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Paul Allen Buys Old MITS Building 73

Posted by Hemos from the reusing-space dept.
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.."
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Paul Allen Buys Old MITS Building More

Paul Allen Buys Old MITS Building

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  • Sure, it would be MS tilted...

    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?

  • 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.

  • "And this is the spot... (Score:5)

    by Richy_T ( 111409 ) on Thursday April 05, 2001 @12:18PM (#312519) Homepage
    where Bill Gates invented the Internet. If you look just here, you can see the shoe marks where Al Gore stood over his shoulder offering suggentions."

    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.

  • /. paying for links? (Score:3)

    by Sticky Toejam ( 163390 ) on Thursday April 05, 2001 @12:20PM (#312521)
    OK Hemos [hemos.net], did you actually pay [icopyright.com] 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.
  • 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.

  • For those interested in m$ history (Score:3)

    by toast- ( 72345 ) on Thursday April 05, 2001 @01:45PM (#312526)
    I have a page with a couple pieces of interesting PC (Including early microsoft) history. Check them out Here [uoguelph.ca]

    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...
  • 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?
  • Haven't heard about him lately. Is he still with MS?

    He left MS 18 years ago :P Really a good news to associate with MS ;-)

  • >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.

    --

  • 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 [inwap.com].

  • 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.
  • 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... '-)
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • A big nothing, if you don't include Sandia Labs, Intel, a bunch of other high-tech companies, 350 days of sunshine, great restaurants, a good music scene, one of the best CS and engineering schools out there, etc. etc.

    Grown a little? Try one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in the U.S over the last 20 years.

    If the IT scene was just a little more hopping, like the Bay Area or Seattle, this place would be perfect.

  • I've been in Japan for 4 months.
    The only way I know now to express ideas is awkwardly.
  • Sure, it would be MS tilted

    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 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 heard about him lately. Is he still with MS?

  • Embrace - check (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    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/~

  • uh, try reading the article? not gonna quote, but even I noticed that it said that he left M$ in 1983, he is still on the board, and is the second largest shareholder..
  • "...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...

    ***
  • Paul Allen is still on Microsoft's board of directors.

    Yes, but I don't think he has any active role there or any real influence over the company. As far as I know, he is rather distanced.

    I wouldn't call Transmeta anti-Microsoft at all.

    Well, I happen to remember stories (including /.) from a few years ago where people were hoping that Transmeta would finally invent the silver bullet to take down Microsoft ;-)

  • 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)
  • City of Vista just converted an old real estate office/stip mall into a homeless shelter. Christians next door have mixed feelings.

  • He'll probably turn the building into... (Score:3)

    by mjfgates ( 150958 ) on Thursday April 05, 2001 @02:45PM (#312559)
    ... 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.

  • Sands Missile Range Museum are a few hours away. Both have some appeal

    But not the missile range itself. I spent a few weeks there and that place SUCKS!

  • I lived in the Albuquerque area longer than anywhere else (Jan 1981-June 1984; Sep 1989-Sep 1993). Originally, I lived in the South Valley of Albuquerque, then the West Mesa, then way out East to Edgewood. I graduated from high school and college in Albuquerque (I attended both UNM and TV-I).

    New Mexico in general has a lot of beautiful scenary. Albuquerque is blessed with the towering Sandia Mountains, which extend a mile over the mile-high city (Sandia Crest is around 10k feet). It is amazing that one can sit on one side of town and watch the traffic 10 miles away on the other side of town (Albuqueque is built across a river valley, so you can look across the valley). Environmentally, Albuquerque is wonderful.

    The rest of Albuquerque's characteristics may or may not appeal to you. I wish I had watched, "Pirates of Silicon Valley," so I would know how they portrayed Albuquerque. I can say that the New Mexico economy (including Albuquerque's) generally is depressed. One government agency or another own most of the land in New Mexico, and what the government doesn't own, one Indian tribe or another probably does. Albuquerque has a "unique tri-culture" (to quote an old radio ad on KKOB), composed of "White," Latino, and American Indian. The State is historically slightly Left-leaning and Democrat-dominated. They elected their first Republican governor in 50 years a few years ago; ask someone who can remember what they thought of Democrat Governor Tony Anaya (aka, annoy-ya). In the last decade, Albuquerque has become slightly more conservative (especially KKOB).

    Good jobs are hard to find in New Mexico. Most of the people who have significant amounts of money work for the government, though ranchers generally do OK, too. Intel built a wafer fab plant on the West side of Albuquerque (in Rio Rancho) about a decade ago. GE has a large aircraft engine manufacturing plant in the South Valley. One of the teacher assistants at T-VI lamented to me that Albuquerque tax-payers send so much money to T-VI to educate students, but then, due to the poor job market, most of the graduates immediately leave the State. (My reply to her was something like, "Yes, and I thank you.")

    BTW, sales tax in Albuquerque was 8.25% the last I checked, in addition to State and other income tax. This compares to the 8.25% sales tax in Dallas, Texas, where there is no individual income tax; Dallas also has a much better job market. Dallas is vastly more sophisticated than Albuquerque.

