The name Bill Gates is known throughout the world. But how did this happen? How did an ordinary bespectacled nerd become the richest man in the world and hook the whole world on his programs?
After all, at the time when he started, no one really believed that computers would take over the world and that one could make money from it.
But Bill Gates proved that any idea can not only be implemented, but implemented effectively. From 1994 to 2010, Bill Gates spent only on charity 28 billion! Dollars, of course.
Bill Gates was born in the city of Seattle, which is located in Washington state. His parents were not mere mortals. Father - lawyer William Henry Gates II, mother - Mary Maxwell Gates, a member of the board of directors of First Interstate Bank, Pacific Northwest Bell and the national board of United Way.
Of course, he was lucky with his birth. But this is not the main thing. There are many examples where a person born into a prosperous family died as a loser.
Bill studied at a very prestigious school in the city, called Lakeside. He worked hard on the school mini-computer and acquired some good ones.
When Bill was 13 years old, he was able to write his first program. This program was the game "Tic Tac Toe". He used the BASIC programming language.
In the 8th grade, he became involved with Paul Allen, who was then in the 10th grade. Of course, this happened in programming class. With his friends, Gates used a PDP-10 computer manufactured by Digital Equipment, part of the Computer Center Corporation (CCC).
During these classes, students worked on the computer. Working hours were limited because there were few computers. One day, when Bill and his friend Paul ran out of time to use the CCC, they got a little upset and hacked the computer (well, not literally, of course). For this offense, 4 schoolchildren, including Bill Gates, were not allowed to use computers for a whole year.
How Microsoft came to be
Today Microsoft is known all over the world. But this, of course, was not always the case.
Bill Gates began studying at the university in 1973. And not just any school, but Harvard University. In these student years he met Steve Ballmer, who later became Bill's business partner. After 2 years, Gates was expelled from the university. But this did not upset him much, since he began to enthusiastically start programming.
Bill's friend Paul Allen saw in Popular Electronics magazine interesting article. It talked about a new personal computer called the Altair 8800. This happened in January 1975.
Paul told Gates about this. Gates also read the article, and then contacted the president of Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS), and also contacted the creator of the new computer mentioned in the article, Ed Roberts. Bill told him that he and his friend were developing software for this computer. In reality, neither Gates nor Allen had anything to do with the Altair 8800. However, they emulated the operation of its processor.
The head of MITS spoke with Paul. During the conversation, Paul showed a working BASIC language interpreter for the Altair 8800 computer. As a result, after some time the friends were already collaborating with the MITS company.
So they created their own company and began to think about its name. At first the name “Allen and Gates” came up, but they thought that such a name looked a lot like the name of a law firm.
Then Paul suggested the name Micro-Soft, from the words microprocessors (microprocessors) and software (software).
Initially, “Micro-Soft” was specially created to develop software for the tasks of the MITS company.
After some time, after about a year of work at MITS, the hyphen disappeared from the name “Micro-Soft”. And on November 26, 1976, a new trademark “Microsoft” appeared.
Paul received 36% of the company's shares, and Gates, since he was the major contributor to the product, received 64%.
The CP/M operating system was the most popular operating system in the 1970s when it comes to computers based on the Intel 8080 and Zilog Z80 processors.
Since 1980, IBM decided to improve the quality of its computers, so it began to look for a more suitable OS that could be used on the IBM PC. At first they wanted to use the CP/M operating system.
IBM was in talks with Digital Research. But the negotiations ended without results. Therefore, IBM eventually came to an agreement with the then small company Microsoft (this was not without the connection of family ties, or, as they say in Russia, without cronyism, but such is life - and not only in Russia))).
Microsoft did not have its own OS for Intel 8086 processors. Because of this, it was necessary to purchase a license from Seattle Computer Products for the 86-DOS system (QDOS). It was a 16-bit copy of CP/M.
Microsoft then acquired full rights to 86-DOS. Subsequently, the 86-DOS system was significantly improved and adapted for IBM PCs. At the same time, Microsoft “heated up” by $50,000 (and we must understand that the dollar of that time is not the same as today’s).
So the legendary MS-DOS operating system prosaically came into the world and the collaboration between Microsoft and IBM began.
In 1980, Microsoft entered into an agreement with IBM. According to this agreement, Microsoft was to create the MS-DOS operating system and provide it to IBM.
But Microsoft didn't meet the deadline. The system was transferred to IBM only in 1981, and it was quite crude and required improvement.
This half-baked system contained a game called DONKEY.BAS, made by Bill Gates and Neil Konzen. This game only demonstrated the capabilities of the system. However, it was the predecessor of all IBM PC games. In this game, the user controls a racing car, and while driving it is necessary to avoid donkeys. In 2012, this game was revived for smartphones, for operating systems Windows Phone 7.5/8 (free to download), and iOS (costs $0.99).
Microsoft then begins work on a completely new OS. Bill got the idea for a new operating system from Xerox and Apple.
The partnership continues with IBM, which was destined to introduce the new OS.
