BASIC
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Furthermore, copyright protection for computer programs, which Gates based his argument upon, was well-established by 1976. While sharing of programs certainly happened in users' groups and other contexts, today's concept of free software had not been articulated by that time. Richard Stallman started the GNU project in 1983; he published the GNU Manifesto and founded the Free Software Foundation in 1985, a decade after Altair BASIC. An argument has been made that, even though this story has been overlooked, some of the ideas important to the free software movement were first publicly stated in the columns of magazines and newsletters in response to Gates's letter (Driscoll). But many hobbyists were not interested in free (as in freedom) software as it is conceptualized today; rather, they were interested in (as the editorial in the first issue of ''Dr. Dobbs'' explained) "free and very inexpensive" software. | Furthermore, copyright protection for computer programs, which Gates based his argument upon, was well-established by 1976. While sharing of programs certainly happened in users' groups and other contexts, today's concept of free software had not been articulated by that time. Richard Stallman started the GNU project in 1983; he published the GNU Manifesto and founded the Free Software Foundation in 1985, a decade after Altair BASIC. An argument has been made that, even though this story has been overlooked, some of the ideas important to the free software movement were first publicly stated in the columns of magazines and newsletters in response to Gates's letter (Driscoll). But many hobbyists were not interested in free (as in freedom) software as it is conceptualized today; rather, they were interested in (as the editorial in the first issue of ''Dr. Dobbs'' explained) "free and very inexpensive" software. | ||
| − | In the aftermath of his first letter, Gates wrote a "Second and Final Letter," replying to objections raised by his readers. In it, he went on to admit that, at least for certain types of programs, the free sharing of code was likely to become the norm. He even suggested that good "compilers and interpreters" (such as Microsoft's Altair BASIC) would enable such shared software: | + | In the aftermath of his first letter, Gates wrote a "Second and Final Letter," replying to objections raised by his readers. In it, he also admitted that, at least for certain types of programs, the free sharing of code was likely to become the norm. He even suggested that good "compilers and interpreters" (such as Microsoft's Altair BASIC) would enable such shared software: |
<blockquote>In discussing software, I don't want to leave out the most important aspect, vis., the exchange of those programs less complex than interpreters or compilers that can be written by hobbyists and shared at little or no cost. I think in the foreseeable future, literally thousands of such programs will be available through user libraries. The availability of standardized compilers and interpreters will have a major impact on how quickly these libraries develop and how useful they are.</blockquote> | <blockquote>In discussing software, I don't want to leave out the most important aspect, vis., the exchange of those programs less complex than interpreters or compilers that can be written by hobbyists and shared at little or no cost. I think in the foreseeable future, literally thousands of such programs will be available through user libraries. The availability of standardized compilers and interpreters will have a major impact on how quickly these libraries develop and how useful they are.</blockquote> | ||