    The weather is better in Dallas than in Albuquerque. Summer temperatures in Albuquerque often top 90 F; Dallas' Summers runs about 10 F cooler. Winter temperatures in Albuquerque drop below freezing and most of the city gets a few inches of snow; Dallas hardly ever gets more than an inch of snow, and the Winter temperature is about 10 F warmer. Dallas has much more water and is at a lower altitude. My skin doesn't dry out and my lips don't crack and bleed when I am in Dallas; it does in Albuquerque.

    If you are looking for a large, somewhat-sleepy, quiet city with beautiful scenary, Albuquerque is a great place to stop. If you are trying to make a living, Albuqueque is not so hot.

  • 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. ;)
  • Yes, for speeding. He loved to drive his sports car at high speeds, and he got a lot of traffic tickets. I've wondered a few times what the Seattle police think about Mr. Gates' driving habits?

  • No, you see the original knee pads he used.
  • ... the 50-foot high Teletype machine for a console?
  • Microsoft Museum(tm)? That's impossible! How can you reboot a museum?!
  • I just happend to have run across an ad for a MITS calculator and posted a scan here [widomaker.com] - 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.
  • No, don't waste your time. I don't care about wether it had an X in the name or not =)

    but thanks for the interesting points of view on your experience with CP/M etc.

    I was too young to know the difference at the time.
  • 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!

  • 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...I'm guessing that you probably make more than most of the homeless people in this country. Let's enact a confiscatory tax on YOU.B

  • Re:There are better uses (Score:5)

    by PD ( 9577 ) <slashdotlinux@pdrap.org> on Thursday April 05, 2001 @11:59AM (#312572) Homepage Journal
    Oh for chrissake. You're just like those people who say let's not go to the moon because there's people starving on Earth.

    I say, why not turn the static display Saturn V at the Cape into rent controlled housing? Two birds, one rocket. Wait, the rocket is a bird. Make that three birds.
  • Actually, he probably bought it because that's where they buried the bodies in the old days, and he wanted to make sure no body got at the evidence.

    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 [eplugz.com] comic strip

  • Confiscation of personal property is not moral. If you would like to buy an office building and create a homeless shelter, by all means do so, but do it with your own money.
  • 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.
  • Paul Allen does indeed care about homeless people. A quick search turned up the following:

    HOMELESS USERS BUILDING LICENSE AGREEMENT - PLEASE READ

    By stepping thru the doorway in order to live in and use the Building, You agree that You must obtain one of the following three types of licenses: (1) Non-Commercial Use License, (2) Evaluation for Commercial Use License, or (3) Commercial Use License.

    To qualify for a Non-Commercial Use License, You must: (1) be homeless or 2) be homeless or (3) be homeless.

    The term "Non-Commercial Entity" is limited to the following: homeless people at universities or other educational institutions (such as pre-schools, elementary schools, middle or junior high schools, high schools, and community or junior colleges), non-profit organizations (such as public libraries, charities, and other organizations created for the promotion of social welfare), "Education Affiliated homelessUsers," and individual homeless users who use the Building for personal use (such as connecting to an Internet Service Provider for personal use, hobby, recreational, or educational purposes). The term "Education Affiliated homeless Users" is limited to homeless students, faculty members, researchers, administrators, support staff, and employees of a university or other educational institution. The term "Excluded homeless Contractor" is limited to homeless independent, solo contractors while performing work for a Non-commercial Entity, such as a university or other educational institution in an individual capacity. If You qualify for a Non-Commercial Use License, You may use the Building free of charge.

    If You do not qualify for a Non-Commercial Use License, then You may obtain either an Evaluation for Commercial Use License or a Commercial Use License.

    If You would like to try using the Building before obtaining a Commercial Use License, then You may wish to obtain an Evaluation for Commercial Use License. This will allow You to use the Building for free for a period of up to thirty (30) days ("Free Trial Period"). After expiration of the Free Trial Period, if You want to continue using the Building, then You must purchase a Commercial Use License.

    If You do not qualify for a Non-Commercial Use License or if the Free Trial Period has expired and You want to use or continue using the Building, You must either purchase a Commercial Use License or get the fuck out .

  • Paul Allen and DEC nostalgia (Score:3)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 05, 2001 @12:06PM (#312577)
    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 [uglypeople.com].

    "Winner" being a relative term, of course.
  • 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.

  • 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?

  • 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?



  • ALL YOUR BUILDING ARE BELONG TO MICROSOFT!

    G.H.
    Sorry. Couldn't be helped.

  • Display: (Score:5)

    by omarius ( 52253 ) <omar@allwrUMLAUTong.com minus punct> on Thursday April 05, 2001 @12:09PM (#312585) Homepage Journal
    In this case lies one of the original copies of Altair BASIC. It is one of the very first Microsoft products. This is an original, not a copy made by some dirty hippie hacker in a computer club. I'll get you thieving bastards if it's the last thing I do! When I am Emperor, you'll be first up against the wall! Bide your time, filty commie code stealers! AHAHAHAHA!

    Do not lean on case.

    -Omar

  • If we want to fool ourselves into thinking the 20th century was a time of "togetherness", then yes, thats what we should do.


    ------

  • Are you telling me... (Score:5)

    by Mindwarp ( 15738 ) on Thursday April 05, 2001 @12:10PM (#312587) Homepage Journal
    ...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!

    ;-)

    --
  • Will the building have a parking garage?
  • It's important to remember the past, but what if the past wasn't worth remembering?

    History... is bunk.

    --

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