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Forrest Mims published an article in Model Rocketry magazine, which led to him and others founding MITS, this would be one of their first products (Sun and Sky). -
Bob Zaller, Ed Roberts, and Forrest Mims III found Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (Mims 58) Photo Credit: https://sunandsky.net/MITS_History.php -
MITS Rented a small brick building to house their production and research that use to be a sandwich shop in Albuquerque, New Mexico (Mims). -
Ed Roberts and MITS create a digital calculator, the 816 Digital Calculator that is featured in an issue of Popular Electronics in November of 1971 (National Museum of American History). Image credit: https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object/nmah_1030050 -
Texas Instruments, a massive company began making calculators, forcing MITS to pivot (Levy 80). -
MITS moved into a larger office and even expanded to neighboring storefronts (Mims). Image Credits: https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2F8bitboyz.com%2F2020%2F09%2F11%2Fthe-original-microsoft-office%2F&psig=AOvVaw3C-nFu87Vl1PpQPROb__NF&ust=1744688928462000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CBcQjhxqFwoTCPCFnvLO1owDFQAAAAAdAAAAABAh -
MITS falls to around $200,000 of debt, and finds they need to pivot to a new product line, making computers (Mims). Image Credit: Proshare Graphics -
The first widely available computer kit from MITS appeared in Popular Electronics for the first time. This was MITS's star product and was one of the most advanced but still widely available at the time (Computer History Museum). -
Bill Gates was hired to program a BASIC language for the Altair 8800 (CPPDepend). Image Credit: https://www.gq.com/story/young-bill-gates-was-an-angry-office-bully -
A beta version of Altair's BASIC was stolen from them, and distributed at a Homebrew Computer Club meeting. This was one of the first instances of computer piracy. (Levy 99). Photo Credit: https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.computerhistory.org%2Fcollections%2Fcatalog%2FX507.84&psig=AOvVaw3SCwb7f-MKMBMNd7OZZrRa&ust=1744685752356000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CBcQjhxqFwoTCLCy0YfD1owDFQAAAAAdAAAAABAQ -
Altair releases a cheaper and easier to build computer that uses the Motorola 6800 chip (DigiBarn). -
Bill Gates was upset that people were steeling the Altair BASIC software that MITS was paying him to write, so he wrote a letter saying that it isn't okay to steel software (Most of you Steal Your Software). -
MITS releases another computer, the Altair 8800b which improved on the Altair 8800 (S-100 Computers). -
Altair released an upgraded computer using the Motorola 6800 chip called the Altair 680 (S100 Computers). Image Credit: https://www.vintage-computer.com/machines.php?mitsaltair680b -
Ed Roberts felt like he couldn't keep up with MITS anymore and sold to Pertec which was a hard drive manufacturer (S-100 Computers). Image credit: https://logowik.com/pertec-computer-logo-vector-39933.html