If I asked you “What is the first piece of software that Bill Gates and Paul Allen (the founders of Microsoft) made commercially?”… what would you say?
DOS? BASIC?
In fact… neither.
Before Microsoft was even a gleam in Bill Gates’ eye, he and Paul Allen started another computer company: Traf-O-Data.
The original Traf-O-Data logo.
It all started back in the early 1972 at Lakeside High School in Seattle, WA. Bill Gates was currently a Junior, and Paul Allen had graduated the year before.
To give you a visual, here are the two friends in those early days.
That little kid? That’s Bill Gates (13) in the 8th grade. The guy at the terminal? Paul Allen (15) as a High Schooler. Photo, taken in 1968, courtesy of Lakeside School, Seattle WA.
Gates and Allen in 1970 at the Lakeside High School computer club.
In 1972, those two boys (17 and 19 years old) had an idea for a business that just might make them some sweet, sweet moolah. Using computers. Which worked for them. They liked computers.
You see, the Washington State Department of Highways (which was later folded into the Department of Transportation in 1977) regularly counted the amount of traffic on key roads around the greater Seattle area — to optimize traffic flow and whatnot.
This was done by counting the number of axles that rolled across a series of pressure sensitive rubber tubes — then, every 15 minutes, that number would be punched onto a paper tape as a pattern representing a 16 bit number.
Those paper tapes would then be sent to local contractors who would read the data from the tape, write it out, and analyze the information — which would then be sent back to the Department of Highways.
This is the area and roads that traffic was being measured for. The picture shows modern traffic flow. Courtesy: WSDOT.
By Paul Allen’s account, “The process was monotonous, inefficient, and murder on the eyes.”
Gates and Allen created software to analyze the traffic data using a computer at the University of Washington (Allen’s father was a librarian at the University, and both Gates and Allen had used the computers there — via their school computer club — in the past).
What computer did they use?
Well, there were two options available to them at that specific time, at the University of Washington. The first option was a Scientific Data Systems Sigma 5 mainframe via a connected teletype terminal.
Fun facts of the SDS Sigma 5:
The base memory was 16K 32-Bit words (equivalent to 64K Bytes) with a maximum memory of 128K words.
The Sigma 5 was the slowest of the Sigma series, and was one of only two models in the Sigma line that had no virtual memory.
The base model sold for $300,000. Want an extra 16K words of memory? That’ll run you an extra $50,000.
An SDS Sigma 5 mainframe. Ain’t she a beauty?
A very cool machine. One that I wouldn’t mind using to decorate my living room.
But… it wasn’t the SDS Sigma 5. (But, hey, great excuse to look at that gorgeous machine, eh?)
Instead, Gates and Allen were using the CDC (Control Data Corporation) 6400.
Fun facts of the CDC 6400:
10 Mhz 60 bit processor (you read that correctly… 60 bit CPU).
64k of 60-bit core memory (with optional extended memory available).
Optional disk storage, typically around 10 Million “Words”.
Developed by none other than the legendary Seymour Cray. Yes. That Cray. Of Cray Supercomputer.
A CDC 6400 being worked on by some hardcore, late 1960s nerds.
There was just one problem:
The paper tape with the traffic data was a custom solution (storing 16 bits). The computer they had access to couldn’t read that in. (The CDC 6400 supported input via punch cards.)
How did Gates and Allen get around this problem?
They hired some kids.
Not joking.
They hired some of Gates’ fellow High School students to translate the 16 bit traffic data tape to the punch cards. By hand. They paid those kids 50 cents per tape to do the work that the two Microsoft founders really didn’t want to do.
Gates and Allen then fed the cards into the computer, and their custom software would create charts that they could then sell back to the Department of Highways.
Now, the question: How to improve on this system?
Gates and Allen needed to be able to cut out both the need to hire High Schoolers to translate the tapes (child labor just doesn’t scale well for this sort of project)… as well as remove the reliance on the University of Washington computer systems.
What they needed was… a computer of their own. One with a custom tape reader that could handle the traffic data directly.
Remember: This is the early 1970s. You couldn’t just walk down to Best Buy and grab a PC. Computers were so uncommon that people were renting computer time at Universities.
