Heathkit – An Employee Looks Back

>Later, in 1975 we decided to do something about a more formal computer kit given the success of MITS and others with kit products. So in addition to my education product duties I took on the job of defining a product line with the help of Heath Manager of Design Engineering Chas Gilmore. With minimal in-house computer expertise, we decided to try to buy a design and “kit” it. We tried with Apple and were rudely turned down by a young Steve Jobs.

>So we decided to make our own.

>As for software we tried to get CP/M from Gary Kildall but he said no. We tried to get Microsoft BASIC but we decided against it. Bill Gates visited Heath and said we could use it for an outrageous per license cost. He was arrogant and discourteous and our president at the time Dave Nurse kicked him out. We ended up hiring our first real programmer who wrote both an OS and a version of BASIC.

>We launched the computer line in 1977. It was an instant success despite the competition from the Apple II and TRS-80 which also launched that year. Within a year we were making $40 million annually with computers putting Heath Company well over the $100 million revenue mark. We followed up with floppy drives for the H8 and an all-in-one computer called the H89, a terminal and floppy in a box using a Z80. It too was a huge success.

From a 2013 article by Frenzel, who worked with Gilmore at Heath to launch their personal computer kit.

https://www.electronicdesign.com/technologies/communications...

When I was a teenager I used Heathkit's to build my entire ham radio station. Still own that equipment, lot of nostalgia that those techies under fifty will not understand.