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Paul Allen Buys Old MITS Building
u2mr2os2 writes "Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has purchased the building where Microsoft had its first office along with MITS (Altair creator). The long term plan for this is to possibly turn it into a computer museum. Sure, it would be MS tilted, but at least it'll give other geeks a reason to come visit Albuquerque (it's not as bad as The Pirates of Silicon Valley portrayed. Story is in the local papers.."
Paul Allen left Microsoft in 1983, that's a long long time ago. Among the reasons were serious disagreements with Bill Gates about the direction of the company.
Since then he has been mostly playing (not very successfully) with the capital gained by owning Microsoft stock, including investing in companies that are rather anti than pro Microsoft. For example, he is one of the main investors behind Transmeta.
Microsoft tilted, indeed... But hey, anything goes when we are talking about MS, right?
When men used to be men
It's a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there. And I did, although it was 20 years ago. It was truely a beautiful area (at least, outside the city limits - The sunsets are unbeleivable). But, when I lived there, jobs were very scarce, homelessness was a HUGE problem, and you had to kick the used needles the druggies left behind out of the way to play in the parks.
Granted, that WAS 20 years ago, things have probably changed for the better. One can hope, at least.
psmylie's dictionary: Godzillion (noun) Any number large enough to destroy Tokyo
Rich
Not exactly close by, but White Sands National Monument and the White Sands Missile Range Museum are a few hours away. Both have some appeal.
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
OK Hemos, did you actually pay for this link? Be honest!!!
?^H?^p???^??a((b?$?Like it hot. I mean H-O-T. I've done some camping near Santa Fe and have driven south to ABQ a couple times... The other poster is right: best sunsets in the world, and some pretty amazing thunderstorms too. Be sure to spend time outside of the city -- really fantastic scenery and cool archeological/anthropological sites nearby.
-A.
What did the walrus say to the penguin? "No soap, radio."
heheh LOL!
I wouldn't be too surprised if it was. Look at the Experience Music Project. Upstairs they have a room with instruments that you can play on, and then listen to other people playing in the room and play along. To make this successful, it would probably involve making a goal to do something with the equipment rather than just punching keys. If done properly it could be kinda neat. The hardest challenge will be people's attention span. Also, because of the EMP he already has good experience with museums and making them different than the norm.
Very little is in reality quite like it was portrayed in Pirates of Silicon Valley.
"Reactionaries must be deprived of the right to voice their opinions; only the people have that right." - Mao
I have a page with a couple pieces of interesting PC (Including early microsoft) history. Check them out Here
Granted it's not the New Mexico address, but still very interesting.
Included is pics of MSDOS 1.1, CP/M X86 1.0 (a tad too late), and a sheet from the Basic manual of an old Z80 based Computer (which came in a woodgrain case, probably about 1977). This Basic manual page was the only reference to Microsoft i could find.
Ummm, that'd be Paul Allen and Vulcan Northwest (or a spinoff), NOT Microsoft...
And that's my $0.32 (adjusted for inflation).
Will the new museum have $25 admission, too? It's the only thing keeping me from going to the EMP.
-nicole
Yeah. But how is Paul Allen going to make that building in Alberquerque or wherever it is look like a pile of multicolored sheet metal bent into the shape of a melted wax candle?
--- Jump!! Fire!! Bullet time!! - Lego version of the Matrix
He left MS 18 years ago :P Really a good news to associate with MS ;-)
When men used to be men
>Sure, it would be MS tilted, but at least it'll
>give other geeks a reason to come visit
>Albuquerque
Oh, come on. Who wouldn't want to visit Albuquerque? People there are so friendly, they'll gladly shave your back for a nickel!
Make sure they preserve the atmosphere! In order to qualify as a genuine geek programming area, they better be sure to preserve the entire atmosphere: Coke cans scattered over every surface Empty pizza boxes / takeout Genuine hair, torn from the heads of enraged programmers And don't forget the smell of BO! The sad part is that people visiting a museum like that wont appreciate what those walls have witnessed...
Actually, IIRC the beginning of the twentieth century was known for child labor, sweatshops and the company towns that gave rise to unions.
--
--
"Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
They actually used PDP-10s - the same kind of computer they used at Harvard to develop BASIC for MITS using their own cross-assembler and emulator.
Paul Allen was at one time giving out accounts on a PDP-10 clone.
Yes Albequerque really IS that bad. It's grown a little since then. However, it's still more of the same. It is now an even larger nothing. However, it is still a big nothing.
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
It's a nice quiet place to retire to mebbe. It's in the desert without being scorching. However, it tends to remind me more of a 30K midwest farming/factory town rather than a city of Albequerque's size.
Vegas is that way too outside of the strip. However, it has the casinos to keep it from being a complete nothing.
Sometimes, I think we would be better off just giving the whole New Mexico Territory back to Mexico. Although we are slowly doing that over time anyways... '-)
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
I agree. I heartily wish he'd go away and pester some other city with his millions.
