Bill Gates. The richest and most famous businessmen did poorly in school. photo Success story, Biography of Bill Gates

Bill Gates is a famous entrepreneur, public figure and one of the founders of Microsoft. The authoritative publication Forbes named him the richest man in the world 16 times.

As of 2016, his capital exceeded $90 billion, while he regularly and seriously engages in charity work. Gates has his own fund, in which he has already invested more than $30 billion.

After that, Bill and Paul worked for some time at large companies Information Sciences and TRW. They still wrote programs, studying a lot of software codes.

Having reached the age of 18, Gates enters Harvard University, where he meets his future partner Steve Ballmer. After studying for 2 years, he was expelled for poor academic performance and frequent absenteeism.

Ultimately, Bill decided to devote himself to creating computer control programs, since only this work brought him pleasure and aroused real interest.

Microsoft Company

In 1975, Paul and Bill learned that Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems had begun selling new Altair 8800 computers. Without thinking twice, Gates decides to call its owner, Ed Roberts.

During the conversation, the guy confidently says that he and his friend are writing programs specifically for their PC, although this was absolutely untrue. However, he so confidently and boldly told Roberts about this that he believed Bill and even agreed to collaborate with the young programmers.

Delighted by this success, the friends began to come up with a name for their enterprise. At the very beginning they wanted to call him by their last names, but then changed their minds.

Then Gates and Allen paid attention to the name of the company with which they were to collaborate. As a result, they selected two words from it and then combined them. Thus, in 1976, a new brand called “Microsoft” appeared.

That same year, Bill Gates and Paul introduced licenses for the right to use their software. This allowed them to legally build their own operating systems into computers.

They were the first to start working according to this scheme. In the near future, this led to a significant increase in the organization's income.

Over time, the MITS company went bankrupt, but Microsoft managed to find new partners for further cooperation.

For example, Gates entered into a contract with the Apple corporation, which he owned. However, there were other companies that were happy to work with Microsoft.

An interesting fact is that Bill Gates and Paul already at the very beginning of their joint collaboration discussed how their company would develop.

Allen was studying technical issues, and was the owner of only one-third of Microsoft shares. In turn, Gates was responsible for the development of the company and product advertising.

Their first serious project was the Microsoft Fortran operating system, developed in 1977. After that, they continued to successfully modernize their software, taking a leadership position in this area.

Soon, Bill Gates introduced a new MS-DOS system for Intel-based PCs. In 1985, the legendary Windows system was developed, which was radically different from other systems with its unique interface. Every year, Windows has been modernized, gaining unprecedented popularity.

Bill Gates' company developed so rapidly that already in 1986 its capital exceeded $1 billion. In 1998, Gates became the richest person on the planet.

Soon he publicly makes a sensational statement that he is leaving Microsoft. However, he remained responsible for the company's productivity strategy.

According to the billionaire himself, leaving business was associated with charity, to which he decided to pay maximum attention.

Other companies

In 1989, Bill Gates founded Corbis. Its main goal was to license any multimedia material, for example, photos and videos.

The idea was that in the future people would begin to be interested not in original paintings, but in their digital reproductions.

Today Corbis owns the rights to use images of works of art in many museums around the world.

One of Gates' hobbies can be called collecting rare works of the great (see).

In 2008, a new event took place in the biography of Bill Gates: he founded the company “bgC3”, engaged in research and analytical activities.

As mentioned earlier, Bill Gates is seriously involved in charity work.

He opened the world's largest Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which provides support to poor people.

First of all, the billionaire seeks to improve the healthcare system, as well as solve the problem of hunger in the Third World countries.

Personal life

When Bill turned 22, he met Melinda French, who worked in his company. In 1994, after 7 years of close friendship, they decided to get married.

In this marriage they had a son, Rory John, and two daughters, Phoebe Adele and Jennifer Katharine.

In 2005, Gates and his wife were named People of the Year for their enormous contribution to charity. After this, Bill was awarded the title of Knight of the British Empire.

Bill Gates net worth

Many people are interested in the question of how much Bill Gates' net worth is estimated. So, as of 2016, Forbes estimated his fortune at $90 billion.

Thanks to such a colossal fortune, he is considered the richest person on the planet. Moreover, experts predict an increase in its capital in the future.

Bill Gates today

On this moment Bill Gates' family lives on the shores of Lake Washington. Their home, covering an area of ​​12,000 km², is equipped with a huge amount of electronics that control the entire mansion.

The businessman often gives lectures at various educational institutions, traveling around the world. He not only shares his experience, but also discusses global problems of humanity with students.

Books by Bill Gates

Bill Gates has written two books about how he achieved success. Both books were translated into and became bestsellers.

Interestingly, all funds received from their sales were transferred to organizations whose activities are aimed at developing technology and education.

Surely Bill Gates will repeatedly surprise humanity with his new projects. Well, let's wait!

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Bill Gates did very poorly at school as a child (and he did not study at all outside of school). All the children are like children, sitting, learning to program, and Bill Gates is looking out the window the entire lesson. I really loved the windows.

Louis Gerstner, on the contrary, did not like windows, and also since childhood. It used to be that as soon as he saw a window, he would immediately rush in with a cobblestone! He walked like this all the time, with a cobblestone in his bosom.

When there was a test in class, Bill Gates copied everything from Gil Amelio, because he also loved windows. He also loved buns. With poppy seeds.

