RIP Ed Roberts, creator the Altair 8800

by on April 2, 2010 · 0 comments

Ed Roberts, designer of the first commercially successful personal computer, died yesterday in Georgia at the age of 68.

Roberts founded the MITS company in 1970 and in 1975 developed the first personal computer, the Altair 8800.  Soon Bill Gates and Paul Allen came calling, and later sold their first commercial software to Roberts.  The Altair also served as the catalyst for the Homebrew Computer Club whose members included Apple Computer co-founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.

Roberts took a risk on an untested market and launched the PC revolution.  He was a true entrepreneur and will continue to be a hero to geeks like me.

Harry McCracken at PC World has posted some very kind words about Roberts.  Bill Gates and Paul Allen have also posted a statement at thegatesnotes.com.

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Cord Blomquist / Cord Blomquist spends most of his time pining for the singularity. To pass the time while waiting for this convergence, he serves as the New Media Manager at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. Before landing this sweet gig, Cord hocked policy writing for the Competitive Enterprise Institute, toiled in the halls of Congress, and even worked in a crouton factory. In college, Cord spent his hours studying political philosophy and artificial intelligence, resulting in an unhealthy obsession with Lt. Commander Data. All of these activities will, of course, be viewed as laughable when he is ported from this crude meatspace into the nanobot cloud.

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