Definitely larger than a bread box, the MITS Altair 8800 started the personal computer revolution — or at least had a very significant role in it. Originally designed to launch multiple model rockets in sequence, it was programmable and had to be ordered through the mail and built upon receipt. You might not know it, but the deepest roots of Microsoft are in the Altair 8800 and the Altair BASIC language that was written to run it.