As a result, Microsoft Windows was released on October 20, 1985 (wits translate this as “micro-small windows”). Thus began the era of Windows - the legendary operating system that immortalized the name of Bill Gates, and at the same time allowed him to become one of the richest people in the world.
In general, Gates is often accused of plagiarism. In particular, Steve Jobs He really didn't like Gates because he thought Gates was stealing his ideas.
But this is generally typical for Apple. They always think that all their ideas have been stolen from them, and are constantly suing either Samsung or someone else.
There's actually nothing wrong with using someone else's idea. After all, one idea is not enough - it still needs to be implemented.
For example, the same Jobs accused Gates of stealing his idea text editor. So what? After all, Gates borrowed only the user interface (and even then not 100%), and all the source codes and so on were developed by Microsoft.
Moreover, it is simply impossible to prove that Jobs was the first to come up with this idea. Very often the same ideas and discoveries come to different people independently. For example, we believe that Popov invented radio, but in the West we are sure that Marconi did it. It’s just that these two people were independently engaged in research in this direction. And it was Popov who was the first to exchange radio signals between the transmitter and the receiver! But Marconi patented this invention.
By the way, this editor, about which Gates and Jobs “broke their spears,” is still available in Windows (well, at least in XP). You can call it from by typing edit, and you will see the DOS time editor.
Eh... It was a long time ago...
Summary
Why do you need Bill Gates' life story?
Well, first of all, I think that every programmer should know how computer technology and software, and who was at the origins.
Secondly, every programmer, if he believes in himself and goes towards his goal, can achieve both fame and fortune. And who can we learn this from, if not from those who have already achieved this?
However, first of all, you need to be a professional (in any field). Well, if we are talking about programming, then we need to learn, study and study again.
(English) Bill Gates ), born William Henry Gates (born William Henry Gates, date of birth - October 28, 1955) - American entrepreneur, head of Microsoft Corporation, for a number of years - the richest person on the planet.
In the period from 1996 to 2007, in 2009 and 2015 - the richest person on the planet according to Forbes magazine. His fortune in May 2016 was estimated at $76.4 billion.
Together with Paul Allen, he founded Microsoft Corporation, where he worked until June 2008; after his departure, he remained chairman of the board of directors of the corporation.
Bill Gates was born in Seattle, Washington, to William H. Gates II, a corporate lawyer, and Mary Maxwell Gates, a board member of First Interstate Bank, Pacific Northwest Bell, and the national board of the United Way. . Gates' sister Kristi Anne was born in 1953.
Bill Gates attended Seattle's most exclusive school, where he was able to develop his programming skills on the school minicomputer. At school, Gates did not excel in grammar, civics, and other subjects he considered trivial, but he did achieve top marks in mathematics. By the end of elementary school, Bill Gates's bad behavior began to worry his parents and teachers so much that he was referred to a psychiatrist.
It was at school that 13-year-old Bill Gates and his bosom friend Paul Allen first built a crude computer terminal. They then created two programs for it. The first one transformed one mathematical system into another, and the second... I don’t dare explain what the second one did. I will only say that later, after reading the biography of Napoleon, Gates made of her computer game"Risk", whose goal was world domination.
Not being particularly academically successful, which was also a form of rebellion, he unexpectedly graduated from the 9th grade with straight A's (with straight A's). english letter"A"), without even looking at the textbooks, and entered the top ten best students in America on the aptitude test. In the tenth grade, Bill no longer studied computer science, but taught it. Then he created a program for studying for his class. This program also had a secret purpose. She “chose” for her creator the classes where “those other girls” studied.
During those years, Gates's closest friend was Kent Evans, the son of a minister. “We read Fortune magazine together and dreamed about how we would conquer the whole world,” Gates recalls. “I still remember his phone number.” Bill, Kent and Paul founded Lakeside Programmers Group and began serving local businesses. It was then, while still in school, that Paul Allen made the first of his attempts to “borrow” Gates and take the whole matter into his own hands. But soon Paul became convinced that he needed the inexhaustible and tireless Bill to create program codes. And Paul invited him. “Okay,” Gates said, “but only on one condition: I’ll be the boss.”
He was 15 years old when he wrote a program to regulate traffic and earned $20,000 from the project. And at 17, he received an offer to write a software package for the distribution of energy at the Bonneville Dam.
The Birth of Microsoft
Throughout his entire life, if Gates made any compromises, their indispensable condition was “I will be the boss.”
In 1973 he entered Harvard University, but was expelled after 2 years, since Gates has already begun to create software with all his might.
Kent Evans took up mountain climbing to take his mind off work. One of his campaigns ended tragically. Evans fell and died. This was the first tragedy in Gates' life. Before this, he admitted, he had never thought about death. Bill spent two weeks in a fog, doing nothing. Evans' death brought Gates even closer to Allen. Allen convinced him to become, as they later began to say, “Harvard’s most famous dropout.” Instead of a Harvard University diploma, the Microsoft company was born, which was initially written as “Micro-Soft.” (There was also an option, Allen & Gates Inc.) The new company began creating software for personal computers that were just becoming fashionable. The legend of the birth of Microsoft says: in December 1974, Allen, on his way to visit Gates at Harvard, stopped to buy magazines at a newsstand. What he found in one of them changed his and Gates' lives forever. On the cover of Popular Electronics magazine there was a photograph of the Altair-8080, and above it in large print was written: “The world's first microcomputer that can compete with commercial models.” With this issue of the magazine, Allen burst into Gates's dorm.
