What Bill invented. Who is Bill Gates: biography and success story of the richest man on Earth. Working at MITS is the key to creating Microsoft

Bill Gates. Judging by the fact that this article has interested you, this name is familiar to you.

Bill Gates is the founder of the well-known software company Microsoft. Its motto is “a computer on every table and in every home.” And the fact that you are reading this article clearly demonstrates that it works.

There are many people who admire this man, but he also has plenty of critics. Bill Gates is certainly an extraordinary person. This means that giving it an unambiguous assessment is a very difficult task.

But this is not our goal today.

Those who want to succeed in life have Golden Rule: “Learn from successful people.”

Following him, in this article we will try to figure out what personal qualities of Bill Gates helped him rise to the top of Olympus.

The legendary founder of Microsoft, one of the richest people on the planet, an extraordinary personality, an innovator, a knight of Great Britain and the father of three children.

His real name is William Henry Gates III.

He grew up in a wonderful family: his father was a successful lawyer, his mother was a school teacher, she was on the board of a local university and was actively involved in charity work. Bill had two sisters. From childhood, parents were able to instill in their son the right family values. They paid great attention to the process of raising their children. This largely laid the foundation for his entire future life. How often do we, in the hustle and bustle of everyday work, forget about our closest people – our children. We forget or are lazy to even just play with them. There is no talk at all about talking on equal terms.

Bill was lucky enough to appear in a family where the parents did not miss the opportunity to talk with their son on far from childish topics and created maximum conditions so that he could demonstrate all his abilities in real life.

At age 11, Bill memorized the Sermon on the Mount and won first place in a competition held by a local pastor, whose admiration knew no bounds.

The boy was able not only to remember the text, but also demonstrated a deep understanding of its content.
But don’t think that everything was going swimmingly in Bill’s life. He had conflicts with his mother.

Some subjects were not given to him. And at school he was considered the local clown. Americans have developed a kind of tradition: if you are financially wealthy and have problems, then you have a direct path to a psychologist. Bill's parents did not back down from her. The psychologist, after conducting several sessions, advised them “not to force Bill into traditional behavior or obedience.”

...Bil's unusual behavior as a child prompted his parents to take him to a psychologist, but the specialist advised him to leave the boy alone...

The parents decided to follow the specialist’s recommendations. They put the interests of the child at the forefront, rather than the socially accepted norms of child development and behavior. Bill moved to the new prestigious Lakeside School, where he received an excellent education.

First acquaintance with a computer

Bill's math teacher, in which he excelled, described him as a student who "saw a shortcut."

Here Gates first became acquainted with a computer. He later recalled, “Getting to work with a computer in the late sixties was something for Seattle!” None of this would have happened if the School Mothers' Club had not raised money to buy a computer, a real miracle of technology at that time. It was not at all like modern thin laptops. A whole room was needed to accommodate it. And the calculation speed was several times lower than its modern analogues. Bill, along with his friend Paul Allen, who later became his business partner, sat with this “iron monster” days and nights. The fruits of this painstaking work were not long in coming.

Gates wrote his first program at the age of 13. It was a game of tic-tac-toe.

Then the parents showed a very reasonable approach to raising their gifted child. They did not create most favored nation treatment for him. Their main task was to encourage the ability to independently achieve their goals. After all, before giving a child something, you need to think about whether he really needs it.

Gates adopted the experience of his parents to raise his own children. According to the will he drew up, almost all the money he earned will be transferred to charitable foundations. The children will receive 10 million dollars (a very modest amount for such a rich person) and, most importantly, an excellent education.

Bill believes that children of any parents, even billionaires, should achieve everything themselves.

Gates has great respect for any work and encourages all young people to do the same. He says, “Frying burgers at McDonald's is not beneath you. Your great-grandfathers would have called any job, even this kind of job, a good chance.”

Nothing in life comes easy. Success and money must be earned and earned.

The love of work that his parents instilled in Bill from childhood greatly helped him achieve his goals. On this occasion, he once said: “A dollar can’t fly between an ass and a sofa.” Nothing to add here.

Already at the age of 15, Gates, together with Allen, created the first commercially successful project. It was a traffic control program. They earned $20,000. The Bonneville Dam power distribution program, developed when Bill was just 17, has already brought in $30,000.

Studying at Harvard

In 1973, Gates entered Harvard, although he was not particularly interested in receiving a prestigious education. At that time, he didn’t really understand what he wanted from life, devoting a lot of time to playing poker.

1975 came and everything changed. One day, Paul Allen showed his friend the latest issue of Popular Mechanics magazine with a photo of the first production Altair-8080 computer on the cover. This was their real chance to create a language for a machine that had no software. There were more than enough competitors and it was necessary to act quickly to be ahead of the rest.

