Bill Gates
Birthday : 10/28/1955 Place of birth : Seattle (Etat de Washington) - USA Country of residence : USA Linked companies : Microsoft Corporation
Biography
William Henry Gates III called Bill Gates is a pioneer of computing. In 1973, Gates enters at Harvard University at the age of 18. There he meets Steve Ballmer, future Microsoft CEO, and quickly abandons his studies to devote himself to computer programming. He founds at the age of 20 with another of his friends, Paul Allen, the software company which later becomes Microcomputer Software Micro-Soft (the hyphen has disappeared).
Bill Gates and Paul Allen create together a play script for the Altair 8800: a revolution in micro computing world. In fact is the first programming language able to run on micro commercial computer.
IBM wishing to commercialize its own computers, signs an agreement with Microsoft asking Bill Gates and Paul Allen to create their operating system.
Microsoft buys the operating system QDOS into MS-DOS, then designs Windows. Both men are in quasi-global monopoly.
Getting approval to sell his operating system to many computer manufacturers who copy the IBM computer is a great opportunity.
Microsoft's success comes from its ability to evolve its operating system and its range of Microsoft Office desktop software, word processing, spreadsheet, database, utilities, games, as rapidly as the evolution of micro-computers.
In 1986, Microsoft enters on the stock exchange market. Investors welcome it with enthusiasm: this day, Gates became a billionaire.
Thanks to the commercial success of Microsoft, Bill Gates becomes one of the richest men in the world from 1996 to 2007 with a personal fortune estimated at more than $ 56 billion in 2011. He is a Knight of the British Empire in 2005. Bill Gates leaves Microsoft June 27, 2008 to devote to his humanitarian foundation.
Bill Gates and Warren Buffett launched in July 2010 "Operation Giving Pledge" in order to support billionaires to leave at least half of their fortune to charity. The group counts sixty members in 2011, all based in the United States.
Anecdotes
Bill Gates was born the same year as Steve Jobs.
The first computer program created by Bill Gates with his friend Paul Allen was a game of tic tack toe.
Following the discovery of the Macintosh, Bill Gates decided to start the development of Windows, a graphical interface for MS-DOS.
Gates announced in 2006 he bequeathed 95% of his fortune to his foundation to fight against disease and illiteracy in the South’s countries.
Time magazine named Bill Gates Man of the Year in 2005, alongside his wife Melinda and Bono (the singer of U2), for their actions on the philanthropic front.
Citations
"There are people who don't like capitalism, and people who don't like PCs. But there's no-one who likes the PC who doesn't like Microsoft."
"Security is, I would say, our top priority because for all the exciting things you will be able to do with computers - organizing your lives, staying in touch with people, being creative - if we don't solve these security problems, then people will hold back."
"It's fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure."
"I'm a great believer that any tool that enhances communication has profound effects in terms of how people can learn from each other, and how they can achieve the kind of freedoms that they're interested in."
Bibliographie
"Business the Speed of Thought" by Bill Gates.
"Gates - Microsoft's Mogul Reinvented an Industry" by By Stephen Manes and Paul Andrews.
"Hard Drive - Bill Gates and the Making of the Microsoft Empire" by James Wallace and Jim Erickson. Copyright © 4-traders.com / Photo © Maxppp
| Latest news about Bill Gates | |
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| Bill Gates Retakes World's Richest Title - Bloomberg News |
| 05/16 -
Bill Gates, the 57-year-old co-founder of Microsoft Corp. , recaptured the title of world's richest person from Mexican investor Carlos Slim Thursday, Bloomberg News reported on its website Friday.
It is the first time Gates has held the mantle since |
| Mundie, one of Gates' successors, to retire from Microsoft |
| 2012 - NEW YORK (Reuters) - Craig Mundie, one of two Microsoft Corp executives who took over Bill Gates' role at the company, has relinquished control of Microsoft's large research organization and is to retire from the company in 2014. |
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