The idea that would spawn Microsoft germinated when Paul Allen showed Bill Gates the January 1 1975 issue of Popular Electronics that demonstrated the Altair 8800. Allen and Gates saw potential to develop an implementation of the programming language BASIC for the system. Bill Gates called the creators of the new microcomputer MITS() (Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems) offering to demonstrate the implementation in order to win a contract with the company. Allen and Gates had neither an interpreter nor an Altair system yet in the eight weeks before the demo they developed an interpreter. When Allen flew to Albuquerque New Mexico to meet with MITS the interpreter worked and MITS agreed to distribute Altair BASIC. Allen and Gates left Boston where Allen worked for Honeywell and Gates was enrolled in Harvard moved to Albuquerque (where MITS was located) and co-founded Microsoft there. Revenues of the company totaled $16 005 by the end of 1976.
