MITS: Rockets, Calculators, and Personal Computers
Summary
This article recounts the formation of Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS) and its ascent through the late 1960s to the mid-1970s, detailing Ed Roberts’ shift from rocketry and instrumentation toward calculators and early microcomputers. It covers the Altair 8800 origin story, the BASIC software collaboration with Paul Allen and Bill Gates, and the company’s eventual sale, outlining how these events helped catalyze the personal computer era and a broader software and hardware ecosystem.