In December 1974, Bill Gates saw a $397 computer that his friend Allen said anyone could build. The only thing the machine lacked was software.
Both friends immediately realized what horizons were opening up before them. They realized that the home computer market was about to explode, and millions of people would need software.
A few days later, Gates contacted the Altair's manufacturer, MITS, and said that he and Allen had created a version of the Basic programming language that could be used in the Altair. Gates didn't tell the truth. By that time, the friends had not yet written a single line of code. Moreover, they did not yet have either Altair or its chip. MITS, unaware of this, responded that it was interested in Gates' proposal. And so the friends began urgent work on Basic. Gates worked on the code, Allen simulated the actions of the Altair 8800 (the first commercially successful personal computer) on a school PDP-10 computer. A month and a half later, the program was ready. Allen took her to MITS. And there he first touched Altair. A miracle happened - the friends program worked! The contract was concluded. This option suited the managers, who invited young people to work on writing programming languages. The couple left for New Mexico, where the history of Micro-soft began (the dash, as already mentioned, was removed later).
First five customers Microsoft went bankrupt, but the guys didn't despair and returned to Seattle in 1979. Bill Gates was expelled from the university for absenteeism and poor academic performance, but this fact did not greatly upset the would-be student, since he received an offer from IBM to create an operating system for the world's first personal computer.
“The software market is born!” - Gates exclaimed. Microsoft was born with him.
While at Harvard, Gates became close with Steve Ballmer, who later became a member of Gates' brain trust, and when Gates decided to refocus on creativity, he handed the reins of Microsoft to Ballmer, making him the company's president and chief information officer (CIO). Gates called Ballmer in the 1980s, when Microsoft had grown so large that it needed a “non-technical” manager. Gates lured him away from Procter & Gamble. Friends often fought. Gates has always believed that conflict is good for business. In his opinion, “gentlemanship” takes away from the essence of the problem. Therefore, he allows his subordinates to challenge the decisions he makes. Microsoft calls this the “math camp mentality.”
Arrest
In 1979, Bill Gates was arrested for the second time (photo) for a traffic violation. This time Bill was without a license and drove through a red traffic light (according to other sources, he did not stop at the stop sign). He was also arrested for speeding in 1975 and in 1989 for driving while drunk.
IBM
Bill Gates purchased the QDOS system(Quick and Dirty Operating System) for $50,000, changed the name to MS-DOS and sold the license to IBM. The proceeds allowed Microsoft to operate for several years. The presentation of a new IBM computer with Microsoft software created a real sensation in the market. Many companies began to approach Microsoft for a license.
Microsoft continued to capture the global market with the release of Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel applications. Thanks to the Corbis company, part of the Microsoft corporation, Bill Gates received a huge photo file of Bettman and other photographers. Photos were used for electronic distribution.
In 1986, Microsoft was transformed into Joint-Stock Company open type. That same year, Bill Gates became a billionaire at the age of 31. The following year, Microsoft introduced the first Windows version, and already in 1993, total Windows sales per month exceeded one million. In 1995, Windows95 arrived and sold seven million copies in two weeks.
Microsoft's software became so widely used that the company came to the attention of the American antitrust committee, which several times tried to initiate a case to force the division of Bill Gates' monopoly.
In 1994, Bill Gates acquired Codex Leicester, a collection of works by Leonardo da Vinci; It has been on display at the Seattle Art Museum since 2003.
In 1997, Bill Gates became the victim of a strange extortion scheme by Chicago resident Adam Quinn Pletcher. Bill testified at the subsequent trial. Pletcher was found guilty and sentenced in July 1998 to six years in prison.
According to Forbes magazine, Gates donated money to George W. Bush's presidential campaign in 2004. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Gates donated at least $33,335 to more than 50 political campaigns during the 2004 election.
December 14, 2004 Bill Gates joined the board of Berkshire Hathaway, thus formalizing his relationship with Warren Buffett. Berkshire Hathaway is a conglomerate that includes Geico (auto insurance), Benjamin Moore (paints), and Fruit of the Loom (textiles). Gates also serves on the board of Icos, a Bothell biotechnology company.
On March 2, 2005, the British Foreign Office announced that Bill Gates would receive the title of Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (this is an analogue of a knighthood, which can only be received by a citizen of the United Kingdom; the knighthood gives the right to be called "Sir", and the title of Knight Commander Most Excellent Order - adding the letters "KBE" after his name) for his contribution to British enterprise and his efforts to reduce world poverty.
At the end of 2005, Bill Gates and his wife Melinda Gates were named People of the Year by American Time magazine.
