---
title: "Altair 8800"
type: "entity"
entity_kind: "concept"
status: "hub"
canonical_name: "Altair 8800"
aliases: ["MITS Altair 8800","MITS"]
first_seen: "2026-07-09T00:00:00.000Z"
writer_model: "claude-sonnet-5"
connects_to: ["Bill Gates","Paul Allen","Monte Davidoff","PDP-10","1970s microcomputer history"]
---


The MITS (Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems) microcomputer for which Gates, Allen, and Davidoff wrote the original Microsoft BASIC interpreter in 1975 — the founding product of Microsoft, and the software whose low paid-adoption rate prompted Gates's 1976 "Open Letter to Hobbyists." MITS, the Albuquerque company that built and sold the machine, is treated as the same referent here rather than split into its own page.

## References
- [[claim-gates-1976-open-letter-under-ten-percent-paid]]
- [[claim-davidoff-wrote-third-of-altair-basic-uncredited]]
- [[claim-gates-2025-released-original-1975-altair-basic-source-scan]]
- Captures: 10-inbox/raw/2026-07-09-hop-davidoff-cprm-linux.md, 10-inbox/raw/2026-07-30-does-the-surviving-original-microsoftaltair-basic-source-listing.md