Gates always knew how to sense the moment and understood that the best is the one who is one step ahead of his competitors.

A very useful quality for anyone successful person. The friends took a big risk by offering the customer a very short deadline for completing the work. In fact, the program was not ready yet.

And no one knew whether they would be able to carry out their plans. But the habit of working day and night served me well. The presentation of the finished program in BASIC was very successful. This was the beginning of their new life as one of the most successful developers in the IT software industry.

But was it only hard work that helped Gates achieve such amazing success in such a short term? Bill answers this question himself. He is endlessly in love with his work.

“I can reproduce the source code for the first microcomputer, written back in 1975. My heart belongs to BASIC."

“If you look into my brain, you will see that it is filled with programs, the magic of programs and belief in programs, and that will not change.”

When you have a goal in life, wings literally grow behind your back. Gates formulated his mission as creating a simple and affordable personal computer. He was able to infect a huge number of people with this idea. “It’s something I was obsessed with when I was a teenager, when I was 20, 30, I didn’t even get married until that age.”

Founding of Microsoft

In 1975, Gates dropped out of Harvard and founded Microsoft with Allen. But Bill understands the value of a good academic education. He once said: “The world is becoming more and more competitive every year, higher education is now as important as school education used to be.” He still received his diploma. In 2007, Gates graduated from Harvard and was recognized as the best student.

Bill did not immediately manage to make Microsoft a profitable company. But he continued to work hard, despite the initial setbacks. “Sometimes clients would come to us and we’d be so tired the night before that we’d just fall asleep right in front of them.”

Luck always smiles on those who believe in it and persistently pursue their goals.

It did not bypass Gates either. In the 80s, Microsoft entered into a contract with IBM and became a leader in the software market. Today it has representative offices in more than 100 countries. It is a gigantic empire employing almost 90,000 people.

Operating systems created under Gates' leadership are constantly criticized. There are even jokes on this topic: “What about Malevich?! Gates's painting "Blue Screen" evokes much stronger emotions than the notorious "Black Square".

But Bill Gates' dream is coming true. Today, almost every home has a personal computer. In yours too, by the way. After all, you are reading this article.

Of course, Gates would never have achieved such business success alone. He was helped by a team of highly qualified professionals. The ability to attract like-minded people and be able to properly organize their work is another valuable quality of a true leader. Bill understands this and gives credit to the people at his company: “Release of a large project to the market always requires the joint efforts of hundreds of people.”

Bill Gates chose the path for himself and won the race with himself and the world around him.

Thirty year old billionaire

At the age of 31, Gates became a billionaire. According to Forbes magazine, he became the richest person on the planet between 1997 and 2007 and in 2009. At the end of November 2011, Gates's fortune totaled $59 billion. There was only one person on the planet richer than 59-year-old Gates at that time - Mexican businessman Carlos Slim Ell.

With his entire lifestyle, Bill refutes the popular belief that money spoils a person. He dresses very simply and loves fast food. He does not have the snobbery that is often inherent in very wealthy people.

“Spending money wisely is as difficult as making it,” Gates once said.

Bill's life philosophy is that a person should have a goal in life, the achievement of which will benefit not only him, but the entire society. And it's definitely not money. Together with his wife, he founded a foundation whose mission is to improve the healthcare system. The official motto of the foundation is “All lives have equal value.”

For his efforts in the fight against poverty, Gates was awarded a knighthood. And in 2005, Times magazine recognized the Gates couple as people of the year.

About a faithful life partner...

Without a faithful life partner, it is very difficult to achieve what Bill Gates was able to achieve. But Bill was lucky, he found such a person. He became his wife, Melinda Gates. “The ideal for me has always been the relationship between my parents: they actively communicated all the time, did everything together. This was a real team. And I wanted there to be something just as magical in my life.”

Their wedding took place in 1994. They are raising three beautiful children - daughters Jennifer and Phoebe and son Rory. There is no doubt that Bill will be able to pass on his rich life experience to them and instill the right family values. Of course, they will become worthy members of our society.

Gates said: “Success is a bad teacher. He's dizzy. He's unreliable."

Thinking that once you reach the top of Olympus, you will remain there forever is a big mistake. Fortune is changeable. In 2008, Bill transferred his authority to manage Microsoft. Today he is actively involved in other global projects - the launch of satellites that provide worldwide telecommunications, as well as the development of the world's largest source of visual information.

The desire and ability to always move forward is another invaluable quality of this person.

Who knows, perhaps the era is not far off when a person will be called homo informativus, “information man,” largely due to the accessibility and speed of information exchange that the young Bill Gates once dreamed of.

American entrepreneur, founder of Microsoft Corporation William (Bill) Gates was born on October 28, 1955 in Seattle (Washington, USA). His father was a lawyer, his mother a schoolteacher, a Washington State University board member and chairman charitable organization United Way International.