Luckily they found a schematic and instructions, in a computer magazine, on how to build a computer around the recently released Intel 8008 microprocessor — which would work nicely as the base system.
Note: It is unknown in which magazine Gates and Allen found the schematics for an Intel 8008 computer to base the Traf-O-Data system upon. If anyone has this information, I would love to find it and archive it.
Unfortunately, neither Gates nor Allen had any experience with designing hardware or building computers.
Enter: Paul Gilbert.
Gilbert was introduced to Gates and Allen by a mutual friend and he got to work building the Traf-O-Data machine. From parts. Including an 8008 processor purchased for $360 (in 1972 dollars… that’s over $2,500 in 2022 dollars).
The end result is this beauty:
The Traf-O-Data computer, based on an Intel 8008.
Custom tape reader. Cool blinking lights. An Intel 8008… what’s not to love?
What sort of specs did the Traf-O-Data computer have? A great question! According to Gates:
“[We] took these very tiny Intel memory chips -- I forget if they were 256-bit or 1K-bit, -- I think 1K-bit Intel chips in this 8008 and created a system and we did special software. 8008 wasn't capable of running a BASIC Interpreter. That had always been my Holy Grail because I had played around writing a little bit of a BASIC Interpreter on a PDP-8, and a Data General machine. But the 8008 is basically an 8-bit machine with no programmable stack. Doing this traffic analysis software was pushing the limits.”
Side note: Gates states that the “8008 wasn't capable of running a BASIC Interpreter”.
Is that true?
Gates is correct in the sense that an 8008 is an incredibly limited chip and presents many challenges for creating many pieces of software (including a BASIC interpreter).
Before their custom 8008-based computer was even complete, Gates & Allen got to work building software for this new computer that could read in the tape and create traffic reports. How did they do it? By creating an 8008 simulator on an IBM System/360 — which they also used at the University of Washington.
Simulating an Intel 8008 on an IBM System/360 was apparently not uncommon in those days.
An IBM System/360 Model 20.
Their ultimate goal was to produce and sell these Traf-O-Data computers to government agencies who wanted to automate their traffic data analysis.
Gates and Allen scheduled a time to demo the machine with their first potential client of the computer, King County (where Seattle is located). Unfortunately, according to Gates:
“When the guy from the County that Seattle's in came to see it, it didn't work.”
That’s right.
This was Bill Gates’ very first commercial demo… and his hardware & software didn’t work.
If that isn’t epic foreshadowing, I don’t know what is.
Bill Gates after a Blue Screen of Death during a Windows 98 demo.
In the end, Traf-O-Data managed to net a total of around $20,000 before closing down in 1975… when Gates and Allen formed Micro-Soft with the purpose of developing a BASIC interpreter for the Altair 8800.
A “Traf-O-Data” business card on display at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science.
Groupthink, Tech Journalism, & The Lunduke Journal
Why The Lunduke Journal uses the "10th Man Rule" to counter groupthink in the Tech Industry. (And why you'll definitely disagree with Lunduke sometimes.)
DuckStation developer says, "Next step will be removing Linux support entirely, because I'm sick of the headaches and hacks." Specifically naming Wayland as a source of problems.
Non-Woke "Political Protest Forks" like XLibre & Redot are thriving. Non-DEl Linux Distributions like Open Mandriva are as well. But Woke projects? Not doing so well.
Ads are filling the entirety of the Web -- websites, podcasts, YouTube videos, etc. -- at an increasing rate. Prices for those ad placements are plummeting. Consumers are desperate to use ad-blockers to make the web palatable. Google (and others) are desperate to break and block ad-blockers. All of which results in... more ads and lower pay for creators.
It's a fascinatingly annoying cycle. And there's only one viable way out of it.
In July 2025, a vulnerability in the GiveWP WordPress plugin exposed the names and email addresses of approximately 30k donors to the Pi-hole network-wide ad blocking project. Pi-hole subsequently self-submitted the list of impacted donors to HIBP
Kaginski discovered this when attempting to send an email to the LibreOffice development mailing list (hosted by FreeDesktop). It remains unclear if that specific email (which he sent via another address and was rather bland and technical) was the reason for the ban… or if attempting to send the email was simply the first time the ban was noticed by him.
