At what age did Bill Gates found Microsoft? The real success story of Bill Gates

Who doesn't know this name? Bill Gates is the head of Microsoft, a leader in the production of computer software. The corporation's income has long exceeded tens of billions of dollars a year, and its branches are located in all countries of the civilized world. Of course, the biography of Bill Gates deserves close attention.

Childhood and youth

William Gates was born in Seattle on October 28, 1955, the son of a lawyer and a schoolteacher. Besides him, the family had two more daughters. William's favorite subject at school was mathematics, but he did not like the humanities, considered them unnecessary and, accordingly, had low grades in these subjects. Gates took up programming at the age of 13 while studying at the private Lakeside School.

The year 1973 was marked by Bill Gates's admission to Harvard University. Here he meets Steve Ballmer, currently Microsoft's vice president of sales and support.

While studying at Harvard, Gates developed BASIC, the programming language for the first Altair 8800 minicomputer. In 1975, together with Paul Allen Bill Gates starts Microsoft- this matter absorbs him so much that he, without regret, quits his studies at Harvard University. The friends were convinced that personal computers had a great future - and today we can say with confidence that their conviction was truly prophetic.

Brilliant Bill

Gates told his Harvard professors, “I will be a millionaire before I turn 30.” Everything turned out much better than he expected - at the age of 31 he became a billionaire.

The genius of Bill Gates was manifested not only in his participation in the development of new products for the PC, but also in his gift as a manager and strategist. He frequently meets with clients and maintains contact with his employees around the world. Microsoft is rapidly gaining momentum, improving its information products designed to make the user's work at the computer as easy as possible.

March 2005 saw Bill Gates awarded a Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire for his significant contributions to UK businesses and work to reduce global poverty.

Bill Gates was considered the richest man on the planet from 1996 to 2007 and in 2009. In September 2009, his fortune reached $50 billion, although the emerging global crisis somewhat reduced this figure the following year.

In June 2008, Gates resigned as head of Microsoft, while remaining non-executive chairman of the board of directors. On at the moment he pays more attention to his foundation - the latest sensations include his proposal for all billionaires to donate 50% of their own wealth to charity. At the same time, Gates is ready to be the first to lead by example.

Bill Gates is a man of varied interests. He is the founder of Corbis Corporation, which develops the world's largest source of visual information - a digital archive of photographs and works of art stored in various collections and different countries. Bill Gates is also a member of the board of Icos Corporation, owner of Darwin Molecular shares, and has invested in the Teledesic company, which is developing a project to launch Earth satellites to provide two-way broadband telecommunications. His versatility is not an obstacle to his hobbies: the Microsoft founder loves to play bridge and golf, reads a lot, collects cars and jumps on a trampoline to concentrate his thoughts.

Personal life

Bill Gates' personal life is also prosperous. On January 1, 1994, he married Melinda French Gates, an employee of Microsoft. For the wedding, Gates rented one of the islands of Haiti. The Gates couple have three children: Jennifer Katharine, Rory John and Phoebe Adele. The family lives in a large, spacious house ( total area 40 thousand square feet) on the shores of Lake Washington. The house is full of modern electronic systems, being an example of a “smart home” of the 21st century.

Books by Bill Gates

First book "Road to the Future" co-authored with Microsoft Vice President Nathan Myhrvold and journalist Peter Rynearson, it was published in 1995. In it, the founder of Microsoft shares his thoughts on how society is changing under the influence of developing information technologies. The book immediately became a bestseller and was published in 20 countries in millions of copies.

In 1996, the book “The Road to the Future” underwent changes and was published in a second edition. This was mainly due to the change in the orientation of Gates’ company towards Internet technologies. Accordingly, the second edition of the book was supplemented with material about the World Wide Web and its role in the history of the development of civilization.

Bill Gates' second book "Business at the speed of thought"– was co-written by Collins Hemingway in 1999. It reflected the idea of ​​how information technology can help solve business problems. Like the previous one, this book also became a bestseller and was released in 60 countries in 25 languages.