He received his secondary education at the privileged private school Seattle's Lakeside School.

Gates began to show interest in computer programming at the age of thirteen. In 1970, he wrote his first traffic control software with his high school friend Paul Allen and started a distribution company called Traf-O-Data. Gates and Allen earned $20,000 from this project.

On the wave of success, friends were eager to open their own company, but Gates’s parents opposed this idea, hoping that their son would graduate from college and become a lawyer.

In 1973, Bill Gates entered Harvard University. At university, he met Steve Ballmer, who would later become CEO of Microsoft. However, Gates was not interested in studying; he often skipped classes and worked on programming. Gates continued to communicate with Paul Allen, who entered the University of Washington, but after two years he dropped out and moved to Boston (Massachusetts), where he began working for the Honeywell Corporation. In the summer of 1974, Gates joined his friend.

In 1975, after reading an article in Popular Electronics magazine about the Altair 8800 computer created by MITS, Bill Gates and Paul Allen suggested that MITS write software for the computer in Basic. The results of the young programmers' work satisfied the customers, Paul Allen was hired, and Bill Gates, taking a sabbatical from Harvard, was actively involved in writing programs and organizing his own company, Micro-Soft. It was under this name that the company, which later became Microsoft, was registered in 1976.

In February 1976, Gates introduced the practice of selling licenses for his software directly to computer manufacturers, which allowed them to “build” these programs - operating systems and programming languages ​​- into computers.

This marketing innovation dramatically increased the firm's revenue. And although the MITS company soon ceased to exist, Microsoft was able to attract new customers - Apple and Commodore, which were quite firmly on their feet, as well as the Tandy company, which produced the popular Radio shack computers.

In 1979, Gates was expelled from Harvard. And already in 1980, Microsoft received an offer from IBM to create an operating system for the world's first personal computer. For these needs, Gates acquired the right to exclusively license and then own the 86-DOS operating system created by Seattle Computer Products (SCP), adapted it for IBM's needs and profitably sold it to IBM under the name PC-DOS. The release of the IBM PC and MS-DOS was widely announced in August 1981.

The agreement with IBM provided for payments for each copy of Microsoft software, which provided significant dividends thanks to the success of the IBM PC in the 1980s. The success of both products subsequently led to the fact that Intel architecture, IBM computers and Microsoft programs became de facto industry standards.

After Microsoft was restructured in 1981, Bill Gates took over as president and chairman of the company's board of directors. In November 1985, the first version of Microsoft Windows appeared. The system's original code name was Interface Manager, but the Windows variant was eventually chosen because it best described the on-screen computing "windows" that became the centerpiece of the new product.

In 1986, Microsoft shares began trading on the stock exchange. The price of shares grew at lightning speed, and within a few months, at the age of 31, Bill Gates became a billionaire for the first time. In 1988, Microsoft became the world's largest-selling computer software developer.

In 1993, total monthly sales of Windows exceeded one million copies. By 1995, when the company released a new operating Windows system 95, supplemented with Internet access software - Internet Explorer, approximately 85% of PCs worldwide used Microsoft software.

As the head of Microsoft and the holder of the majority of its shares, Gates became the richest person in the world by 1998. At the end of 1999, Gates announced his decision to step down as head of the company and take up programming. Despite this, he remained in charge of Microsoft's manufacturing strategy until he stepped down from business development responsibilities in 2006, saying he wanted to devote his time to philanthropy.

Bill Gates was the non-executive chairman of the company's board of directors, but on February 4, 2014, he left this post. At the same time, the founder of Microsoft remains a member of the company's board of directors and is a consultant on the company's key projects.

For the 21st time in a row, Bill Gates, with a fortune of $81 billion, topped the annual list of the 400 richest people in the United States, published by the American magazine Forbes.

In September 2015, he topped the rankings for the 22nd time with a net worth of $76 billion, 13% of which comes from Microsoft shares and the rest from the billionaire's investments in numerous businesses across a variety of industries.

Bill Gates has been investing for many years through his investment company Cascade Investment. Almost 50% of the funds managed by Cascade Investment are invested in holding company Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway. Gates' top five investments also include shares of Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Caterpillar (a manufacturer of equipment for the construction and mining industries) and the Canadian National Railway Company (a railway company).

He is the author of two bestsellers. Published in 1995 The Road Ahead spent seven weeks at number one on The New York Times bestseller list. In 1999, Gates published Business the Speed ​​of Thought, which has been translated into 25 languages ​​and explores new ways to use computer technology to solve business problems. Proceeds from the sale of both books were donated to non-profit organizations dedicated to supporting the development of technology and education.

Bill Gates is a Knight of the British Empire (2005). In 2007, the administration of Harvard University, recognizing the merits of Bill Gates, awarded its former student diploma.