Nicholas Wirth also did poorly at school. I couldn't learn a single programming language. He had to come up with his own. So I got involved.

And Kernighan and Ritchie were very similar as children. They were often confused and even considered brothers. Although they were just namesakes.

When Bill Gates decided to start his own corporation, he wanted to call it the World's Greatest Software Corporation. But, since he did not study well at school, he did not know how it would be in English. And calling the corporation in Russian was undignified. I had to call Microsoft.

One day, Louis Gerstner dressed up as Gil Amelio and thought: “Now Bill Gates will come and say: “Look, how cool the windows are!” And I answered him: “I hate it!” His face will stretch out!” He sits, chews a bun with poppy seeds, looks at himself in the mirror. Bill Gates comes up and says:
- Look how cool the windows are!
- Wow! - Louis Gerstner admired. -Really cool! He really got into the role.

Once Gil Amelio was standing on a stepladder, the window was glassy. And Bill Gates walks by and says: “Let me write it off!”
“I won’t give it,” answered Gil Amelio, “how much is possible?!”
- Ah well! - Bill Gates was offended. -Then I'll take it myself! - and began to pull the stepladder out from under Gil Amelio.
Then Louis Gerstner runs in, sees them both floundering downstairs, leaving the window unattended, and shouts: “I hate it!” I reached into my shirt for a cobblestone, and there was a bun with poppy seeds.

One day Nicholas Wirth was invited to Italy. He arrived and asked:
- Is it true that the coolest language in the world is Pascal?
- Si! - the Italians answer.
Nicholas Wirth was offended and has not gone to Italy since then.

One day, a box of distribution diskettes fell on Louis Gerstner's head.
- It’s good that it’s in half! - he said, getting up from the floor.
- What's in half?
- OS/2.

Once Nicholas Wirth was visiting Bill Gates, sat for a long time in front of the open window and caught a cold. He went to the doctor, and the doctor said to him:
- Show your tongue!
- Which? - asks Nicholas Wirth.
- Do you have a lot of them?
- Well then! - Nikolas Wirth is offended and shows the boxes of distribution diskettes.
“Oh,” says the doctor, “then this is not for me.” It's through the next door.
Nicholas Wirth walked into the next door, and there the doctor asked him:
- What's your last name?
- Nicholas Wirth.
- Oh, come on, come on. We already have three Bill Gates and one Norbert Wiener here.

Somehow Kernighan and Ritchie felt like drinking, and they went to look for the third one. They see Nikolas Wirth sitting on a tree stump.
“Let’s go,” they say, “let’s have a drink.”
“Now,” Nicholas Wirth answers, “I’ll come up with a language and let’s go.”
“No,” Kernighan and Ritchie think, “while he’s coming up with ideas, the store will be closed. Gil Amelio has only poppy seed buns as a snack. Louis Gerstner, when he gets drunk, chases everyone with a cobblestone.” And they simply didn’t like Bill Gates as a person. So we didn't drink.

"Now let's move on to the story. Bill Gates. It is no less famous than the story of the Beatles. A brilliant young mathematician discovers programming. Drops out of Harvard University. Together with friends he founded a small computer company called Microsoft. Thanks to his genius, ambition and determination, he turns it into a giant software manufacturer. This is his story at its most general outline. Now let's dig a little deeper [...] in the seventh grade his parents took him away from regular school and was sent to Lakeside, a private school for the children of Seattle's elite. During Gates' second year at the school, a computer club opened there.

“The school's mother committee had an annual charity sale, and the question was always what to spend the money on,” Gates recalls. - Sometimes they went to pay summer camp for children from poor areas. Sometimes they were given to teachers. And that year, my parents spent three thousand dollars on buying a computer terminal. It was installed in a small room, which we subsequently occupied. Computers were a novelty for us.”

In 1968 this was undoubtedly a novelty. In the 1960s most colleges did not have computer centers. But what's even more remarkable is what kind of computer the school purchased. Lakeside students did not have to learn programming using the labor-intensive system that almost everyone used at the time. The school installed the so-called ASK-33 teletype, a time-sharing terminal connected directly to a computer in downtown Seattle. “The time-sharing system didn't come into existence until 1965,” Gates continues. “Someone turned out to be very far-sighted.” [...] in 1971, Bill Gates began real-time programming in the eighth grade of school [...]

Since the computer was installed, Gates has moved into the computer lab. Together with several comrades, he independently mastered the new device. Buying time to work on the computer to which the ASR was connected was expensive even for such a wealthy establishment as Lakeside, and soon the mother committee's money ran out. The parents collected more, but the students spent even that. Soon, a group of programmers from the University of Washington founded the Computer Center Corporation (or C-Cubed) and began selling computer time to local companies. By a lucky coincidence, the son of one of the owners of the company, Monica Rona, studied at Lakeside a grade above Bill. Rona suggested that the school's computer club test on weekends software firms in exchange for free computer time. Who would refuse! Now, after school, Gates took the bus to the C-Cubed office and worked there until late in the evening.

Soon C-Cubed went bankrupt, and Gates and his friends moved to the computer center at the University of Washington. After some time, they hooked up with another company, ISI, which provided them with free computer time for improving software to automate the company's payrolls. Over seven months in 1971, Gates and his comrades logged 1,575 hours of computer time on the ISI computer, which equates to eight hours of work seven days a week.

