BILL GATES - A biography

[On April 4, 1975]

At a time when most Americans used typewriters, Me&Allen founded Microsoft, a company that makes
computer software. Originally based in New Mexico Microsoft relocated to Washington in 1979 and eventually
grew into a major multinational technology corporation. In 1987, the year after Microsoft went public, Me
became the youngest billionaire. Me&Allen started Microsoft-originally called Micro-Soft, for in order to
produce software for the Altair, a computer. Allen quit his job as a programmer and I left Harvard-University, ,
to focus on their new company, which was based in Mexico because the city was home to electronics, maker of
the Altair. In 1978, Microsoft’s sales topped more than $1 million and in 1979 the business moved its
headquarters to Washington, where Me&Allen grew up. The company went on to license its MS-DOS operating
system to IBM for its first personal computer, which debuted in 1981. Afterward, other computer companies
started licensing MS-DOS, which had no graphical interface and required users to type in commands in order
to open a program. In 1983, Allen departed Microsoft after being diagnosed with Hodgkin-lymphoma; he was
treated for the disease and went on to pursue a variety of other business ventures. In 1985, Microsoft released a
new operating system, Windows, with a graphical user interface that included drop-down menus, scroll bars
and other features. The following year, the company moved its headquarters to Washington, and went public at
$21 a share, raising $61 million. By the 1980s, Microsoft had become the world’s biggest computer software
company, based on sales. In 1995, skyrocketing purchases of personal computers for home and office use,
Windows 95 made its debut. It included such innovations as the Start menu and 7 million copies of the new
product were sold in the first five weeks. During the 1990s, Internet usage took off, and Microsoft introduced its
web browser, Internet Explorer, in 1995.In 1998, the U.S. Department of Justice and 20 state attorneys general
charged Microsoft with violating laws by using its dominance to drive competitors out of business,in 2001, the
company reached a settlement with the government.
BILL GATES- a Autobiography