One of the Seattle weekly newspapers (I don't think it was the Stranger, because I don't read that rag) wrote some months ago that Paul Allen, unlike the married Bill Gates, is dangerously at loose ends with his money. So instead of settling down in a private Xanadu on Lake Washington with thousands of acres and a significant other, he makes Seattle itself his playground, and roams around trying to impress people. He's like the class nerd trying desperately hard to prove that he's not square but a regular guy, because he likes football (hence his ownership of the Seahawks) and he likes Jimi Hendrix (hence the EMP) and that _must_ make him a cool guy...right? No, it makes him a public nuisance.
hyacinthus.
Besides owning the Portland NBA and Seattle NFL teams, he finds lots of interesting ways to spend his money. Check out http://www.paulallen.com/ to find out how he wants to be remembered. :-)
You know, it's funny how people bitch about the ANWR as though the Democrats could do no wrong, yet fail to ever mention the National Petroleum Reserve Alaska (NPRA) which had been closed since Harding, but was opened up by Clinton.
Both major parties suck.
-- This and all my posts are in the public domain. I am a lawyer. I am not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice.
Not all bad....but one big strike against:
TICKETMASTER
More appealing cities that I can think of off the top of my head: Phoenix, Vegas, San Francisco (despite the cost of living), Indianapolis, Chicago, Buffalo, Phily, as well as any of the small towns in Ohio, Western PA or upstate New York.
Houston or RTP would also likely be nicer as well as Denver or Atlanta.
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
Did you guys contact the ABQJournal for permission and give them their $50 for linking to the page? Click the link at the bottom of the page that says "Click for permission to reprint" for their rate schedule. Un&*^%$#believable.
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
FYI Actually he is not interested in Baseball... He is the owner of the Portland Trailblazers (basketball) and the Seattle Seahawks (football ;).
There's a casino ten minutes away and the hookers are right down the street.
No, Thursday's out. How about never - is never good for you?
Lovely story...
I doubt it. As long as it remains a "museum" and not a corporate "experience" it should stay close to its roots.
Although, that's not to say MITS had very moral roots to begin with (see Levy's "Hackers").
- I don't care if they globalize against free speech. All my best free thoughts are done in my head.
I don't know about the rest of you, but what's the point of having an old-computer museum if we can't play with the technology.
"Ah yes, the old hands-on-imperative" they'll say, "those were the days!"
Hey kid, get the heck away from my PDP.
[haven't you tried FunWithPerl?]
Haven't heard about him lately. Is he still with MS?
There's no way that building along can meet all of their business needs. How long before they start building extensions which are incompatible with the rest of the building?
I realize everyone loves computer museums (and who wouldn't?) but can't we put these old buildings to better uses?
Homelessness is an important social problem facing our society today. Millions of Americans live without a roof over their heads, and millions more are fleeing abusive relationships or other forms of domestic violence and need a place to stay before they can move on.
The average 5-floor office building can house more than a hundred people in dormitory-like conditions. Most office buildings are already well connected to utilities like water and electricity, and most already have kitchen facilities. It's a simple matter of tearing out the old boardrooms and putting in optional heat and massage.
It's important to remember the past, but what if the past wasn't worth remembering? What if the past was filled with obsolete technologies, dust and cobwebs, and the napoleonic powergrabs of technologists? Should we be commemorating that? Or should we move on with our lives and put our heritage to better uses? I submit it's the latter.
When we look back on the beginning of the twentieth century, should we remember it as a time of corporate conquest? Or should we recognize it as a time when we came together as one global community and solved the social and economic problems that plagued our ancestors?
Paul Allen is better suited to achieving these goals than the rest of us, because of his large bank account. If he doesn't take steps today, then it's our duty to enact confiscatory tax laws to take his money and put it to better uses. It's the moral thing to do.
In keeping with Microsoft's history of using popular musicians, for their comerical they should use something from The Resident's album Freak Show for the music...
o/~ Everyone one comes, to the freak show, but nobody laughs, when they leave. o/~
-- [ta]
"...give other geeks a reason to come visit Albuquerque (it's not as bad as The Pirates of Silicon Valley portrayed) ..."
Wait, is there something wrong with Albuquerque? That's where I'll be spending my summer... someone tell me now, so I know if I should back out...
***
Are you kidding? There were votes regarding the stadiums. And construction lost. But the local government went ahead and did it anyway! That's the problem. (along with Allen trying to purchase as much of the city as possible)
-- This and all my posts are in the public domain. I am a lawyer. I am not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice.
... a seventy-foot-high replica of an Altair, with and stoplights for the panel LEDs.... and it'll all work. Swarms of employees will show up every morning, turn it on, and manually enter a copy of the first version of Microsoft Basic using a backhoe to flip the six-foot-long toggle switches. Then put in "Lunar Lander" or something and run that all day, and then shut it off to go home at night.
