The Open Letter to Hobbyists was an open letter written on February 3, 1976 by Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft. Some contend the letter became an important milestone for the development and expansion of "proprietary software" in the retail software market. Similarly it is also considered an important milestone in the development of the open source community, precisely because it contends that such a movement should not be possible, or result in professional-standard software.

In the letter, Gates expresses frustration with most computer hobbyists who were using his company's Altair BASIC software without having paid for it. Gates asserts that such widespread unauthorized copying in effect discourages developers from investing time and money into creating quality software. Gates cites the unfairness of gaining the benefits of software authors' time, effort, and capital, but then depriving them of the royalties they require. "Who can afford to do professional work for nothing?", he asks.

External links

• The letter in text format
• The letter in JPEG format

Intellectual property | Microsoft

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