This is how he describes his school years Bill Gates:

“I'm obsessed with computers. I skipped physical education. I sat in the computer class until nightfall. Programmed on weekends. Every week we spent there twenty thirty hours. There was a period when we were banned from working because Paul Allen and I stole passwords and hacked into the system. I was left without a computer for the whole summer. I was fifteen or sixteen years old then. And then Paul found free computer at the University of Washington. The cars were standing in medical center and at the Faculty of Physics. They worked 24 hours a day, but between three in the morning and six in the morning no one occupied them,” Gates laughs. “That’s why I’m always so generous to the University of Washington.” They let me steal so much computer time from them! I would leave at night and walk to the university or take the bus.” Years later, Gates' mother said, "We couldn't figure out why he was so hard to wake up in the morning."

One day, one of the founders of 151, Bud Pembroke, was approached by the technology company TRW, which had just signed a contract to install a computer system at the huge Bonneville power plant, which is located in southern Washington state. TRW urgently needed programmers familiar with the special software used in power plants. But at the dawn of the computer revolution, programmers with such highly specialized knowledge were not easy to find. But Pembroke knew exactly who to call: the guys at Lakeside School, who had logged thousands of hours on the ISI computer. Bill Gates was in high school at the time and somehow managed to convince his teachers to excuse him from classes for independent study. research project at Bonneville station. There he spent the entire spring developing code under the guidance of John Norton. He, according to Gates, told him as much about programming as no one had ever told him.

These five years, from eighth grade to graduation from high school, became a kind of Hamburg for Bill Gates. No matter how you look at it, he had even more amazing opportunities than Bill Joy.

How many high schools had a time-sharing terminal available in 1968? This is opportunity number one: Gates is sent to study at Lakeside. Possibility number two: the students' parents were able to finance the costs associated with using the computer. The third possibility: when the money ran out, it turned out that one of the parents worked for a company called C-Cubed, which needed people to check codes on weekends and did not mind at all about weekends turning into nights. Fourth: Gates accidentally learned about the company ISI, which just at that moment needed developers of a program for managing payrolls. Fifth: the international company TKW turned to Bud Pembroke. Sixth: the best programmers known to Pembroke were high school students. Seventh: Lakeside School allowed the kids to skip the spring semester. Eighth: the head of the Bonneville project turned out to be an excellent mentor.

What do all these favorable opportunities have in common? Thanks to them, Bill Gates got a lot of time to practice. By the time When he decided to start his own company and dropped out of Harvard after his sophomore year, he had already been working in programming for seven years. And the number of hours worked far exceeded 10,000. How many teenagers in the world can boast of such experience? “I’ll be surprised if there are fifty people,” Gates himself admits. - First there was C-Cubed and a program for payrolls, then TK\U, everything turned out so well. I think at that time I had more opportunities to develop software than anyone else my age. And all thanks to an incredibly lucky coincidence.”

Malcolm Gladwell, Geniuses and outsiders: why do some have everything and others nothing?, M., Alpina Business Books, 2009, p. 49-53.

Thomas Edison is perhaps the most famous and prolific inventor of all time, with over 1,000 patents issued to his name, including electric lamp, a phonograph, and a movie camera. He became a multimillionaire and won Gold Medal Congress. Edison began his studies late after an illness, causing his mind to often wander, prompting one of his teachers to call him "the absolute". He dropped out of school after only three months of formal education. Fortunately, his mother was a schoolteacher in Canada and taught young Edison at home.

Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin is known in many ways: politician, diplomat, author, printer, publisher, scientist, inventor, founding father and co-author of the Declaration of Independence. The only thing he wasn't was a high school graduate. Franklin was the fifteenth child and youngest son in a family of 20 people. He spent two years at the Boston Latin School before leaving at age ten to work for his father and then his brother as a printer.

Bill Gates

William Henry Gates III, known as Bill Gates, entered Harvard University in 1973 and was expelled after just 2 years. After expulsion, he began creating software, created the Microsoft company, became one of the richest people in the world and constantly provided free financial and technical assistance to his “native” Harvard University. Considering his merits, 32 years after his expulsion, Bill Gates was awarded a Harvard graduate diploma “retroactively.”

Albert Einstein

Although he was named "Man of the Century" by Times magazine, Albert Einstein was not the "Einstein" of school. The Nobel laureate theoretical physicist, known for his theory of relativity and his contributions to quantum theory and statistical mechanics, dropped out of school at the age of 15. Deciding to continue his education a year later, Einstein took the entrance exam to the prestigious Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, but failed. He returned to high school, received a diploma and then finally entered the university, passing the entrance exams on the second try.

John D. Rockefeller, Sr.

Two months before his high school graduation, history's first recorded billionaire, John D. Rockefeller Sr., dropped out to take business courses at Folsom Commerce College. He founded the Standard Oil Company in 1870, made billions of dollars before his company was broken up by the government to end its monopoly on the U.S. petroleum market, and spent the last 40 years of his life giving away his wealth, primarily to health and education projects. This man, who dropped out of high school without regret, helped millions of people get a good education.