It's only a block off of Central, right behind a string of low budget motels. They filmed a few episodes of "Cops" in the area. There's already hookers.
Uhm, you mean Albuquerque, and having lived here for most of my life, I'd have to say that it's really not that bad, as long as you're over 21.. otherwise, there's nothing to do besides go to school at UNM and work for one of the many burgeoning computer tech businesses popping up all over town.. oh, wait.. I guess it's not that bad after all. I bid you, come eat your words. ;)
Taking stuff apart since 1969 (TM)
... the 50-foot high Teletype machine for a console?
To a Lisp hacker, XML is S-expressions in drag.
Microsoft Museum(tm)? That's impossible! How can you reboot a museum?!
Disconnect your television. Do your own research. Draw your own conclusions. They're probably lying. Don't be a sheep.
I just happend to have run across an ad for a MITS calculator and posted a scan here - from 1972 "Electronics Illustrated" magazine. They were shortly thereafter to come under a lot of pressure from Japanese calculator mfgs (recall that Intel started making microprocessors for a Japanese calculator client) and MITS had to find a new product quick, which turned out to be the Altair personal computer kit.
A complete shame that Ed Roberts isn't involved in any of these latest events.
try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
I would use it as a test base for cow, pig, and bison flatulence contamination testing.
Think of the air we breathe! Think of the children!
------ 1001001
Between that and satanic rituals, I am sure there is enough there to make a good hollywood movie. Folklore has always muttered things about Bill's deal with the Devil, so why not?
:-)
Check out the Vinny the Vampire comic strip
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
The average 5-floor office building can house more than a hundred people in dormitory-like conditions.
While your idea is interesting, housing the poor dormitory style will not help them. One need only look at the problems inherent in most dormitory style social environs (ranging from homosexual activities and homophobic activities in military bases to rampant drug use, theft, promiscuity and alcohol abuse in college dormitories to buggery and pedophilism in English prep schools) to realize this would only expose the poor, with their weakened moral sense, to dangerous and irrresistable temptations.
Better to subdivide each floor into several apartments, and allow each poor person or family to live in their own aparment, allowing them the facade of enjoying the American dream.
I read somewhere that Paul Allen is still into hacking PDP-11s and other DEC oldies but goodies. I belive that MS used PDP-11 hardware to cross-assemble early Microsoft products. I heard that he is still a participant in the crowd that hacks old deck hardware. The guy can't be all bad. Anyway, he's a big baseball fan so that's a plus in my book too.
Why, thank you for asking. In truth, the winner was this guy.
"Winner" being a relative term, of course.
Got a full tank of hot grits and a penis bird in the glove box.
Didn't Bill Gates get arrested in Albuquerque?
"Ancillary does not mean you get to rule the world." --U.S. Circuit Judge Harry Edwards, speaking to the FCC's lawyer
But I seem to recall reading that the MITS building was in a strip mall that had a girlie bar in it next to the Altair shop on one side and a laundramat on the other side. Somthing like that anyways.
Of course, you failed to mention that the radio station was actively looking for a commercial partner after being moved to a new department at the University. It wasn't some big offer from Paul Allen or Vulcan Ventures to an organization that was happy where it sat. Vulcan Ventures also owns a couple stations in Portland. I doubt Vulcan Ventures or Paul Allen are going to kill a radio station as popular as KCMU (er.. KEXP) is. It's a business venture. Alienating the community which makes your business prosper isn't normally a good business move. It could possibly be a Bad Thing in the end, but this radio station now has a brand new, rent-free studio to operate in, and all new, digital equipment.
BAM!
The planet where you don't have to run out into the middle of a desert to have access to quiet country living.
Civilized states in the US are knee deep with cities that have all of Albequerque's charm, few of it's problems and enhanced access to what few things might attract you to a larger city.
Just about any county from Illinois eastward trumps Albequerque.
Why bother with an overgrown Lancaster in the middle of the desert when you can just have the real thing?
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
I LIKE 130 degree heat in the desert.
It's the dullness of Albequerque and the lower salaries there that put it just above Cleveland on my hitparade of cities.
Albequerque is not "hot".
It's air quality is nothing to brag about either.
Some of us have actually been outside of our respective cities.
...and what kind of loser has a P4?
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
ALL YOUR BUILDING ARE BELONG TO MICROSOFT!
G.H.
Sorry. Couldn't be helped.
Just wait till some crappy band steals your nic.
Do not lean on case.
-Omar
...that Microsoft are going to be the sole owners of the ONLY MS Computer Museum in the whole of Albuquerque? Have they learned nothing from the Justice Department experience? This is clearly yet another demonstration of Microsoft's domination of the marketplace!
;-)
--
The gift of death metal does not smile on the good looking.
Will the building have a parking garage?
Got a full tank of hot grits and a penis bird in the glove box.