On January 7, 2008, Bill Gates announced his intentions to step down as the head of Microsoft Corporation in July 2008, switching his activities to charity.
On June 15, 2008, Bill Gates announced his intention to resign as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Microsoft effective July 2008. After leaving his post, he intends to devote himself entirely to managing the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
June 27, 2008 was Bill Gates' last as Microsoft CEO. Despite this, he is not breaking with the company for good - Gates will remain Chairman of the Board of Directors (but without executive powers), will be involved in special projects, and will also remain the largest (8.7% of Microsoft shares) shareholder of the corporation.
At the end of October 2008, in the city of Kirkland (Washington State, USA), Bill Gates registered his third company called “bgC3”. Unverified sources claim that "bgC3" stands for Bill Gates Company Three. It was announced that this will be a research center whose tasks will include the provision of scientific and technological services, work in the field of analytics and research, as well as the creation and development of software and hardware.
Gates is most likely an agnostic in his religious views. When asked by The Times magazine if he believed in God, Bill Gates replied: “I don’t have any facts about him.”
Books by Bill Gates
In 1995, Bill Gates wrote a book "Road to the Future"(English: The Road Ahead), in which he outlined his views on the direction in which society is moving in connection with the development of information technology. In 1996, when Microsoft was refocused on Internet technologies, Gates made significant adjustments to the book.
In 1999, Bill Gates wrote a book "Business at the speed of thought"(Business @ the Speed of Thought), which shows how information Technology can solve business problems in a completely new way. Of particular note is the fact that Bill Gates' ideas fit well with the concept of lean manufacturing. In the book, Bill Gates outlined the principles of information lean logistics that he developed, based on the experience of its use at Microsoft Corporation. The peculiarities of the book include the fact that the author was one of the first to propose applying the principles of this new direction in business management for all levels of government, modernization of the education system (pedagogical logistics) and healthcare. This book has been released in 25 languages and is sold in more than 60 countries. Business at the Speed of Thought received critical acclaim and was featured on the New York Times, America Today, Wall Street Journal, and Amazon.com bestseller lists.
Personal life
At one of the Microsoft meetings in 1987, Bill met his employee Milena French, and on January 1, 1994, she became his wife. “Surprisingly, Milinda made me want to marry her. This is very strange, because it absolutely contradicted my rationalistic considerations about marriage,” Bill Gates would later say. The wedding took place in Lanai, Hawaii, and 130 guests were invited, including Poll Allen, Warren Buffett, Washington Post owner Katharine Graham and others. It is interesting that Bill took all possible measures to get rid of annoying journalists, in particular, all hotel rooms and all air tickets to the island were bought up.
After 2 years, the couple had a daughter, Jennifer Katharine Gates (born April 26, 1996), and later a son, Rory John Gates (born May 23, 1999) and a daughter, Phoebe Adele Gates. Gates born September 14, 2002).
Today Melinda Gates is one of the most... influential women peace. In 2012, Melinda openly defied the Vatican and vowed to dedicate her life to creating affordable contraception for women in the world's poorest countries. The Gates Foundation is ready to invest $140 million annually in this project.
House
Currently, Bill and his family live in their "house of the future", so named due to the large amount of electronics that control the estate. The house is located on the shores of Lake Washington in the suburbs of Medina and occupies about 12,000 square meters. This luxurious mansion is valued at $147,500,000 and has property taxes of over one million dollars a year.
This house is made for maximum comfort of the owners and their guests. Everyone in the house carries with them a chip, the parameters of which are adjusted according to the individual comfort parameters of the person. These are temperature, lighting, music and a number of other parameters. And no matter what room the guest enters, the house adapts to him, adjusting the temperature or dimming the light, in accordance with the preferences of the visitor, chosen by him in advance.. The touch floor allows you to track the location of a person with an accuracy of 15 centimeters.
There are also traditional signs of luxury. For example, when visiting the Gates family, you can swim in an 18-meter heated panoramic pool with an underwater music system. Work out in the 230-square-meter gym, relax with a book, or admire the stars in the library with its domed transparent roof. Guests can dine in the banquet hall, which seats 200 people.
Bill Gates is the richest man on the planet
In 2016, Bloomberg analysts calculated Bill Gates' net worth and were extremely surprised. According to recent expert estimates, his fortune has reached a record $90 billion.
Bill Gates is the richest man on the planet.
Some of Bill's quotes are addressed to people striving to achieve something more in life:
- Life is not fair - get used to it.
- Society doesn't care at all about your SELF-ESTEEM. ACHIEVEMENTS are expected of you above all.
- You WILL NOT earn $60,000 a year right out of school. You don't become a VP with a personal driver until you earn enough to do both.
- If you think that the teacher is too harsh towards you, that's okay. Wait until you have a boss.
- Is frying hamburgers beneath your dignity? Your grandparents thought completely differently. For them, frying hamburgers was an opportunity to get a foothold in this life.
- If something didn't work out for you, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine, LEARN from your mistakes. Change your attitude towards failure.