Walt Disney

In 1918, then a high school student, future producer, Oscar winner and amusement park pioneer, Walt Disney began taking night courses at the Academy of Art in Chicago. Disney left high school at 16 to join the army, but because he was too young to qualify for the draft, he joined the Red Cross with a forged birth certificate. Disney was sent to France, where he drove an ambulance that was covered from top to bottom with the cartoons that would eventually become the characters in his films. After Disney became a multimillionaire, founder of the Walt Disney Company, and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, he received his high school diploma at age 58.

Richard Branson

British Sir Richard Branson is a billion-dollar businessman who has achieved success on his own. He founded Virgin Atlantic Airways, Virgin Records, Virgin Mobile and even a space travel company that provides suborbital trips to space for anyone who wants it. Suffering from dyslexia, Branson was a poor student. He had to leave school at 16 and move to London, where he began his first successful entrepreneurial venture, publishing Student magazine.

George Burns

George Burns, born Nathan Birnbaum, was a successful vaudeville actor, TV and film comedian for nearly nine decades. After his father's death, Burns left school in the fourth grade to find work as a shoe shiner, running errands and selling newspapers. While working at a local candy store, Burns and his young colleagues decided to enter show business as the Peewee Quartet. After the group broke up, Burns continued to work with a partner, usually a girl, until he met Gracie Allen in 1923. Burns and Allen married, but did not become stars until George radically changed the performance, and created a funny role for Gracie in them . They continued to collaborate in vaudeville, radio, television and films until Gracie stopped performing in 1958. Burns continued to perform almost until the day of his death in March 1996.

Harland Sanders

Colonel Harland Sanders overcame his lack of education. His father died when he was six years old and since his mother worked, he was forced to cook food for the whole family. He couldn't even finish primary school. Sanders held many jobs, including firefighter, steamboat helmsman, and insurance agent. He later earned a law degree through correspondence school. Sanders' culinary skills and business experience helped him make millions as the founder of the Kentucky Fried Chicken empire.

Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens, author of numerous classics including Oliver Twist, A Tale of Two Cities and A Christmas Carol, was in primary school until his life took a turn when his father was imprisoned for debt. At age 12, he left school and began working ten hours a day in a boot-blacking factory. Dickens later worked as a clerk and stenographer in court. At 22, he became a journalist, reporting on parliamentary debates and election campaigns for the newspaper. His first collection of stories, Sketches of Boz (Boz was his nickname), and his first novel, The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, were published in 1836.

Elton John

Born Reginald Kenneth Dwight, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Sir Elton John has sold more than 250 million records and has over fifty Top 40 hits, making him one of the most successful musicians of all time. At the age of 11, Elton John was admitted to the Royal Conservatory of London to study piano. Tired of classical music, Elton preferred rock and roll, and after five years he left school to become a weekend pianist at a local pub. At 17, he formed a group called Bluesology and, by the mid-1960s, they were touring with Soul and R&B musicians such as the Isley Brothers, Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles. The Elton John album was released in the spring of 1970, and after the first single, “Your Song,” hit the American Top Ten, Elton was on his way to superstardom.

Ray Kroc

Ray Kroc didn't create McDonald's, but he turned it into the world's largest fast food chain after purchasing the company from Dick and Mac McDonald's in 1955. Kroc earned a $500 million fortune during his lifetime, and in 2000 was named by Time magazine to its list of the 100 most influential manufacturers and industry titans of the 20th century. During World War I, Kroc left high school at the age of 15 and lied about his age to become a Red Cross ambulance driver, but the war ended before he was sent overseas.

Harry Houdini

The name Houdini is synonymous with magic. Before becoming a world-famous magician and escape artist named Harry Houdini, Erich Weiss dropped out of school at the age of 12, working several jobs, including as a locksmith's apprentice. At age 17, he teamed up with fellow magic enthusiasts to create the Houdini Brothers, named after Jean Eugene Robert Houdin, the most famous magician of the era. At the age of 24, Houdini came up with the "Disobedience to the Law" trick, offering to escape from any pair of handcuffs offered by the audience. "Disobeying the Law" was a turning point for Houdini. With his success came the development of spectacular escapes that turned him into a legend.

Ringo Starr

Richard Starkey is better known as Ringo Starr, drummer for the Beatles. Born in Liverpool in 1940, Ringo suffered two serious illness aged six. After spending a total of three years in the hospital, he fell behind significantly in school. He left school after his last hospital visit at 15, barely able to read or write. While working for an engineering firm, 17-year-old Starkey joined a band and taught himself to play the drums. His stepfather bought him his first real drum set, and Ringo played with various groups, eventually joining Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He changed his name to Ringo Starr, accepted a call from the Beatles in 1962, and is now one of the most famous drummers in music history.

Princess Diana (Diana Spencer, Princess of Wales)

The late Diana Spencer, Princess of Wales, attended West Heath Girls' School, where her academic performance was considered below average, failing to pass all of her "OK" exams. At the age of 16, she left West Heath and briefly attended graduate school in Switzerland before leaving there too. Diana was a talented amateur singer and aspired to become a ballerina. Diana went to work part-time as an assistant in a kindergarten providing the basics of primary school. Contrary to claims, she was not a kindergarten teacher, as she did not have any educational qualifications to teach children. In 1981, at the age of 19, Diana became engaged to Prince Charles and her working days were over.