This happened just days after LibreOffice officially accused Microsoft of engaging in a “Lock-in” strategy by creating “artificially complex”, XML-based office documents.
Are the two events related? Hard to say with any certainty.
To make matters worse, Kaginski has had no success in getting Microsoft to lift his locked email account — with the company making him jump through numerous, impossible hoops (such as requiring him to sign in to submit an appeal for his account being locked… but not allowing him to sign in… because his account is locked).
You got that? Sign in to fix the account you can’t sign in with.
Gotta love a good Catch-22.
Good job, Microsoft.
The Lunduke Journal reached out to a contact, within Microsoft, who made it clear that their group was not aware of the LibreOffice Developer’s locked account, but they were aware of the LibreOffice complaint article regarding “artificially complex” XML lock-in. Adding, “wow that looks bad”.
The Lunduke Journal’s Analysis
The odds of locking a LibreOffice developer’s email account being an official Microsoft corporate decision seems highly unlikely.
Microsoft, as a company, makes a lot of bad decisions — but this would just be too stupid for words. A massive PR blunder.
But could a single employee, feeling grumpy, have done it on an impulse? As some sort of revenge for LibreOffice’s “harsh” words about Microsoft? Sure. That seems entirely plausible?
Though, it’s also entirely plausible that some poorly designed AI-driven “naughty activity” detection bot flagged his account. Or, perhaps, the developer was reported by some random Open Source hooligan who likes to cause chaos (there’s a lot of those).
Either way, the fact that Microsoft requires people to log in — on accounts which cannot log in — in order to file an “appeal” is incredibly amusing. And is very, very typical Microsoft.
Many called XLibre & Redot nothing more than “political protests” that would quickly die and be forgotten. Boy were those naysayers wrong.
Over the last year, we’ve seen a couple of high profile forks, of large Open Source projects, which were inspired — in part — by a desire to move away from the political discrimination and Leftist Extremism within the original projects.
At the time, when each of these forked projects were started, many predicted that they would go nowhere. That they were nothing more than “political protest forks” — and they would die out quickly.
Let’s check in on both of those project to see if that has happened.
XLibre - The Xorg Fork
Since officially launching, at the end of June (last month), the XLibre project has published a handful of official releases (now up to version 25.0.0.5)… with a significant number of changes and fixes.
In fact, considering the significant new features (such as XNamespace Extensions), the first release of XLibre is larger (in every way I can think to measure) than any Xorg release in the last decade. With the number of contributors growing.
How about Operating System support? Many predicted that XLibre would be ignored by every Linux distribution on the planet. That it would go nowhere and nobody would use it.
According to the “Are we XLibre yet?” wiki, a number of systems have already (officially) adopted XLibre. Including: Devuan, Artix, GhostBSD, and (my personal favorite) OpenMandriva.
This is important to note: All of that support has occurred even though XLibre has only existed for one month. Several systems already officially supporting it is nothing short of “crazy impressive”. Borderline unprecedented.
In addition, a number of systems have 3rd party repositories which allow users to install and use XLibre. Including: Arch, FreeBSD, Gentoo, NixOS, Slackware, and (seriously) macOS.
In short: Growing group of developers. Rapidly growing platform support. New releases which put the original project (Xorg) to shame.
Redot - The Godot Game Engine Fork
The Redot project — which forked off of Godot back in October of 2024 — had a stable release (4.3.1) back in June, and just had a new test release (4.4 Alpha 2). Both with both new features and fixes.
In fact, Redot has had 13 releases since the project started late last year.
With an absolutely massive number of commits since then.
In short: Steady, new releases. New features and bug fixes. Both stable and testing releases.
These Projects are Thriving
It’s hard to look at either of these projects and come to any conclusion other than they are absolutely thriving.
At this point, it’s looking like those who predicted rapid failure for these “Political Forks” were not only wrong… but wildly, obscenely wrong.
Why The Lunduke Journal uses the “10th Man Rule” to counter groupthink in the Tech Industry.
If my audience always agrees with me — 100% of the time — I’m probably doing something wrong.
That’s core to the ethos of The Lunduke Journal.
Any Brand X Tech Journalist can publish articles and shows filled with ideas, and facts, which their audience is known to already approve of. It’s easy to play it safe. To tell people — and corporations — what they want to hear. To pander.