- Parents weren't always as boring as you think now. Maybe constant care for you made them like this? They feed you, clothe you, and constantly listen to you about how wonderful you are. So before you criticize your parents' generation, start with yourself.
- Perhaps in your school it is not correct to openly call a loser a loser and there are no more losers left in your school, but not in life. In some schools it is no longer possible to repeat a year because you are given AS MANY attempts to PASS the exams as it takes to be promoted to another class. In life everything is COMPLETELY different.
- Life is not divided into semesters. You won't have summer holidays, and your employer will not help you FIND YOURSELF. You will have to do it yourself in your free time.
- They don't show REAL life on TV. IN real life You won’t be able to sit in a cafe all day and chat with friends.
- Be kinder to the “nerds.” One of them might end up being your boss after you graduate.
The Gates mansion is a miracle of automation. The house has a networked system that controls the temperature, lighting and music based on microchips worn by guests that tell computers exactly where they are in the mansion. As guests move through the home, each room they enter is tailored to their preferences.
Bill Gates is a computer genius who was at the forefront of creating the world's most popular Windows software from Microsoft. An entrepreneur whose name topped the list of the richest and most influential people on the planet for 20 years. A businessman who donates an impressive part of his fortune to charity.
Childhood and youth
Bill Gates was born in Seattle (Washington, USA) in the family of corporate lawyer William Henry Gates II, and Mary Maxwell Gates, who held senior positions on the board of directors of several major American companies. Bill was the second child in the family, he has two sisters - the older Christy and the younger Libby.
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Bill Gates as a child
When the boy went to school, his parents enrolled him in the most privileged educational institution Seattle - Lakeside. Bill's favorite subject was programming, to which he devoted all his free time. As a teenager, the American wrote his first game in Basic. Although these were only “Tic Tac Toe”, for the boy they became the starting point in his future successes in his professional biography.
At a prestigious school in Seattle, the student began to develop programming skills on a mini-computer, but some subjects were difficult to improve. He considered the lessons in grammar and civics to be trivial in their way, but in mathematics the future billionaire had only the highest scores. IN primary school Bill showed no results at all, and his grades disappointed his parents so much that they turned to specialists for help. The father and mother were forced to refer their son to a psychiatrist.
Young Bill Gates and his mother Mary
In high school, Bill met Paul Allen, who would later become his main business partner, but at school the guys had more fun hacking computer programs without thinking about the strategy for developing innovative ideas.
In 1970, together with a school friend, Bill wrote the first traffic control program and organized a company to distribute it, called Traf-O-Data. This project brought the authors $20 thousand. Such success made the programmers believe in their own abilities, defining the future strategy for implementing their own concepts for many years to come.
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Bill Gates in his youth
In 1971, Bill and Paul even worked for a professional company, Information Sciences. The guys wrote a program for maintaining payrolls, but did not have time to finish it, since the project was stopped. In addition, as schoolchildren, Gates and Allen worked for TRW, where they programmed part of the code for a project that employees of the Bonneville Power Administration planned to use.
In 1973, Bill Gates became a student at Harvard University. Of course, he was going to specialize in software, but the practical side of things attracted him. young man much more than the theory of science, so the unmotivated student missed a lot of classes. After studying only 2 courses, the aspiring programmer was expelled from the university.
Microsoft Company
In early 1975, Paul Allen learns that Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems is releasing a new generation of computers, the Altair 8800. Bill Gates gets bold and calls Ed Roberts, who headed this organization. Soon after the interview at MITS, the bosom friends become partners of the company.
Paul Allen and Bill Gates
Initially, they planned the name “Allen and Gates,” but such names are not typical for the high-tech market. Then the guys looked at the name of the employing company, deciding on a specific phrase - Micro-Soft (Microprocessors and Software). Within a year, the hyphen disappeared from the brand name, and the Microsoft trademark was registered in November 1976.
In 1976, Gates also introduced the practice of selling licenses for his own software for direct use by computer manufacturers, allowing them to build new operating systems and programming languages into PCs. Such innovation in marketing increased the organization's revenue.
Bill Gates and Steve JobsMITS soon ceased to exist, but Microsoft was able to attract new customers. Apple Corporation, whose founder was Steve Jobs, and Commodore, as well as computer developer Radio shack, have become new partners of Microsoft.
Friends and business partners began to plan the development of an innovative structure for decades. Allen dealt primarily with technical issues, while Gates focused on developing public relations, contracts, and other business contacts. The result of Microsoft's work was the Microsoft Fortran operating system, which appeared in 1977. This OS can easily be considered the first full-fledged competitor to the standard CP/M system for Intel-based computers.
Embed from Getty Images Microsoft CEO Bill GatesIn 1980, Microsoft achieves success by making a deal with a "shark" computer business- IBM Corporation. Gates and Allen offered a more attractive system for their new computer than Digital Research, with which IBM had previously collaborated. Not least important for achieving this goal was the friendly acquaintance of Gates’ mother with IBM executives John Opel and John Akers.