25.03.2011

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• Personal qualities of Bill Gates
• Books by Bill Gates

Austrian psychologist, psychiatrist and thinker, creator of the system of individual psychology, Alfred Adler, said that successful people are driven through life by the desire for superiority. Bill Gates, the acknowledged father of the computer software industry, epitomizes Adler's portrait of the successful individual. USA Today writes that "Gates is a man who competes even to see who can throw the best party, but in business he is decisive, combative and ruthless." Inc. magazine describes Gates as a "restless ball of energy."

Bill Gates' success story is reminiscent of the American dream. Working hard, he achieved not only the prosperity of the company, but also the title of one of the richest people on earth. Now Gates's fortune is about 57 billion dollars. In the list of the richest people in the world for 2011, published annually by Forbes magazine, Bill Gates took second place, with a fortune of $ 56 billion. I suggest you read the biography of Bill Gates and find out the story of his success.

Success story, Biography of Bill Gates

Bill Gates' childhood and youth

And the success story of Bill Gates began in the city of Seattle, Washington, just over half a century ago. Date of birth Bill Gates is October 28, 1955. He was born to William Gates, a corporate lawyer, and Mary Maxwell Gates, a member of the board of directors of First Interstate Bank.

Bill Gates studied at the most exclusive school in Seattle. His parents expected him to follow in his father's footsteps and attend Harvard Law School. However, Gates did not excel in grammar, civics and other subjects that he considered trivial, and by the seventh grade he became interested in mathematics and dreamed of becoming a professor. In 1968, when Bill and his schoolmate Paul Allen were in middle school, school officials decided to buy computer time from General Electric. At that time, systems based on the DEC PDP-10 microarchitecture ruled the market.

This changed Bill's life. He and Allen became seriously interested, they even skipped classes to study all the available computer literature. At the same time, Bill wrote one of his first programs - a simple simulator that allowed you to play against a machine. The school management underestimated its students; the computer time purchased for the whole year was used up in a few weeks. Fortunately, a new student arrived at Lakeside, whose father worked as the chief programmer at the Computer Center Corporation. The school's new contract allowed Gates and his comrades to continue their experiments.

Young hackers quickly figured out the intricacies of the machine, found vulnerabilities and began to cause trouble - they hacked the security, caused the system to crash several times, and changed the files in which information about the computer time used was recorded. Noticing this, the SSS suspended them from working with computers for several weeks.

Meanwhile, the company's business began to suffer from constant failures and weak security. Remembering the destructive activities of the computer scientists from Lakeside, the SSS invited
them to identify defects and security gaps. In exchange, the company offered endless computer time. Of course, Bill and his comrades could not refuse. That’s when they went headlong into computers. The time of day lost its meaning; the guys hung out in the laboratory for hours. In addition to finding errors, they studied every material they could get their hands on about automated calculations and improved their skills.

In 1969, Computer Center Corporation began to have difficulties again, and in 1970 it declared itself bankrupt. Lakeside students lost jobs and access to computer time. There was nothing to do, I had to use my brains in a slightly different direction - to find a new place for self-realization. Fortunately, Paul Allen's father worked at the University of Washington at that time and had access to the computer center. The young programmers got down to business - looking for where they could apply their knowledge. The job itself came to them already in 1971, when the Information Sciences company hired guys to write a program that would create payrolls. In addition to unlimited computer time, employers agreed to pay developers every time their software makes a profit.

Another Gates project during his school years was a program for scheduling classes. The loophole built into it constantly reassigned Bill to classes with the most beautiful girls. In the tenth grade, Bill no longer studied computer science, but taught it.

A group of small programmers regularly received orders. Bill Gates, he says, was the initiator: "I was the guy who said, 'Let's call the real world and offer to sell them something.' And the most interesting thing is that he actually found and sold it - for example, he developed a program for optimizing street traffic and sold it for $20,000. This is at 15 years old!

The parents were somewhat frightened by their son’s passion and, by a strong-willed decision, removed him from computer projects. For a whole year, Bill did not approach the subject of his passion; he read biographies of great people from Napoleon to Roosevelt. But by the age of seventeen, Gates received an offer to write a software package for the distribution of energy at the Bonneville Dam, which his parents no longer objected to working on. Gates received $30,000 for working on this project for a year.

The last year of study at Lakeside brought Gates and Allen a new part-time job - TRW was faced with a bug that Bill and Paul had found in the Computer Center Corporation computer. However, this time they were given a task of a completely different level - to correct the mistake. It is believed that it was at TRW that Bill Gates began to develop his programming skills. It was then that they first started talking about creating a software company.

In 1973, Bill Gates entered Harvard University, intending to either follow in his father's footsteps or become a professor of mathematics. According to him, he was there in body, but not in soul. He spent most of his time at Harvard playing pinball, bridge, and poker. How many stories do we know when a child prodigy, under the influence of circumstances or environment over the years he became the same as everyone else, but fortunately this rule did not work for Bill Gates. The focus on winning, the competitive spirit and the great desire to do better and more than others did not give him peace.

Gates's friend, Paul Allen, unexpectedly got a job at Honeywell in Boston, and he and Bill continued to spend all-night vigils writing programs. In 1974, Allen learned about the company's creation MITS personal computer Altair 8800. Gates plucked up courage and offered the company that created this computer new language programming BASIC. He, of course, lied that the language was designed specifically for Altair, however, the program worked literally the first time. This option suited the managers, who invited young people to work on writing programming languages.

