Paul Allen, Bill Gates, and Monte Davidsson complete the first BASIC interpreter, one of the first software packages for the Altair 8800. Allen takes it to Ed Roberts of Altair. It takes him 10 minutes to load the software into the machine. The code was developed on a software emulation of the Altair 8800, which ran on a PDP-10, so this was the first time they tried it on a real Altair. After 10 minutes, the screen asks, “MEMORY SIZE?” Allen writes “7168,” and Altair says, “OK.” Allen writes, “PRINT 2+2.” Altair responds, “4.” Roberts calls Allen into his office, and they sign the contract for all the Altair machines. Roberts later offers Allen a job as software director, and he accepts, leaving his secure job at Honeywell to move to Albuquerque, a city he only recently learned is not in Arizona.
