Bill Gates’ 1976 “Open Letter to Hobbyists” on Software Piracy | Historical Tech Document #2284692 (License: Personal Use)

This typewritten document, dated February 3, 1976, is Bill Gates’ impassioned appeal to early computer enthusiasts against unauthorized copying of Altair BASIC. He details how Micro-Soft (then hyphenated) invested over $40,000 in development and documentation yet earned less than $2/hour in royalties due to rampant piracy. Gates argues that without fair compensation, quality software-and professional developers-will vanish from the hobby market.

Used in historical tech retrospectives, computer history exhibits, academic discussions on intellectual property, and articles about the origins of software licensing. Matches user intent seeking primary-source insight into early software ethics, Microsoft’s founding era, or the evolution of digital copyright.