Bill Gates is married to Melinda French Gates and they have three children: Jennifer Katharine, Rory John and Phoebe Adele.

In 2000, the couple founded the Bill and Melinda Gates Charitable Foundation to support health and education initiatives.

The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources

William Henry Gates III. Born October 28, 1955 in Seattle, USA. Better known as Bill Gates. American entrepreneur and public figure, philanthropist, co-creator (with Paul Allen) and former largest shareholder Microsoft company.

Until June 2008, he was the head of the company; after leaving his post, he remained as its non-executive chairman of the board of directors. He is also co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

In the period from 1996 to 2007, in 2009 and in 2015 - the richest person on the planet according to Forbes magazine. His fortune in March 2015, according to Forbes magazine, was estimated at $79.2 billion, an increase of $13.2 billion compared to September 2012. This made him the richest man in the United States 20 times in a row and the first in the world 16 times (the second was Carlos Slim Helu with his family, his fortune is estimated at $ 77.1 billion).

Bill Gates is one of the record holders for the amount of money donated to charity: between 1994 and 2010, he contributed more than $28 billion to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. In February 2010, Gates made a proposal to all billionaires to donate half of their wealth for charitable activities.

Gates was born in Seattle, Washington, the son of corporate lawyer William Henry Gates II and board member of First Interstate Bank, Pacific Northwest Bell, and United Way national board member Mary Maxwell Gates. Gates has 2 sisters: the older one is Christy and the younger one is Libby.

Gates attended Seattle's most exclusive school, Lakeside, where he was able to develop his programming skills on the school's mini-computer. At the age of thirteen, Bill wrote his first program, the Tic Tac Toe game, in the BASIC programming language. In eighth grade, during a programming class, he met tenth-grader Paul Allen. With his friends, Gates tested the PDP-10 computer from Digital Equipment Corporation, owned by Computer Center Corporation (CCC).

When the time allotted for Bill and his friend Paul to work in the CCC expired, they hacked the program. For hacking computers, four students at the school - Rick Wayland, Kent Evans, Paul Allen and Bill Gates - were banned from working on computers throughout the summer. The initiator of the punishment was the Computer Center Corporation, whose computer the students hacked. After the punishment ended, the students offered the company to find errors in their software in exchange for the opportunity to work on the company’s computers. The company agreed, and Gates and his friends studied a variety of software source codes written in languages ​​such as FORTRAN, LISP, and machine code.

This cooperation continued until 1970, when the company went bankrupt. Next year, Information Sciences, Inc. hired four students (including Bill and Paul) to write a payroll program. The program was needed in the Cobol language, in return the guys received free work time on PDP-10. They called their company Lakeside Programming Group, but were unable to complete the work.

At school, Gates did not excel in grammar, social studies, and other subjects he considered trivial, but he did achieve top marks in mathematics. By the end of elementary school, Gates's bad behavior began to worry his parents and teachers so much that he was referred to a psychiatrist.

At age 17, Gates, Paul Allen, and Paul Gilbert founded Traf-O-Data. The name was coined by Gates from “jack-o’-lantern” - a jack-o’-lantern. The company's goal was to create meters to read road traffic and generate reports for traffic engineers. The Traf-O-Data device was sold 1972 to 1982. and as a result, $794.31 remained in the company’s account.

December 25, 1972 (Christmas Day) Bud Pembroke, the one who invited Bill and Paul to work for Information Service Inc., invited them to work for TRW. A large software project was underway for the Bonneville Power Administration using the PDP-10.

In 1973, Bill Gates entered Harvard University, where he met his future partner Steve Ballmer. After 2 years, Gates was expelled and immediately began creating software.

In January 1975, Paul Allen read an article in Popular Electronics magazine about the new Altair 8800 personal computer. After reading the article, Gates contacted the president of Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS), the developer of the new computer, Ed Roberts, and told him that he and his friend working on software of this computer(although in fact Gates and Allen had nothing to do with the Altair 8800, but emulated that processor).

The MITS president invited Paul to his office and he demonstrated a working BASIC interpreter for their computer, and within a few weeks Paul and Bill were working at MITS. They thought about calling their company “Allen and Gates,” but felt that it was more suitable for a law office, and then Paul suggested Micro-Soft, from microprocessors and software. In the credits of the BASIC language interpreter, which they created at the request of MITS, the friends included the following line: "Micro-Soft BASIC: "Paul Allen wrote the supporting codes. Bill Gates wrote the executable codes. Monte Davidoff wrote a mathematical library".

