I didn't see this posted anywhere, but Ed Roberts, one of the inventors of the Altair computer died on 4/1 at age 68. The Altair was the machine that Bill Gates and Paul Allen wrote BASIC for and started them on the road to fortune. It was originally sold mail-order out of Popular Science. The Apple I would follow about 1 year later, and Apple II about a year after that. Apple II also featured Microsoft's BASIC program. Yet another example of Bill Gates getting rich off of Apple's hard work.

[Carnos Jax]

That's a very historic death...sad.

[cbelt3]

Alas. I SO wanted one of those. I'd go to the St. Louis Computer Company store and drool over it at least once a month. I even had a line on a TI Silentype 700 to use with it.

[ztirffritz]

I was but a twinkle in my parents' eyes at the time that the Altair was unveiled.

[ztirffritz]

Bill Gates offered his remembrances of Ed Roberts in WSJ:

http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2010/04/02/b.../?mod=e2fb