We have enough Tech Journalists who do exactly that. Heck, we’re lousy with ‘em.
Put another way: The Lunduke Journal is not here to make friends. Not here to win some “Tech Reporter Popularity Contest”(tm).
Why The Lunduke Journal Exists
The Lunduke Journal exists to tell the truth about the Tech Industry (and world of Computing) — as I see it — no matter what. To tell the stories the other Tech Journalists are terrified of touching, for fear of losing that afore mentioned popularity contest.
The Lunduke Journal publishes leaks from major corporations — royally ticking off all of Big Tech in the process.
The Lunduke Journal shines a light on the discriminatory, DEI, & woke practices of Tech — causing nearly every Tech Industry person, with a Left-leaning political stance, to label me enemy number one (often attacking me, with wildly vulgar statements, in a desperate attempt to discredit me).
The Lunduke Journal investigates the shady business practices of Open Source Foundations and organizations — resulting in nearly every leader within the Free and Open Source world to either fear or despise me (often both).
In fact, The Lunduke Journal publishes stories — ranging from investigative pieces to pure opinion and analysis — which will, undoubtedly, infuriate (or at least annoy) every single nerd on this green Earth of ours.
Prefer Linux, Windows, or Mac? Left, Center, or Right politically? Pro or Anti-Government control over Tech? Star Wars or Star Trek?
Never fear. There will surely be a Lunduke Journal story which you will strongly disagree with. Just give it a little time.
Let me tell you why.
The Tenth Man Principle
Groupthink can be a very dangerous thing. Especially when you already agree with the consensus of the group.
There is a concept where, if 9 men all agree on something — an idea, a fact, a strategy — it is the duty of the 10th man to take a different approach. To pursue a contrary idea or strategy.
In some ways this is a variation on “Playing Devil’s Advocate”, but I prefer the “10th Man Principle” — it is more focused on challenging an entrenched consensus.
Which is where The Lunduke Journal comes in.
When I sit down and read Tech News — and listen to Tech Podcasts or Videos — and 90% of the coverage is all repeating the same position… whenever an extreme consensus has been reached… a red flag is raised. The 10th Man Principle is triggered.
My job is then to take whatever that topic is — a piece of breaking Tech news, a historical fact, an opinion on how Tech should be governed, etc. — and spin it around. Look at it from a completely different angle — and pursue that new line of thinking.
This isn’t about simply being contrarian for the sake of being contrarian.
I must investigate that topic rigorously. Focus on known, verifiable facts. Challenge any assumptions made (by myself or others) in whatever that consensus is. Dig deep. Dig where others have not. See where that investigation leads.
Sometimes that investigation leads to nothing overly interesting or worth publishing. Other times… the results are illuminating and profoundly valuable.
If you’ve followed The Lunduke Journal for any length of time, you’ve seen the results of this ethos. Over and over again.
And I Love It
There are, obviously, some challenges with this approach. To put it mildly.
Corporate sponsorship is — for reasons I clearly do not need to explain — impossible.
Luckily, The Lunduke Journal has an amazing (and generous) audience which keeps the lights on, making corporate sponsorship completely unnecessary. So Big Tech can kiss my tuchus.
On that note, getting employees of any Corporation or Foundation to talk “on the record” is simply not going to happen. In fact, many organizations have firm (and, often, stated) policies of “Don’t talk to Lunduke… ever”.
But, you know what? The brave whistleblowers within those companies have proven far more enlightening than any official statement from an executive could hope to be.
Oh, and that “Tech Journalism Popularity Contest”(tm)? Pshht. Forget about it. Not a chance. Not as long as I continue with the “10th Man Principle”.
If I’m doing my job right, the list of people who consider me an enemy of whatever entrenched, consensus position they hold… will continue to grow.
While, at the same time, the rag-tag group of Lunduke Journal supporters — those amazing nerds who see the need for this work (even though, on occasion, I publish something which challenges one of their deeply held convictions… or, perhaps, because of it) — will also continue to grow.
There are some options. For both subscribing and donating. They're all on this page.
Bonus: At the bottom of this page you will find the invite link to the super-secret Lunduke Journal Discord Chat Server. This is only available for full subscribers, which makes it a nice place to hang out. No riff-raff.
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