Soon, Bill and Paul's company offered the computer market a new system, MS-DOS, which for a long time would become the main OS for Intel-based personal computers. In 1985, Microsoft released Windows, which differed from all previous competitors in its graphic design. Thus began the Windows computer era, although the real breakthrough came only in 1993 after the appearance of the third version of this system - Windows 3.1.
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Bill Gates
In 1986, Microsoft Corporation entered the stock markets. The value of the shares grew rapidly, and within a few months Bill Gates became a billionaire. The company's position is gradually strengthening. By 1988, Microsoft was already the largest computer software developer in the world.
By 1998, Gates becomes the richest person in the world. Now financially able to focus his attention on programming, he announced that he was leaving the organization. Until 2006, Bill was still responsible for product strategy at Microsoft, but decided to step down from business development responsibilities, declaring that he wanted to devote his time to charity.
Career
In 1989, the businessman founded the Corbis company. The main task of this structure was the licensing of photographs, videos and other multimedia material for the media. Gates' idea was that in the future people would decorate their homes not with paintings, but with electronic reproductions of them.
Businessman Bill Gates
Corbis owns the rights to reproduce images of works of art in museums around the world. The St. Petersburg Hermitage, the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the London National Gallery constantly cooperate with the company of the American entrepreneur. Bill Gates personally acquired a collection of rare works by Leonardo da Vinci, which are now on display at the Seattle Art Museum.
In the fall of 2008, Gates registered new company bgC3 (Bill Gates Company Three). This acronym stands for Bill Gates' Third Company. The main tasks of the organization are research and analytical. It is a center providing scientific and technological services.
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Bill Gates and Melinda Gates
In addition, Bill Gates does a lot of charity work. He and his wife Melinda became the founders of the world's largest charitable foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which provides assistance to all those in need, regardless of nationality. The purpose of this enterprise is to support and improve the healthcare system, as well as overcome hunger in poor countries. From his own funds, Gates partially financed the Republican presidential campaign in 2004, spending more than $30 thousand.
The entrepreneur is passionate about the ideas of maintaining environmental safety on Earth. In collaboration with Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates created the Breakthrough Energy Coalition, whose work is to identify and attract private investment in the production of clean energy sources.
Books
Bill Gates has published two bestsellers. In these books, the entrepreneur decided to tell his own success story. In 1995, The Road Ahead was published, which was at one time on the bestseller list of the American newspaper The New York Times.
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Bill Gates with books
In 1999, Gates published the book Business the Speed of Thought. The work has been translated into 25 languages. The author in his publications talks about ways to use computer technology to solve problems in business. Proceeds from the sale of both books were donated to non-profit organizations that support the development of technology and education.
The history of the origin and development of the computer industry was captured in the film “Pirates of Silicon Valley,” released in 1999. The drama was about the confrontation between Microsoft and Apple. Spectators and critics noted the great similarity between the leading actors and their characters. The image of Bill Gates in the frame was recreated by Anthony Michael Hall, Paul Allen was presented by Josh Hopkins.
Personal life
The personal life of an entrepreneur is connected with one woman. In 1987, at a work meeting in New York, Bill Gates met Microsoft employee Melinda French. They got married on January 1, 1994. After 2 years, the couple had a daughter, Jennifer Katharine, and later two more children - son Rory John and daughter Phoebe Adele.
Bill Gates and his wife Melinda
For the amount of money that Bill and his wife spend annually on charity, Time magazine named them People of the Year in 2005. Their family photo was featured on the cover of the publication, which often publishes interviews and articles about the business and charity of the computer genius. In the same year, Bill received a Knight of the British Empire for his contribution to the UK's innovative enterprise and efforts to reduce global poverty.
The wave started again... Bill Gates is a genius.. Gates is great.. From post to post video "Think about yourself..."“I created a corporation almost from scratch... at the age of 31 I became a billionaire...” How was it really?
“Bill Gates was born on October 28, 1955. He and his two sisters grew up in Seattle. Their father, William Gates II, is a lawyer. Mr. Gates' mother, Mary Gates, was a schoolteacher..."
The baby was born into the family of a modest lawyer and a school teacher... He studied and worked a lot... Thanks to his genius, he became the richest man on planet Earth and transformed the world.
How was it really?
Bill Gates or William Henry Gates III - already sounds, doesn't it? - was born on October 28, 1955, not in an ordinary family, but in a family with rich traditions in business, politics and public service. The Gates family enjoys great weight and authority in Seattle, and throughout the state of Washington. His great-grandfather was a state legislator and mayor of Seattle, maternal grandfather - Vice President of the US National Bank, father - William Henry Gates II (William Henry Gates II) - a famous and very rich lawyer, and mother - Mary Maxwell Gates (Mary Maxwell Gates) - the first woman - a member of the board of directors of First Interstate Bancorp, a member of the board of directors of Pacific Northwest Bell, U.S. West Inc. and KIRO-TV in Seattle, President of the National Board of United Way International - not bad for a simple school teacher?