In the same year, Bill Gates proposed creating a software development company and gave it the name Microsoft (the first version was spelled Micro-Soft). Despite the painstaking work of its employees, the company initially experienced certain difficulties in distributing its products. The company did not have sufficient funds to hire good manager sales, so this function was performed by Bill Gates' mother.

Microsoft's first five customers went bankrupt, but the guys did not despair and returned to Seattle in 1979. That year, 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.

However, Bill Gates was forced to refuse IBM, since at that time he did not have developments to create an OS. Therefore, the head of Microsoft was forced to recommend that IBM turn to its competitor, Digital Research, for help, which would subsequently receive the task of developing the OS.

Meanwhile, Microsoft company, making time work for himself, buys a “raw” 86-DOS operating system for $50,000 from Seattle Computer and invites OS creator Tim Patterson to work. Bill Gates' company significantly improved 86-DOS, and soon MS-DOS was released, which Microsoft offered as an OS for the IBM PC, thereby beating Digital Research. In September 1980, IBM entered into a comprehensive contract with Microsoft. This contract was destined to change the history of the personal computer industry. Both IBM and Microsoft were winners. The controversial question is who won more. Gates's main competitor, Digital Research, changed the direction of their business and no longer participated in the competition (you can see how events developed in biographical film"Pirates of Silicon Valley")

In 1981, Microsoft became a corporation, the management of which was shared by Bill Gates and Paul Allen. In the same year, IBM introduced its PC with the 16-bit operating system MS-DOS 1.0. In addition, the computer software includes other Microsoft products - BASIC, COBOL, Pascal and others.

During this period it begins to develop rapidly. The company's first representative offices appear in Europe and the UK. In 1982, Gates convinced IBM management that MS-DOS needed to be sold under license to other computer manufacturers, thereby competing with Apple, which by that time was selling its computers based on its own OS.

Then Microsoft thinks about creating operating system based on a graphical interface that Apple already had at its disposal by that time. But first, Microsoft is testing GUI capabilities in its Word and Excel programs, which were designed specifically for Apple Macintosh computers.

In 1983, Microsoft created the Mouse (mouse) to more conveniently enter data into a computer with a graphical interface. In the same year the corporation presented text editor for MS-DOS. In addition, Bill Gates' company announces Windows - an extension of the operating system for MS-DOS in the form of a universal operating environment for graphical application programs.

In 1986, Microsoft shares went on public sale. During the day, their value on the exchange increases from 22 to 28 dollars. In March 1990, the company announced dividends on shares, and shareholders were able to receive one more share as a gift.

Microsoft by far dominates the industry - it owns 44 percent of the profits of the entire software market. This hinders the growth of their closest competitors. In 1991, Mitch Kapor, founder of rival Lotus, told reporters: “The revolution is over. Bill Gates won. The current software industry is the Kingdom of the Dead.”

People magazine considers Gates the embodiment of a true innovative entrepreneur. He says, “Gates is to programming what Edison is to the light bulb: part innovator, part entrepreneur, part salesman, but always a genius.” Playboy, to all its praises for Gates, added a story in 1991 in which Microsoft is mentioned as the savior of the programming industry. “DOS's role as a unified component on most PCs has helped solidify the United States' position as the epicenter of the global software industry.” And Forbes magazine in April 1991 put a photo of Gates on the cover and asked the question: “Can anyone stop him?”

In 1993, the number of registered Microsoft Windows users was 25 million. Thus, Windows becomes the world's most popular GUI operating system. Microsoft also produces Windows NT, a line of operating systems designed for workstations and servers.

Two years later, Windows 95 was launched into production. The excitement that accompanied the sale of Windows 95 was so great that even people who did not have a computer stood in line for this operating system. In January 1996, 25 million copies of Windows 95 were sold.

In 1996-97, Microsoft introduced the next generations of Windows NT (4.0 and 5.0), which were significantly improved compared to the first version of this software.

In 1998, Windows 98 was born, which is no different in appearance from Windows 95, with the exception of improved internal functions. Then Windows 2000 comes out, this program, according to many users, is Microsoft's best corporate OS.

Microsoft’s ideology was and is monopoly aimed at seizing “absolute power,” and such things in a modern democratic civil society are not welcome, because everyone has equal rights, and free competition is the engine of business and progress.

Unfortunately, against the backdrop of the success of their enterprise, Microsoft's top management does not understand these simple truths well and is constantly striving to grab a larger piece, which is manifested in an aggressive marketing policy. In the mid-1990s, Microsoft went to war with Internet browser maker Netscape because it decided that the entire world should use its own browser exclusively. Internet Explorer, in honor of which the latter was included in the next version of Windows.

This is where the patience of the antitrust authorities of the American authorities ran out, which in 1998 brought a serious lawsuit against Microsoft, accusing the corporation of dishonest treatment of competitors and consumers. Gates, who had left his post as CEO of Microsoft to become chairman of the board of directors and "chief software architect" (a job title he came up with himself), was then summoned for questioning before Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson, who questioned him for a total of about 17 hours.
People present at the interrogation characterize Gates’s behavior as evasive and unfriendly; he was cunning and boring all the time, nitpicking about unimportant details (in particular, demanding clarification of terms such as “compete”, “ask” and “we”) and refusing to talk about the essence of important topics. In response to the most sensitive questions, Gates said “I don’t remember” so often that even the judge himself began to grin. Although prosecutors note that everything that Gates “did not remember” (mainly threats against competitors and dishonest business moves) is easily confirmed by the multitude of emails that Gates sent or received.

