Bill Gates

William or Bill Gates was born on October 28, 1955. Bill had two sisters
and they grew up in Seattle. Their father William H. Gates II is a Seattle
attorney and their mother, Mary Gates as a schoolteacher of the University
of Washington regent and chairwomen of United Way International. Bill Gates
attended public elementary school and the private Lakeside School. At the
age of 13 Bill Gates started his career in computer software at the private
Lakeside School and programming computers.

Bill Gates entered the University of Harvard as a freshman and where Steve
Ballmer lived right down the hall from Bill Gates and he is now Microsoft's
President. When at Harvard Bill made the programming language for the first
microcomputer. When Bill Gates was a junior, Bill Gates dropped out of
Harvard University to work on Microsoft, a company he had begun in 1975 with
the help of Paul Allen. Bill Gates believed that computers were the thing of
the future and everyone will have in an office, house and schools. So they
had begun making software for personal computers.

With Bill Gates as a leader Microsoft will continue to advance and improve
technology and to make software easier, less money and more fun. The company
is committed to a long-term relationship. In 1999, Bill Gates wrote a book
called Business @ the speed of Thought, this book shows how digital programs
will help a business in solving problems. This book was co-authored by
Collins Hemingway, and also written in 25 different languages and is
available in more than 60 countries.

Bill Gates was married on Jan 1, 1994, to Melinda French Gates. The couple
has two children: a daughter, Jennifer Katharine Gates, born in 1996; and a
son, Rory John Gates, born in 1999. Bill Gates is not a computer nerd he
also likes golfing and bridge.

Bill Gates is one of the most influential people in the world. He is cofounder of one of the most
recognized brands in the computer industry with nearly every desk top computer using at least one
software program from Microsoft. According to the Forbes magazine, Bill Gates is the richest man in the
world and has held the number one position for many years.

Gates was born and grew up in Seattle, Washington USA. His father, William H. Gates II was a Seattle
attorney and his mother, Mary Maxwell Gates was a school teacher and chairperson of the United Way
charity. Gates and his two sisters had a comfortable upbringing, with Gates being able to attend the
exclusive secondary "Lakeside School".
Bill Gates started studying at Harvard University in 1973 where he spent time with Paul Allen. Gates and
Allen worked on a version of the programming language BASIC, that was the basis for the MITS Altair
(the first microcomputer available). He did not go on to graduate from Harvard University as he left in his
junior year to start what was to become the largest computer software company in the world; Microsoft
Corporation.

Bill Gates and the Microsoft Corporation

"To enable people and businesses throughout the world to realize their full potential." Microsoft Mission
Statement
After dropping out of Harvard Bill Gates and his partner Paul Allen set about revolutionizing the computer
industry. Gates believed there should be a computer on every office desk and in every home.

In 1975 the company Micro-soft was formed, which was an abbreviation of microcomputer software. It
soon became simply "Microsoft"® and went on to completely change the way people use computers.

Microsoft helped to make the computer easier to use with its developed and purchased software, and
made it a commercial success. The success of Microsoft began with the MS-DOS computer operating
system that Gates licensed to IBM. Gates also set about protecting the royalties that he could acquire
from computer software by aggressively fighting against all forms of software piracy, effectively creating
the retail software market that now exists today. This move was quite controversial at the time as it was
the freedom of sharing that produced much innovation and advances in the newly forming software
industry. But it was this stand against software piracy, that was to be central in the great commercial
success that Microsoft went on to achieve.

Bill Gates retired as Microsoft CEO in 2008.

Bill Gates Criticism

With his great success in the computer software industry also came many criticisms. With his ambitious
and aggressive business philosophy, Gates or his Microsoft lawyers have been in and out of courtrooms
fighting legal battles almost since Microsoft began.

The Microsoft monopoly sets about completely dominating every market it enters through either
acquisition, aggressive business tactics or a combination of them. Many of the largest technology
companies have fought legally against the actions of Microsoft, including Apple Computer, Netscape,
Opera, WordPerfect, and sun Microsystems.

