Timeline; 1976

Remembered by some as "the year punk rock was invented".

Bill Gates of Micro-Soft sends out his "Open Letter to Hobbyists", repudiating the idea of communal software development, which had worked very well for many years, and still does.

The Copyright Act of 1976 had overhauled U.S. copyright law, extending the legal coverage of copy-right to software programs.

The Actors Paul Robeson and Sid James died this year.

There were also some books and movies created this year.