Until about the age of eleven, Billy grew up as a mischievous tomboy. In the private school class he was known as a clueless playwright. The performance did not correspond in any way to the child’s hypothetical talents. It never occurred to him to follow the example of his exemplary older sister Christy. Even the trouble-free method of financial incentives for academic achievement, proven by many generations, did not help - brother and sister could count on 25 cents for each positive assessment. The current situation did not suit the Gates family, respected in Seattle, who were proud of their traditions and roots. I even had to see a psychiatrist.
When Gates was 13 years old, his parents, deciding to introduce their son to the circle of the elite, transferred him to the private privileged school Lakeside School. And it was in 1968 that the administration of this Seattle Lakeside school decided to introduce its students to the new technology and language of computers. The price of a computer at that time was far beyond the school budget, so the school decided to rent “computer time” from a computer owned by some corporation. With the help of a teletype, he could be contacted by telephone lines. To implement this plan, the school director turned to the parents' committee with a request to raise money to buy a teletype and help pay for computer time. The committee's coffers had to be relieved by $3,000 so that each school class could learn to use a nearby PDP-10 (DEC) minicomputer owned by General Electric.
Gates' first venture was founded with Paul Allen back in 1972. The company was called Traf-O-Data and there were only two employees - Paul Allen and Bill Gates. Within this office for the City of Seattle(as we guess, there were no problems with receiving the order?) a control program was written traffic for a system based on the Intel 8008 microprocessor. Traf-O-Data earned twenty thousand dollars from this, but the business did not go any further and the shop was closed.
Gates graduated from high school in 1973, and following family tradition, entered Harvard study to become a lawyer.
In July 1975, a partnership called “Micro-Soft” (Microcomputer Software) was organized in Albuquerque (New Mexico). On November 26, 1976, Microsoft was incorporated.
In late 1976, a dispute arose between Microsoft and MITS successor company Pertec over the “Basic” software. Gates without hesitation turned to his father for advice on this matter. William Henry Jr. was happy to help. He himself gave some wise advice, assured Bill that his company would win the case and found a capable attorney in Albuquerque to represent Microsoft.
The process lasted six months and an arbitrator was eventually appointed to decide the matter. This was good news and meant that the case would soon be over - a normal legal process could take several years. In December 1977 Microsoft won the case. The referee was very harsh on Pertec and Ed Roberts. He called the situation “an extreme case of commercial piracy” and ruled that MITS had the right to use BASIC, and Microsoft had the right to sell it at its discretion.
According to Steve Wood, after 1977 Microsoft never had financial problems again. This is despite the fact that Microsoft's first five customers went bankrupt and Bill Gates and Paul Allen returned to Seattle in 1979 (that year Bill Gates was expelled from the university for absenteeism and poor academic performance).
And here the mother of our young genius comes into play. She was the chairman of the executive committee at United Way International, along with two very influential leaders of the computer market monster IBM (International Business Machines Corporation) John Opel and John Akers (John Opel, president since 1981, then John Akers, president since 1985 .). They decided " help the boy get up” (look at the obituary of the death of the mother of a genius in The New York Times), and at the same time make money yourself. The unknown company Microsoft received an offer from the IT giant IBM to develop an operating system for the first personal computer.
Of course, as with BASIC, Gates did not develop the OS. He simply bought the QDOS (Quick and Dirty Operating System) system created by Tim Paterson of Seattle Computer Products (SCP) for $50,000, changed the name to MS-DOS and sold the license to IBM, asking to retain the copyright to Microsoft .
And IBM agreed! (surprising, right?) She bought a license for MS-DOS and made a deal an unusual agreement for that time, under which Microsoft continues to be the owner of the system and IBM pays them every time it sells a computer with MS-DOS installed.
Thus was born the concept of proprietary software, although up to this time the usual practice was for software to be given away for free, since computers themselves were very expensive and additional costs were undesirable.
Qdos became DOS, then Windows 1.0-3.11 (this OS was developed by Microsoft, although the ideas were stolen from Apple), and ultimately the crooked Windows line died on Windows Millenium. The long-term Windows NT (hereinafter 2000/XP/Vista/Win7) appeared on the scene, in which much was also stolen from competitors, in particular from OS/2 from IBM.
In 1986, Microsoft shares went public for the first time, and Bill Gates became fabulously rich overnight.
So where is the genius of Bill Gates? Who would he be without his dad's connections among lawyers and his mother's connections among business sharks? And where is the “Cinderella”, who achieved everything himself solely with his brains?
The name Bill Gates is familiar to almost everyone, especially those who use operating rooms Microsoft systems, because it is this person who is considered their creator. But, in addition to the fact that Bill Gates is an extraordinary businessman, he also seems to be a very reasonable man who recently surprised the whole world with his approach to raising his own children.
Bill Gates is the richest businessman in the world according to Forbes
In 2015, Forbes magazine again summed up the results of the year and compiled its annual ranking. This list was headed for the 16th time by Bill Gates, the creator of Microsoft Corporation.