The top management of Microsoft at one time promised to “extinguish” and “strangle” Netscape, but before the court they refused to repeat this. The process, which began in 1998, ended only in 2002; the corporation was forced to pay fines and penalties and change its approaches to business. The corporation promised, but changed little in its ideology; the wave of lawsuits against Microsoft does not stop to this day.

Other achievements of Bill Gates

In 2001, Microsoft's new operating system, Windows XP, went on sale, which was popular with users and is today the most popular operating system in the world. By the end of 2006, the number of copies of Windows XP sold was 538 million.

In 2004, Gates became an Investor when he linked his financial interests with the famous Warren Buffett. They jointly founded Berkshire Hathaway. It is a company that combines funds from Geico (auto insurance), Benjamin Moore (paints) and Fruit of the Loom (textiles). At one time, Gates acquired a stake in Bothell, a biotechnology company. Just like his corporation is a kind of fund in which the whole world invests.

Six years after the introduction of Windows XP, the next generation of Microsoft operating systems - Windows Vista and a new version Microsoft Office 2007 office suite.

On 2 March 2005, the British Foreign Office announced that Gates would receive the title of Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, for his contributions to UK businesses and his efforts to reduce global poverty. This is an analogue of a knighthood, which can only be received by a citizen of the United Kingdom, giving the right to be called “Sir”.

In June 2007, 34 years after entering Harvard, Bill Gates will receive his graduation diploma. educational institution. The leadership of one of the most prestigious universities in the world decided to award Gates, who left his studies in 1975, a diploma for special merits.

At the beginning of January 2008, at the opening of the Consumer Electronics Show, the head of Microsoft Corporation announced (this statement was called the main event of CES-2008!) that he was leaving Microsoft in July. Gates said that he intends to get closely involved in the management of the company created in 2000 together with his wife. charitable foundation Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, main goal which is to support projects in the fields of education and healthcare. With the money of this fund, a vaccine against AIDS is being developed, assistance programs are being created, including medical, developing countries and their starving populations, many resources are spent on educational and scientific initiatives.

Critics of Gates, however, point out that, in percentage terms, Gates spends much less on philanthropy than is customary among rich people. In addition, part of his donations is used to buy computers for schools, and the money allocated includes the cost of purchasing Windows and Office, that is, it is sent back to Microsoft.

Since the end of June 2008, Gates has stepped away from active management of Microsoft. He transferred his powers to CEO Steve Ballmer, while simultaneously expanding the area of ​​responsibility of Craig Mundy and Ray Ozzie. It is this “troika” that now determines the company’s course. Despite this, Bill Gates does not break with the company for good. He remains Chairman of the Board of Directors (but without executive powers), and also remains the largest (8.7% of Microsoft shares) shareholder of the corporation.

After resigning from Microsoft, Bill Gates founded his third company "bgC3" stands for Bill Gates Company Three (Bill Gates' third company). In the registration certificate, bgC3 is positioned as a “research (scientific) center.” bgC3 is not a commercial company and will not engage in venture capital investments. In accordance with regulatory documents, bgC3 provides scientific and technology services, works in the field of analytics and research, and also creates and develops software and hardware.

Despite Gates' departure, Microsoft continues to develop new products. For example, on October 22, 2009, Windows 7 went on sale, which is the successor to Windows Vista, but has better functionality. As of March 2011, sales of the Windows 7 operating system in the world reached 300 million units!!!

Personal qualities of Bill Gates

One of the most important character traits of Bill Gates is the ability to recognize the talent and intelligence of another person. “I don’t hire fools,” he claims. Sometimes Gates himself conducts an interview with an applicant for a vacant position and, if necessary, personally calls and persuades the right person. Despite the fact that Bill Gates values ​​his time very much, he understands that the most important thing in business is intellectual capital. His team is a team of the best minds, the strongest programmers. Highly qualified specialists are the real wealth of Microsoft. In the language of management theory, Bill Gates is the first intellectual property capitalist.

The desire to be first always and everywhere, to do anything better than others - this quality has been inherent in Bill Gates since childhood. And it bore fruit - dominance in the global computer industry market! Needless to say, more than 80% of all personal computers have Microsoft software installed - this is an undeniable success. But Bill Gates seems to be indifferent to him: “Success is a bad teacher. He makes smart people think they can't lose."

Pragmatism in literally everything and hard work are another feature of this person. Work, work and work again - this attitude is the core of the brainchild of Bill Gates. He considers rest a sign of weakness, so he works long hours every day, because he is convinced that if you stand in one place, the value of what you have achieved very quickly comes to zero . Where, where, but in the world of computers this is most noticeable. It’s not for nothing that they say that if you have mastered new program, which means it is already outdated. This is for us, ordinary users, but what can we say about the creators?!

Bill Gates's family and hobbies

Gates is known as a strong family man - in 1994 he married Melinda French, who became Melinda Gates, in 1996 they had a daughter, Jennifer, a son, Rory, in 1999, and a daughter, Phoebe, in 2002. Bill first met Melinda in 1987, at some Microsoft press briefing in New York. She, as it turned out, had been working in his company for a long time. Melinda left the service, marrying the “master”. Now they live in luxury home near Seattle (Microsoft headquarters is also located in the Seattle suburb of Redmond), where land and property taxes amount to about a million dollars a year.