Bill Gates Net Worth

With an estimated wealth of $53 billion in 2006, Bill Gates is the richest man in the world and he should
be starting to get used to the number spot as he has been there from the mid-ninties up until now. The
famous investor Warren Buffett is gaining on Gates though with an estimated $46 billion in 2006.

Microsoft hasn't just made Bill Gates very wealthy though. According to the Forbes business magazine in
2004 Paul Allen, Microsoft cofounder was the 5th richest man in the world with an estimated $21 billion.
While Bill Gates' long time friend and Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer was the 19th richest man in the world
at $12.4 billion.

See more information the Bill Gates Net Worth page.

Bill Gates Philanthropy
Being the richest man in the world has also enabled Gates to create one of the world's largest charitable
foundations. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has an endowment of more than $28 billion, with
donations totaling more than $1 billion every year. The foundation was formed in 2000 after merging the
"Gates Learning Foundation" and "William H. Gates Foundation". Their aim is to "bring innovations in
health and learning to the global community".

Bill Gates continues to play a very active role in the workings of the Microsoft Company, but has handed
the position of CEO over to Steve Ballmer. Gates now holds the positions of "Chairman" and "Chief
Software Architect". He has started that he plans to take on fewer responsibilities at Microsoft and will
eventually devote all his time to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

In 2006, the second richest man in the world, Warren Buffett pledged to give much of his vast fortune to
the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Bill Gates Receives a KBE

In March 2005 William H. Gates received an "honorary" knighthood from the queen of England. Gates
was bestowed with the KBE Order (Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire)
for his services in reducing poverty and improving health in the developing countries of the world.
After the privately held ceremony in Buckingham Palace with Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Gates
commented on the recognition..
"I am humbled and delighted. I am particularly pleased that this honor helps recognize the real heroes our
foundation (Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation) supports to improve health in poor countries. Their
incredible work is helping ensure that one day all people, no matter where they are born, will have the
same opportunity for a healthy life, and I'm grateful to share this honor with them."

The KBE Order of the British Empire is the second highest Order given out, but it is only an honorary
knighthood as only citizens that are British or a part of the Commonwealth receive the full Order. This
means that Gates does not become Sir Bill Gates.

Bill Gates lives near Lake Washington with his wife Melinda French Gates and their three children.
Interests of Gates include reading, golf and playing bridge

Bill Gates & Microsoft

In 1975, before graduation Gates left Harvard to form Microsoft with his childhood friend Paul Allen.
The pair planned to develop software for the newly emerging personal computer market.

Bill Gate's company Microsoft became famous for their computer operating systems and killer business
deals. For example, Bill Gates talked IBM into letting Microsoft retain the licensing rights to MS-DOS
an operating system, that IBM needed for their new personal computer. Gates proceeded to make a
fortune from the licensing of MS-DOS.
On November 10, 1983, at the Plaza Hotel in New York City, Microsoft Corporation formally announced
Microsoft Windows, a next-generation operating system.

On January 1, 1994, Bill Gates married Melinda French Gates. They have three children.

Bill Gates Philanthropist

Bill Gates and his wife, Melinda, have endowed the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation with more than
$28.8 billion (as of January 2005) to support philanthropic initiatives in the areas of global health and
learning.

Founder of microsoft

Bill Gates is co-founder, chairman and chief software architect of Microsoft Corporation, the
most successful software company in the world, celebrated for creating software that is strong
and innovative while still being user friendly. Microsoft now employs more than 85,000 people
in 85 countries.

Bill Gates came from a household of entrepreneurship and exuberant liveliness. William Henry
Gates III was born in Seattle, Washington on October 28th, 1955. His father, William H. Gates
II, is a Seattle attorney. His late mother, Mary Gates, was a schoolteacher, University of
Washington trustee, and chairperson of United Way International.

He attended public elementary school and the private Lakeside School. There, he fell upon his
interest in software and started programming computers at the age of thirteen. In late 1968 the
Lakeside programming group was organized consisting of him, Paul and two other students from
Lakeside Prep School. They sought to apply their new computer skills to the material world.
They received this opportunity when the Computer Centre Corporation made a deal with them.
In exchange for limitless computer time, Gates and his friends explored the computer for bugs
and weaknesses in the system.

