Bill Gates with the Office of the Secretary of the State of New Mexico. Gates never returned to Harvard to complete his studies. Microsoft's Altair BASIC was popular with computer hobbyists, but Gates discovered that a pre-market copy had leaked into the community and was being widely copied and distributed. In February 1976, Gates wrote an Open Letter to Hobbyists in the MITS newsletter in which he asserted that more than 90 percent of the users of Microsoft Altair BASIC had not paid Microsoft for it and by doing so the Altair "hobby market" was in danger of eliminating the incentive for
Thomas Sovereign Gates for ten years as a Trustee of the University and as Chairman of the University of Pennsylvania Fund. Gates was heavily involved in plans for the development of the new Valley Forge campus for the University; however, the idea was eventually dropped in favor of expanding Penn's West Philadelphia campus, not before currying strong support. He worked to fund and create a number of other facilities throughout the university. Gates also worked on major fundraising efforts with a campaign known as the Bicentennial Fund, after the University's 1940 bicentennial, which aimed to raise $12.5 million. Gates seemed to have partially