In 1975, Bill was arrested for the first time, for speeding and driving without driver's license, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. After which he began to quarrel with the policeman and he was put in a “bad” cell, where there were drunkards and it was not cleaned. Bill made the required one call to Paul Allen and he collected the last money available to rescue Bill. "Micro-Soft" was created specifically for the development of programs for MITS, in the city of Albuquerque. Within a year of working for MITS, the hyphen in Gates and Allen's company name disappeared, and on November 26, 1976, a new company was registered with the New Mexico District Clerk's Office. trademark"Microsoft". Paul got 36% of the company's shares, Bill 64%, basically how Bill saw his contribution to the product.

In the joint business, Paul Allen was involved in technical ideas and promising developments; Gates was closer to negotiations, contracts, etc. business conversation. And yet, the friends resolved the main issues together - sometimes, as Gates later admitted, the arguments continued for 6-8 hours in a row.

In the mid-1970s operating system CP/M was the most popular system for Intel 8080 and Zilog Z80 based computers. In 1980, IBM began searching for a suitable operating system for the IBM PC personal computer. Initially it was planned to use CP/M for it. Negotiations were held with Digital Research, a company owned by Gary Kildall and his wife. However, the deal did not take place, and IBM entered into an agreement with the small company Microsoft (the mother of the owner, Bill Gates, was the chairman of the executive committee at United Way International, along with two very influential leaders of the computer market monster IBM, John Opel and John Akers (John Opel, President since 1981, then John Akers, President since 1985).

Microsoft did not have its own OS for Intel 8086 processors, so it licensed 86-DOS (QDOS), which was a 16-bit clone of CP/M, from Seattle Computer Products. Subsequently, Microsoft completely bought the rights to 86-DOS, after which, after working on it, it was completely adapted for IBM personal computers, earning $50,000. This is how the MS-DOS operating system appeared and the beginning of the collaboration between Microsoft and IBM.

In 1977, Gates was arrested a second time, for running a red light and, again, for driving without a driver's license.

In 1980, Microsoft signed a contract with IBM to develop MS-DOS for IBM. But Microsoft did not meet the deadline and transferred the source code to IBM for faster development in 1981. This half-baked system featured a demo game called "DONKEY.BAS" made by Bill Gates and Neil Konzen. "DONKEY.BAS" was a tech demo of the PC-DOS system and the BASIC language, and is the predecessor of all IBM PC games. In this game you control a racing car and have to avoid donkeys. In 2012, this game was re-released for Windows Phone 7.5/8 (free to download), iOS (costs $0.99).

Next, Microsoft is working on a completely new operating system, the idea of ​​which was taken from Xerox and Apple. Cooperation with IBM continued and on November 20, 1985, the new Microsoft Windows operating system appeared. Thus began the era of Windows - the operating system that glorified and made Gates the richest man.

In 1989, Gates founded the multimedia company Corbis and was arrested a third time on charges of drunk driving.

In 1994, Gates acquired Codex Leicester, a collection of works by Leonardo da Vinci. Since 2003 it has been on display at the Seattle Art Museum.

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. In 1996, when Microsoft was refocused on Internet technologies, Gates made significant adjustments to the book.

In 1997, Gates spoke via video link in Boston at the Macworld Expo, where they talked about the development of MS Office, IE, Java products for the Macintosh, and investing $150 million in Apple. Bill's performance was broadcast on big screen and it was like a performance" Big Brother” in the Apple “1984” ad.

In 1997, Gates became a victim of extortion by Chicago resident Adam Quinn Pletcher. Gates testified at the subsequent trial. Pletcher was found guilty and sentenced in July 1998 to six years in prison.

The following episode gives some insight into Gates' religious views: when a correspondent for The Times magazine asked whether he believed in God, Gates replied: "I don't have any facts about him."

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.

In 1999, Bill Gates wrote the book 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.

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.

On 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 2 March 2005, the UK Foreign Office announced that Gates would receive the title of Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his contributions to UK businesses and his efforts to reduce global 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 retire from permanent job at Microsoft. After leaving his post, he intends to devote himself entirely to management charitable foundation Bill and 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 (without executive powers), will be involved in special projects, and will also remain the largest (8.7% of Microsoft shares) shareholder of the corporation. In 2008, Gates resigned as president of Microsoft Corporation, and in 2010 he left the post of chief executive officer. Steve Ballmer received both positions. In December 2011, he denied rumors about him possible return to company management.

At the end of October 2008, in 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.

Since 2009, Bill Gates has published on the official website of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation " Annual Message Bill Gates”, in which he talks about the achievements of his charitable organization, and also makes plans for the future.

Personal life of Bill Gates:

On January 1, 1994, Gates married Melinda French. They have three children - Jennifer Katharine (born 1996), Rory John (born 1999) and Phoebe Adele (born 2002).

