Editing Traf-O-Data (section)

==Traf-O-Data hardware==
[[Image:Traf-O-Data Computer.jpg|thumb|250px|Traf-O-Data 8008 computer with a tape reader]]
The next step was to build a device to read the traffic tapes directly and eliminate the tedious manual work. The [[Intel 8008]] microprocessor was announced in 1972 and they realized it could read the tapes and process the data. Allen had graduated and was enrolled at [[Washington State University]]. Since neither Gates nor Allen had any hardware design experience, they were initially stumped.

Gates and Allen had a friend, Paul Wennberg, who, like them, loitered at [[Control Data Corporation]] near the University of Washington, cadging open time on the mainframe computer. Wennberg, later the founder of the Triakis Corporation, was an [[electrical engineering]] student at the University of Washington. In the course of events Gates and Allen mentioned they were looking for somebody to build them a computer for free. They needed somebody good enough to build a computer from parts and the diagrams found in a computer magazine. Wennberg talked to his friend, Wes Prichard, who suggested to Wennberg that Gates and Allen head over to the UW Physics building, now known as Mary Gates Hall,<ref name= "Gates Hall">{{cite web | url = http://www.washington.edu/uaa/leading/mary-gates-hall/ | title = Mary Gates Hall | website = UW Undergraduate Academic Affairs | publisher = University of Washington | access-date = Oct 20, 2015 | quote = Formerly known as the Physics Building, Mary Gates Hall is the result of a distinguished legacy, inspired leadership, and vision for the future of the UW’s undergraduate experience. The Board of Regents decision to re-name the building coincided with a 1995 $10 million gift from the Gates family that established the Mary Gates Endowment for Students.}}</ref> to talk to Paul Gilbert, another electrical engineering student, who worked in the high-energy tracking laboratory. It was there that Paul Gilbert was approached by the duo to become a partner in Traf-O-Data.

That year Gilbert, piece by piece, [[wire-wrap]]ped,<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20130511142147/http://www.thegatesnotes.com/Personal/Early-Days-as-a-Computer-Programmer "Early Days as a Computer Programmer"], October 27, 2011, thegatesnotes.com</ref> soldered, and assembled from electrical components the working microcomputer. Miles Gilbert, Paul Gilbert's brother, a graphic designer and draftsman, helped the fledgling company by designing the company's logo.<ref>{{cite book | last=Manes | first=Stephen | author2=Paul Andrews | date=1994 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cynR_pehxHgC | title=Gates: How Microsoft's Mogul Reinvented an Industry—and Made Himself the Richest Man in America | publisher=Touchstone | page=51 | isbn=9780671880743 | via=Google Books}}</ref> Gates and Allen started writing the software. To test the software while the computer was being designed, Paul Allen wrote a computer program on WSU's [[PDP-10]] that would emulate the 8008 microprocessor.

Although the plan had been to manufacture and sell the machines:
{{Quote| style=font-size:100% | text="...&nbsp;when the guy from the County that Seattle's in came to see it, it didn't work. We ended up being okay successful, not seriously successful&nbsp;... just by processing the tapes. At first, that was a very manual process. Then we used this prototype machine that we built to do that. So, we made a little bit of money and had some fun with it." |author=Bill Gates|source=''Smithsonian''<ref>[http://americanhistory.si.edu/comphist/gates.htm#tc5 "Using an 8008 Processor"], Bill Gates interview, ''Smithsonian''</ref>}}

Later, the State of Washington offered free traffic processing services to cities, ending the need for private contractors, and all three principals moved on to other projects. The real contribution of Traf-O-Data was the experience that Gates and Allen gained, skills they used to write [[Altair BASIC]] for the [[Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems|MITS]] [[Altair 8800]] computer:
{{Quote| style=font-size:100% | text="Even though Traf-O-Data wasn't a roaring success, it was seminal in preparing us to make Microsoft's first product a couple of years later. We taught ourselves to simulate how microprocessors work, using [[Digital Equipment Corporation|DEC]] computers, so we could develop software even before our machine was built."|author=Paul Allen|source=''Fortune''<ref>[https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1995/10/02/206528/index.htm "Interview with Bill Gates and Paul Allen"], October 1995, ''Fortune''</ref>}}