2 Feb
1999
2 Feb
'99
3:10 a.m.
On Tue, 2 Feb 1999, Marvin wrote:
Doug wrote:
>
> No it doesn't. Here's the Real Story (TM): Ed Roberts had a publication
> deadline for this computer kit. He knew there was no way he was going to
> make that deadline, so he stalled. He told Sol that the box was on its
> way. Of course, it never showed, so they did a mock-up for the cover
> shoot, which is all Roberts ever had until the first orders came in, and
> then he was finally able to afford the components to build the first real
> Altair.
I sorta believe this but not as stated.
To start with the PE publication schedual was articles for say january
had to be in place TWO months before (beginning of november and a little
earlier for the Christmass end of the year. Teh version shown in the
article was a proto from the summer before and not the production version.
There were numerous differences between the two but MITS was ready to ship
though they were not prepared for the initial wave of orders (many times
greater than expected). So those that ordered early got it fast then
there was a period of about 6months where the delays were pretty long due
to backlog.
I beleive the pretty first production model was lost and required the
substitution of the only complete sample for the article shoot in most
likely late october.
Allison