The Computer Centre Corporation went under in March 1970. The Lakeside programmers
immediately needed a new source of computer time. Their next opportunity came from
Information Sciences Inc. who engaged them to produce a payroll program. As compensation for
this they would be granted free computer time and royalties from the software system, granting
them a source of income for the first time. Traf-O-Data was his and Allen's following project,
which involved making software to assist in measuring traffic flow. They earned riches of
approximately $20,000 from the company in whole, which lasted until he departed for college.

In 1973, He enrolled in Harvard University as a freshman, where he lived just down the hall
from Steve Ballmer, today Microsoft's CEO. While at Harvard, Gates wrote a version of the
programming language BASIC for the first microcomputer - the MITS Altair. In 1975, Gates and
Allen co-founded Microsoft Corporation to market their variation of BASIC, known as
Microsoft BASIC. It was the principal interpreted computer language of the MS-DOS operating
system, and was central to Microsoft's early commercial success. Microsoft BASIC evolved into
Microsoft QuickBasic and QBasic, Visual Basic, and later on still, Visual Basic .NET. In his
junior year, he left Harvard to dedicate his energies to Microsoft. Directed by a notion that the
computer would be a precious tool on every office desktop and in every home, they started
producing software for personal computers. His foresight and his vision for personal computing
have been the core of the success of Microsoft and the software industry.

In February 1976, Gates published the "Open Letter to Hobbyists", which stunned the computer
hobbyist community by maintaining that a commercial market existed for computer software.
Gates expressed in the letter that software should not be copied without the publisher's
permission, which he likened to piracy. Though legally correct, Gates's proposition was
unprecedented in a community that was shaped from its ham radio legacy and hacker ethic, in
which inventions and knowledge were freely shared in the community. Even so, Gates was
correct about the market prospects and his endeavors paid off: Microsoft Corporation became
one of the world's most prosperous business enterprises, and a significant player in the
introduction of a retail software industry.

In the process, Gates acquired a debatably distasteful reputation for his business practices. A
prime example bears on the roots of MS-DOS. In the late 1970s, IBM was preparing to get into
the personal computer market with its IBM Personal Computer (PC), which was released in
1981. IBM required an operating system for its new computer, which was supported on the
recently evolved, 16-bit architecture of the Intel x86 processor family.

After briefly negotiating with a different company (the Digital Research Corporation in
California), IBM approached Microsoft. Without disclosing their affiliations with IBM,
Microsoft executives in turn approached Seattle Computer, which had produced a x86-based
operating system, and purchased the operating system for a rumored sum of $50,000. (In
Microsoft's defense, they might have been under agreement not to discuss their talks with IBM,
so they really could not have disclosed their ties.) Microsoft subsequently licensed the operating
system to IBM (which released it under the PC-DOS name) and worked with computer
manufacturers to include its own version, called MS-DOS, with every computer system
distributed.

Stunningly successful, this trade was disputed in court by Seattle Computer on the grounds that
Microsoft had hidden its relationship with IBM in order to buy the operating system cheaply;
later, there was a settlement, but no admission of fraudulence or guilt. Gates' reputation was
further clouded by a series of major antitrust suits brought both by the U.S. Justice Department
and individual companies against Microsoft in the late 1990s.

Microsoft announced Windows 1.0 in 1983, which promised a graphical user interface (GUI),
better graphics, and multi-tasking. However, the final product wasn't released for another 2 years
until 1985 and, with very few compatible applications, early versions of Windows didn't sell
well. Over the next five years Microsoft released several upgraded windows 2.0 versions, which
contributed many programs, versatility and features.

As Microsoft matured, its share price skyrocketed, and at the age of thirty-one Bill Gates became
the youngest self-made billionaire in American history. While it is indisputable that Gates has
played hardball in the software industry one can't argue that his development of software and
programs has been his contribution to the revolution of computers and computer science.