Connecting the Dots - From Altair 8800 to Modern Cloud Computing

Explore computing's fascinating evolution from the Altair 8800 to modern cloud platforms in this live, demo-driven conference talk featuring Scott Hanselman and Mark Russinovich at Microsoft Ignite 2025. Trace the journey from humble toggle switches to REST APIs while discovering why terminals are experiencing a renaissance and how architectural patterns from 1975 illuminate today's biggest technology trends. Witness live demonstrations connecting historical computing devices to modern systems, including bootloader evolution from 28-byte programs to UEFI and Azure, the progression from machine language to assembler and abstraction layers, and Mark Russinovich's early programming career including his first published program. Learn about early computing culture through magazine-distributed hex code programs and BASIC screen dumping techniques, watch an Altair successfully boot into CP/M and run BASIC programs, and discover the pre-social media tech community fostered by the Sysinternals Newsletter. Experience the open-sourcing of classic Zork games 1, 2, and 3 through Xbox and Activision partnerships, observe live bridge connections between physical Altair hardware and modern emulators, and understand the delightfully complex multistep pipeline connecting physical devices to contemporary emulation systems. Connect the dots from early personal computing to hyperscale platforms while gaining insights into how modern applications are built, scaled, and delivered in today's cloud infrastructure.