Bill Gates was born a programmer. Contrary to his father’s wishes, he became interested not in law, but in computer science, and already at the age of 13 he wrote his first program. In 1975, the brilliant Harvard sophomore dropped out and became one of the founders of a world-famous corporation. Having earned his first billion at the age of 31, the Microsoft founder was recognized as the richest person in the world 17 times. In 2016, his fortune reached $76.4 billion. Invested more than $30 billion in charitable projects. In 2015, he created a fund for the development of clean energy sources.

In the age of information technology, the first lines of the Forbes ranking are increasingly occupied by genius programmers, whose talent allowed them to create business empires.

The story of Bill Gates is an inspiring example for those who dream of getting rich. However, upon closer examination, it turns out that the endeavors of the great programmer were not driven by a thirst for money, but by the highest degree of love for his work.

William Henry GatesIII now known as Bill Gates - one of the richest people on the planet, founder of the world famous Microsoft Corporation, philanthropist, public figure and brilliant creator of software code. At the beginning of 2017, his fortune was estimated by Forbes experts at $76.4 billion.

Interesting fact: Bill Gates became the richest person in the United States 21 times and the richest person on the planet 17 times. At the same time, during his life, the billionaire allocated 31.5 billion of his fortune to charitable needs.
Source: Lenta.ru

In 2016, Bill Gates was at the top of the Forbes ranking for the 17th time. Despite the fact that his name is always associated with the global corporation he created and the operating system of the same name, he retired from Microsoft in 2008 (now he owns only 3% of the company's shares).

Currently, the genius programmer's activities are focused on the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, investing in real sector economy, development of projects to create clean energy, simplification in Everyday life people by introducing digital gadgets into it.

Gates' business is the door to new era PC use; his quotes are a call to action despite the circumstances.

The Microsoft founder was theoretically supposed to follow in the footsteps of his father, who works as a lawyer and recognizes the high importance of higher education. However, instead of stable law, he chose the shaky field of programming, dropped out of Harvard in order to bring to life a daring idea that was destined to become a world-famous corporation.

How did it happen that an eccentric entrepreneur and a daring half-educated programmer managed to become a billionaire and head the largest IT corporation? A brief history of the businessman’s success, his biography and history of achievements is a treasure trove of bold advice and extraordinary solutions.

Early start - childhood and adolescence

On October 28, 1955, he was born into the family of a lawyer from Seattle. long-awaited son William. His father saw him as a successor to his work in the field of law, and therefore even sent the boy to the Lakeside private advanced school. But life decreed otherwise.

Interesting fact: As a child, Bill received the family nickname "trey" (English: "three in playing cards"), since he was the third heir to the Gates family and the third child in the family. Subsequently, the number three often haunted the billionaire throughout his life: he created his first company together with Evans and Allen (the three of them), for the first time he became the richest man in the world with a fortune of $9 billion (three triples), in 2008 he created the company BGC3 (“Bill’s third company Gates") and was left with a 3% stake in Microsoft.

Despite the calls of his father, young Bill was not interested in history, law, philosophy, or literature. All his aspirations were chained to a building with a computer terminal, where at the age of 13 he began to actively engage in programming and mathematics.

In 1968, he and his friend Paul Allen created the first two BASIC programs - a number converter between two mathematical bases and a tic-tac-toe game.

“I was obsessed with computers... I sat in the computer lab until nightfall. Programmed on weekends. We spent 20-30 hours there every week... I was fifteen or sixteen years old then...” Bill Gates
Source: RBC

Schoolchildren's time on computers was limited, but young programmers cracked a reliable DEC program. As a result, they were deprived of access to computers for the whole summer, but then they were invited to work at Computer Center Corporation. The cooperation was as follows:

• Schoolchildren looked for errors in the operation of the software;
• The company allowed them to use the PC for free.

The experience gained played a role - Gates’ difficult but fascinating path to the top began:

• 1970 - Lakeside Programmers Group was created, which created software products for business (result of work - $1,022);
• 1971 - work on a program for scheduling at school (result of work - $4,200);
• 1972 - the Traf-O-Data company was created to create meters for reading road traffic (result of work - $ 794);
• 1973 - writing a program for the Bonneville Energy Administration (result of work - $20,000).

The time had come to leave the school, and Bill hastily pulled up all the subjects and passed them with excellent marks. In 1973 he became a student at Harvard.

Interesting fact: When entering Harvard, Bill Gates scored 1590 points out of a possible 1600. This did not stop him from dropping out of school after two years and starting to create an IT corporation.
Source: Forbes

Working at MITS is the key to creating Microsoft

Bill Gates and Paul Allen were connected not only by strong friendship, but also by common hobbies. They could read books on programming languages ​​and the creation of artificial intelligence all day long. Paul followed his friend to Boston when he went to Harvard.

In 1975, Bill came across an article in a scientific journal about the Altair 8800 personal computer. Within 10 minutes, the young programmer was talking with the manager of MITS, the corporation that created Altair. He assured him that he and a friend had developed a program for the processor that would be of interest to management.