More than one touching film could be made based on the life of Bill Gates. He did not do well at school and considered all subjects except mathematics unnecessary. For bad behavior, the boy was even referred to a psychiatrist for consultations.
But the guy had a good understanding of computers and programming. At the age of 13, Bill was already writing the simplest computer programs, and a couple of years later, together with friends, he managed to hack the program of one large corporation in Seattle - Computer Center Corporation.
At the age of 17, together with Paul Allen, Gates founded his first company, which within a couple of months had $790 thousand in its account. And in 1975, the first Microsoft BASIC was created.
Personal life of a billionaire
Gates met his future wife when he was already a very rich man. He flew to New York for a press briefing and there he met Melinda French, whom he married on January 1, 1994.
Melinda was born in Texas, into a large family of an ordinary engineer. Bill Gates in his interviews is often surprised at how his chosen one was able to force him to marry her, because before meeting this girl he had an ambiguous attitude towards family ties. However, there is nothing strange in the fact that Melinda found a common language with the computer genius, because she once received a bachelor's degree in computer science.
In the 90s, Melinda joined the Microsoft team, and already in 1994 she became a wife. The wedding ceremony took place in Hawaii, after the wedding Melinda became a housewife. If we talk about how many children Bill Gates had in his marriage to this woman, then there will be three heirs to the multi-billion dollar fortune: two girls and one boy.
She is also widely known for her philanthropic work as the founder of the Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation.
Features of raising children
The “seasoned” Bill Gates has very specific children of his own. Providing for them for the rest of your life and even after your death is not the goal of the owner of a multimillion-dollar fortune. On the contrary, he understands that his main task is to teach his offspring to cope with all problems on their own, including financial ones.
Bill Gates' children should have learned the following truths while growing up. Firstly, a person must have adequate self-esteem. It's good to have dignity and self-respect, but to be respected by everyone else, you need to do something worthwhile in your life.
Secondly, nothing happens quickly, and after graduating from school or university you will have to work hard for many more years before you have your own limousine.
Thirdly, there is no such thing as bad work. Even working behind the McDonald's counter, you have the chance to make a dizzying career.
Bill Gates's daughters: biography. Jennifer
Little is known about Gates’ children in general and in general, because they are quite young.
In 1996 she was born eldest daughter Bill Gates. What is the name of the billionaire's first child? The parents named their first child Jennifer. In ancient times, the name means something like “white sorceress” or “bright spirit.”
Gates' eldest daughter turned 19 in 2015. But it is almost impossible to find mentions of the girl in the press. However, several years ago there was a very active discussion on the Internet about the fact that the lifestyle of Gates and his children could hardly be called modest (as the media likes to cover this issue). For his daughter, who was only 15 years old at the time, Gates easily rented a luxury house in Florida worth $600,000 a month.
It turned out that Jennifer was seriously involved in equestrian sports, and she wanted to take part in the festival, which was to be held in Palm Beach. To make Jen feel comfortable during this entire time, her father rented her a “royal” mansion. So Gates's strictness in raising children is most likely exaggerated.
Is Rachel Leigh Cook the daughter of Bill Gates?
IN Lately in different in social networks They post a photo of a pretty girl, captioned with a joke: they say that Gates’ daughter has become the best “product” that Microsoft has ever released. However, the real appearance of Bill Gates' daughter is far from the appearance of the pretty person whose image is being circulated on the Internet.
In fact, the photo shows Rachel Leigh Cook - star of the films "Texas Rangers" and "Dawson's Creek." And it is completely unclear who thought of marrying the famous American actress to the daughter of Bill Gates. Most likely it was a joke. But many Internet regulars still believe that the pretty blonde is real daughter billionaire.
Phoebe Gates: facts from life
Bill Gates' daughter Phoebe - youngest child in family. The girl was born in 2002 and this moment still remains a teenager. As is the case with other children of the billionaire, the girl’s biography is shrouded in a halo of mystery, and even getting her photographs is not an easy task: Bill Gates’ daughters lead a quiet and “closed” lifestyle to prying eyes.
Did Bill Gates really leave his children without an inheritance?
Bill Gates' daughters will not be able to enjoy their father's multimillion-dollar fortune. In 2015, at one of the conferences, Bill stated that his children would receive practically nothing after his death.
Of course, the media inflated this news, releasing a lot of articles under flashy headlines, saying that Gates left his children with nothing, forgetting to clarify one detail: the billionaire recently drew up a new will, according to which Bill Gates’ daughters, as well as his only son, will all they will receive something, namely 10 million dollars.
Any person on Earth would be very happy about such an inheritance: 10 million dollars is not a joke, but a very good starting capital. Also, on top of that, Gates will provide his children with the best education, which is also important for a successful life. Children must earn all other material goods through their own labor, says Bill Gates. He also noted that multimillion-dollar fortunes bequeathed to people who did not earn them through their own labor become only a “disservice.” His children should know the value of money.
Gates picked up this approach to raising children. And in general, being “hardworking” and “smart” is now fashionable again. Apparently, the “time of fools” is over, since even millionaires want their children to be smart, independent and productive.