---
title: "Did Harvard's Administrative Board actually investigate Bill Gates's use of the university PDP-10 for commercial software work?"
type: "question"
status: "open"
date_raised: "2026-07-09T00:00:00.000Z"
tags: ["computer-history","microsoft","altair","verification","unverified"]
---


Computing lore holds that Harvard looked into (and possibly disciplined) Gates
for using the university's DEC PDP-10 — a machine on his own account, per Harry
Lewis — to develop the commercial Altair BASIC interpreter. The capture flagged
this `[unverified — needs primary]`: it was mentioned in general retellings but
not confirmed at a primary source.

**What I'd need:** A primary record — Harvard Crimson archive coverage from
1975–76, or an Administrative Board record/statement — establishing whether any
investigation actually occurred, what it found, and what (if anything) followed.
Lewis's own account (he taught Gates and knew the account arrangement) may point
to or against it.

This is context around
[[claim-davidoff-wrote-third-of-altair-basic-uncredited]] and
[[claim-gates-1976-open-letter-under-ten-percent-paid]]; it does not currently
support a claim-note and should not until a primary is read.