Bill and Paul were invited to an interview, where they presented a software product they had created within two nights of the interview. The goal was achieved - friends were hired at MITS.

Why did Gates resort to such tricks? This was the only chance to get acquainted with the program code for the latest personal PC.

Microsoft Corporation - how steel was tempered

In 1975, Allen convinced his partner of the need to leave school and go into business. On April 4, their brainchild appears - the company Micro-soft (microprocessors & software).

Interesting fact: Initially, 64% of the company's shares belonged to Gates and 36% to Allen, since Bill always strived for dominance and leadership in everything.
Source: Lenta.ru

Five years of ups and downs, and here they are - the first and significant achievements:

• 1980 - sale of the MS-DOS operating system for the latest IBM personal computer with the subsequent sale of licenses for its use;
• 1981-1982 - the appearance of additions to the system - Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel.

Personal PCs became dependent on Microsoft products, and the corporation itself put shares on the public market.

On the 11th anniversary of the company - his 31st anniversary, Bill Gates becomes a billionaire. This fact only activates the energy of a computer genius.

• 1985 - the Windows operating system was released;
• 1990 - its most successful example is released - version 3.0;
• 1993 - more than 1 million Windows licenses were sold in a year;
• 1995 - 7 million licenses of the new version of the program were sold in just a month.

In 1994, Microsoft released its own browser, Internet Explorer, which has been built into the Windows system since 1998.

Marriage and the birth of children

At the age of 39, Bill Gates decides to tie the knot with one of the Microsoft employees, Melinda French. Subsequently, the couple created a joint charitable foundation and became the parents of three children - daughters Jennifer Katharine (1996), Phoebe Adele (2002) and son Rory John (1999).

Harsh thorns - years of competition and lawsuits

Since 1990, a long legal battle between Microsoft Corporation and antimonopoly authorities began - the latter insist on splitting up the business due to the fact that:

• The company has a monopoly in the operating system and web browser markets;
• Its policies harm users by depriving them of choice.

The proceedings ended only in 2000 with a decision to divide the business into two parts, but Gates filed an appeal, and the litigation lasted another two years. Its result was the release in 2004 of a version of Windows without a built-in player and web browser.

In the early 2000s, Google announced that it would release its products in response to new offerings from Microsoft.

"Success is a terrible teacher: it makes smart people think they can't lose"

After years of climbing Olympus, Bill decides to take a break. Back in 1998, he was replaced as CEO by Ballmer (a Harvard classmate of the billionaire), and in 2000, Gates gave him the position of executive director. He retains only the position of technical adviser to the corporation.

Simple guy Bill Gates, or William Henry Gates III (full name), is the richest man in the world, a computer tycoon, the founder and owner of Microsoft Corporation. Born on October 28, 1955 in Seattle, Washington, USA, he is the son of corporate lawyer William Henry Gates II and board member of First Interstate Bank, Pacific Northwest Bell and the national board of United Way Mary Maxwell Gates.

Young Bill Gates, biography which, of course, did not end at one birth :), received elementary education at a public elementary school, and at age 12 he was transferred to the most exclusive school in Seattle, where he was able to develop his programming skills on the school minicomputer. Gates did not excel in grammar, civics, and other subjects he considered trivial, but did achieve top marks in mathematics. This modest, even shy, and slightly awkward child dreamed of becoming a mathematics professor and was not at all like his father - a tall, handsome man and a successful lawyer. So, despite his unique abilities in mathematics and logic, Bill Gates did not show the leadership abilities characteristic of his parents.

A year later, Bill created the first computer program. This was the time of giant computers that occupied entire rooms and were “subject to” the minds of only scientists in white laboratory coats. In college, Bill Gates founded the company Traf-O-Data, which employed classmates of the future tycoon. They developed computer systems for local authorities and calculated city transport schedules. 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.

In 1973, following family tradition, Gates entered his freshman year at Harvard University, intending to become a lawyer, like his father. But he was still just as withdrawn and uncommunicative, which was absolutely not suitable for his chosen profession. At Harvard he lived on the same floor as Steve Ballmer, with whom he became friends and who currently heads Microsoft.

In December 1974, Bill Gates saw a $397 computer that his friend Paul Allen said anyone could build. The only thing the machine was missing was software. Bill Gates and Paul Allen contacted representatives of the company M.I.T.S, offering them software (BASIC version) for their Altair 8800 computer. 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 (they removed the dash later).

Firmly convinced that a personal computer would become indispensable in every workplace and in every home, they began to develop software for personal computers. Bill Gates' foresight regarding the development of personal computers was a key factor in the success of Microsoft and the software industry as a whole (in 1986 Microsoft was transformed into Joint-Stock Company open type and in the same year Bill Gates became a billionaire, then he was 31 years old).