The house is stuffed with various kinds of electronics. It is located on the shores of Lake Washington and has an area of ​​40 thousand square feet. The cost of the house is 40 million dollars. The “House of the Future” consists of three interconnected pavilions made of glass and pine tree. On the hill there is a garage for 30 cars. In the corner of the garage there is a museum “Mustang” - the first car of the boy Bill. The first pavilion is mainly for entertaining guests. The reception hall overlooks the Olympic Mountains across Lake Washington. A good three dozen monitors make up a flat screen that covers the entire wall of the hall.
A visitor to the “house of the future” receives an electronic pin in which his “preferences” are encoded - movies, paintings, music, television shows. The system “recognizes” your tastes and remembers them during your first visit to the house.

The central pavilion is a library (for which Gates purchased a number of various cultural assets, including the collection of works by Leonardo da Vinci “Codex Leicester”. Since 2003, it has been exhibited at the Seattle Art Museum). A giant dome with wooden inlays hangs over the hall. There is a trampoline next to the library. Gates loves to jump on it, believing that jumping on a trampoline, as well as rocking in a chair, helps to concentrate his thoughts. “House of the Future” has a swimming pool that smoothly turns into a Japanese bath. Some nights Gates comes here to relax with his wife Melinda. There is also a trout lake nearby. When construction began on the house, Gates settled on an austere architectural style. But, having married, he made concessions to the softer Melinda. First of all, concrete was sacrificed to her elegant taste. Architects and builders rebelled, but resigned themselves. The mistress of the present reigned in the “house of the future.”

What programmer doesn't like driving fast?! Gates is a reckless driver. At first he had a Porsche 911, which he drove through the deserts of New Mexico. Paul Allen even had to rescue him from prison, where he was sent for a speeding violation. Gates then bought a Porsche 930 Turbo, which he dubbed “the rocket.” Then came the Mercedes, Jaguar Hove, Porsche Carrera Cabriolet 964, and finally the -959, for which he paid 380 thousand dollars, but which he could not import to America: the car did not meet US environmental standards . In her absence, Gates “made do” with a Ferrari 348, which he soon ruined while driving in the dunes. Despite all this, Gates never used seat belts.

Bill Gates reads a lot and also enjoys playing golf and bridge.

Bill Gates often visits schools and always shares his experience and vision at his speeches global problems. Every time he finishes a speech, he talks about 11 things that he believes will not be taught in school. He talks about how political correctness has created a generation of children who are out of touch with reality and unable to survive in a harsh world.

1. 1. Life is not fair - get used to it.
   2. Society doesn't care at all about your SELF-ESTEEM. ACHIEVEMENTS are expected of you above all.
   3. 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.
   4. If you think that the teacher is too harsh towards you, that's okay. Wait until you have a boss.
   5. 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.
   6. 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.
   7. 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.
   8. 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.
   9. 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.
   10. 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.
   11. Be kinder to the “nerds.” One of them might end up being your boss after you graduate.

Books by Bill Gates

Few people know that Gates is also a writer. In 1995, Bill Gates wrote the book “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. The book was co-written by Nathan Myhrvold, vice president of Microsoft, and journalist Peter Rinearson. For seven weeks, The Road to the Future was number one on the New York Times bestseller list. The book was published in the United States by Viking and spent a total of 18 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. "The Road to the Future" has been published in more than 20 countries. Over 400,000 copies were sold in China alone.

In 1996, when Microsoft was refocused on Internet technologies, Gates made significant adjustments to the book. The second edition reflected the idea that the emergence of interactive networks - important milestone in the history of human development. The second edition of the book, published in paperback, also became a bestseller.

In 1999, Bill Gates wrote Business @ the Speed ​​of Thought, a book that shows how information technology can solve business problems in a completely new way. This book, co-authored with Collins Hemingway, has been released in 25 languages ​​and sold in more than 60 countries. Business at the Speed ​​of Thought received critical acclaim and was listed on the New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and Amazon.com bestseller lists. By the way, he was one of the first to offer the world ideas for the formation of lean logistics. It is curious that Bill’s book was published in 25 languages ​​of the world, which is how he became known even in places where his company’s products were not even used.

Much has been written and rewritten about the investor and the rich man himself. There are at least a hundred publications in official sources, which can be called reference books on the biography of this person. Perhaps Bill is not the only one who did not escape compromising facts from his biography, described by various meticulous journalists, but it was he who walked his own path with heroic fortitude, not paying attention to public clowns. "Janet Lowe. Bill Gates Speaks” - this book became one of the most published in the last century. It evaluates the idea of ​​Bill's personality as a bright individual who influences the world in a scary concept. In his work they discovered almost devilish escapades, and in Billet himself the beginnings of the idea of ​​​​destructing the world.

Not long ago a film was made about Bill Gates. It was called “Bill Gates: How an Eccentric Changed the World.” And as you might guess, it tells the story of the childhood, growing up and business journey of Bill Gates - a man who will forever go down in history. There is another film, “Pirates of Silicon Valley,” but it is dedicated not so much to Bill Gates, but to all those who stood at the origins of IT technologies: Bill Gates, Paul Allen, Steve Jobs, etc.

Whatever may be said about Gates, it is impossible not to acknowledge his influence. He is famous, he is famous, this world needs him more than the world needs him - that’s for sure.

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