Died created the first personal computer

Ed Roberts, ushered in the era of home PCs and inspirer of the founders of the US Microsoft's Bill Gates and Paul Allen, died on the evening of April 1 at the age of 68, said on Friday the British Radio and Television BBC BBC.

Ed Roberts, an American engineer, a doctor and an entrepreneur known for the fact that in 1975 designed the first commercially successful personal computer, dubbed '' Altair 8800 '' and the program '' Altair BASIC '' became the impetus for beginning the work of Microsoft .

'' Ed was willing to give a chance for us - two young guys interested in computers long before they became household names - and we will be forever grateful to him for that '', - said in a statement the founders of Microsoft.

'' The day when our first, yet untested program that earned him (Roberts - Ed.) "Altair", marked the beginning of many great things '' - note Gates and Allen.

For his part, co-founder of another famous American computer of Apple Steve Wozniak, said in the information technology Web site CNET, Dr. Roberts made a '' critically important step that led to what we have today ''.



In 1968, Ed Roberts and a friend founded the company in the garage of Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS), is engaged in the sale, including programmable calculators as sets of "Do It Yourself". Designed them the Altair 8800 can be considered the first mass personal computer, virtually every available. In a set of parts Altair were available for $ 397 (incidentally, the retail price of Intel microprocessors 8080, which lay at the heart of the device is $ 360). Unlike analogues such as Mark-8 computer was a real novelty, because bus architecture "Altair" allows you to expand the possibilities and power of the machine when you add additional cards.

When the cover of the January (1975) issue of the magazine Popular Electronics has an image Altair, young Gates and Allen offered to Mr. Roberts to develop a new machine version of the programming language BASIC. For that colleagues have created a company Microsoft (renaming the existing Traf-O-Data), or rather - Micro-Soft, which, incidentally, is still reflected in the corporate logo.



It is interesting that on the cover of Popular Electronics flaunts a blank metal box disguised as Altair 8800. Editorial force majeure!

"Ed took a risk by giving us the chance - the two youths who are interested in computers long before they spread everywhere. And we have always been grateful to him for it, - underline the founders of "Microsoft". - He was an active man with a great sense of humor, he always cares about the employees it ».

By the way, philanthropy, Mr. Roberts extended not only to subordinates, a few years after the release of Altair he sold MITS, went to Georgia, bought a farm, studied medicine - and became a country doctor!

In the book "Fire in the Valley" can be read as follows: "to overestimate the importance of MITS Altair and difficult in the world of microcomputers. The company not only created a new branch of industry. It introduced the world to the first personal computer, computer exhibitions, started selling computers retail, published a computer magazine, has organized fan clubs, exchange programs and equipment. Though not wishing it, MITS contributed to the emergence and spread of pirated software. MITS was established at a time when microcomputers were considered impractical, she opened the industry that a few years later began to bring billions of dollars in profits ».

Bi-bi-si said that Dr. Ed Roberts died in hospital from a prolonged illness with pneumonia.