Microsoft's first five customers went bankrupt, but the guys did not despair and returned to Seattle in 1979. That same year, Bill Gates was expelled from the university for absenteeism and poor academic performance. But this fact did not greatly upset the unfortunate student, since he received an offer from IBM to create an operating system for the world's first personal computer.

Then Bill Gates purchased the QDOS (Quick and Dirty Operating System) system for $50,000 and 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.

In releasing the applications Microsoft Word And Microsoft Excel, the company has gained an even stronger foothold in the global market. Thanks to the Corbis company, which became part of the Microsoft corporation, Bill Gates received a huge photo file of Bettman and other photographers. Photos were used for electronic distribution.

The following year, Microsoft introduced the first version of Windows to the market. And already in 1993, the total monthly sales of Windows exceeded one million. In 1995, Windows 95 arrived and sold seven million copies in two weeks.

Microsoft 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.

Problems with the US Antitrust Committee arose again in 1999, when a district court declared Microsoft Corporation a monopoly. In April 2000, the US Department of Justice proposed breaking Microsoft into two separate corporations: one would deal with Microsoft Office and Internet Explorer, while the other would exclusively deal with Windows (by the way, this operating system is used in more than 85% of the world's computers). Bill Gates' objections are based on the fact that it is technically impossible to separate Windows from other Microsoft applications. As Bill Gates says, we are calling for the fairest court possible - the court of history.

In 1995, Microsoft's policy was radically changed - the main emphasis began to be placed on the Internet. In the same year, 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. In 1996, when Microsoft was refocused on Internet technologies, Gates made significant adjustments to the book. The book was co-written by Nathan Myhrvold, vice president of Microsoft, and journalist Peter Rinearson.

On January 1, 1994, Bill Gates married Melinda French, a Microsoft manager, with whom he had three children - a daughter, Jennifer Katharine, in 1996, a son, Rory John, in 1999, and another daughter, Phoebe Adele. Interestingly, under the terms of the marriage contract, Bill Gates undertakes to pay $10 million for each child they have together.

With the advent of his family, Bill Gates began to pay more attention to charity. One billion dollars was invested in scholarships that Microsoft provides to talented but disadvantaged students (Gates Millennium Scholarship Program), Bill Gates invested $750,000 in a program to develop vaccinations (Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization). In 1994, Gates acquired Codex Leicester, a collection of works by Leonardo da Vinci. Since 2003 it has been on display at the Seattle Art Museum.

From elastic Bill and Melinda Gates Founded a charitable foundation and contributed more than $17 billion to support philanthropic initiatives in the areas of health and education. To date, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has given more than $300 million to health organizations and more than $300 million to improve education, including the Gates Library Initiative. , which will allow low-income people in the United States and Canada to use personal computers and the Internet in public libraries. More than $54 million was allocated to public projects in the countries of the northwest coast Pacific Ocean and more than $29 million for other special projects and annual giving campaigns.

In 1999, Bill Gates wrote the book Business @ the Speed ​​of Thought, which 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.

In addition to his passion for computer technology, Gates also develops the aforementioned company Corbis, which is developing the largest source of visual information in the world - a comprehensive digital archive of works of art and photographs from public and private collections stored in different countries.

1 December 4, 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 sits on the board of directors of Icos, a Bothell biotechnology company. Bill Gates has also invested in a company called Teledesic, which is working on an ambitious project to launch several hundred satellites into low orbit around the globe. The mission of these satellites is to provide worldwide two-way broadband telecommunications.

On 2 March 2005, the UK Foreign Office announced that Gates would receive the title of Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his contributions to UK businesses and his efforts to reduce global poverty. At the end of 2005, Bill Gates and his wife Melinda Gates were named People of the Year by the American Time magazine. On June 7, 2007, Bill Gates began to be considered a graduate of Harvard University. The decision to award Gates a diploma was made by the university administration.

In 1998, Gates resigned as president of Microsoft Corporation, and in 2000 he left the post of chief executive officer. Steve Ballmer received both positions. On January 7, 2008, Bill Gates announced his intentions to step down as the head of Microsoft Corporation in July 2008. 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.

Day June 27, 2008 became Bill Gates' last as head of Microsoft. Despite this, he does not break with the company for good; Gates remains Chairman of the Board of Directors (but without executive powers). He is also involved in special projects and remains the largest (8.7% of Microsoft shares) shareholder of the corporation, which employs more than 61,000 people in its branches located in 102 countries.

At the end of October 2008, in 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.

In his spare time, Bill Gates reads a lot and also enjoys playing golf and bridge. More detailed information about the activities of Bill Gates, as well as materials from his speeches and essays can be found on the web server http://www.microsoft.com/billgates/ (English language).