Bill Gates transfers all proceeds from book sales to his charitable foundation.

Bill Gates Foundation

The Gates couple are the founders of a charitable foundation Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, founded in 1994 and designed to support philanthropic initiatives in the fields of education and healthcare. It is thanks to this fund that low-income people in the United States and Canada have the opportunity to work with PCs and access the Internet in public libraries. Funds from the Bill Gates Foundation are also allocated to the development of various public projects in other countries, in particular, to activities to overcome poverty, as well as prevention and treatment viral diseases in developing countries in Africa and Asia.

It is no exaggeration to say that the biography of Bill Gates is a hymn to human intelligence and genius, inspiring many young people passionate about programming around the world.

Bill Gates was born on October 28, 1955 into an intelligent, educated family. His parents are respected people in Seattle. Father - William Henry Gates II - corporate lawyer, philanthropist and writer, mother - Mary Maxwell Gates - businesswoman, the first woman to head the United Way society, as well as the first woman to serve on the national executive committee of the United Way and the board of directors of First Interstate Bank of Washington. Bill's ancestors were also quite famous people in his field - his great-grandfather served as mayor and senator, and his grandfather was vice-president of the National Bank. Bill grew up surrounded by two sisters - the older Christy and the younger Libby. Bill's family nickname is Trey.

Where it all began

The parents of the future billionaire sent the boy to the elite Lakeside school, where the boy’s basic skills were developed. It is easy to guess that Bill was interested in mathematics much more than in the humanities, in which, by the way, he almost always received unsatisfactory grades. The parents could not help but worry about this, and once they even sent their son to a psychiatrist, but over time it became clear that grammar and civics were not the most important subjects in Bill’s life.

Already in primary school programming becomes real passion young men. At the age of 13, he wrote a Tic Tac Toe program in the BASIC programming language. The program itself, although it was quite simple, was the “starting point” for Gates as a programmer.

The acquaintance with Paul Anders, who would later become Gates' partner, occurred in high school and it became fateful. Bill is an eighth grade student, Paul is a tenth grade student. They are united by a love of programming; together they test Digital Equipment Corporation computers and have fun hacking computer programs. No one is thinking about creating innovative ideas and developing a unique strategy yet.

One day, newly made friends and a couple of the same “hackers” - Rick Wayland and Kent Evans - are caught in yet another hack and are deprived of the opportunity to work on computers throughout the summer. The guys who “served” their punishment return to their favorite business by the fall, finding new errors in the software of the leader in the computer market at that time - Computer Center Corporation, on whose initiative they were punished. Young entrepreneurs put forward a proposal to management - searching for errors for the opportunity to work on the company’s PC. The management readily agrees. The cooperation was short-term - the end was the bankruptcy of the company in 1970.

Everything changes when the guys become the founders of Traf-O-Data in 1972. The young people who created unique meters, on the basis of which they not only read road traffic, but also compiled reports for road engineers, replenished their total account by $794.31 over 10 years of sales of the invention.

At the end of 1972, the guys received an invitation to work at TRW, which was expected to work on a huge project for the Bonneville Power Administration using the PDP-10.

Studying at Harvard and the beginning of the Microsoft era

Having entered Harvard University in 1973, Bill looked forward to developing the skills and abilities he already had. His desire to create unique software is so great that the theoretical part of training weighs on him more and more every day. After two years of study, student Bill Gates is expelled from the university. For so much short time During his studies, Bill managed to meet many interesting and important further development his business people. One of them is Gates' future partner, Stephen Ballmer.

Before running their own company, Paul and Bill worked for large companies in the IT industry. One of them was Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems, which in 1975 released a fundamentally new computer, the Altair 8800.

He manages to get a job with the company through cunning and arrogance - Gates calls the director of the company and says that they are already working at full capacity on creating a POG for their car. And although this is far from true, they still manage to become MITS partners. Microsoft appeared as an independent entity in November 1976.

Cooperation with MITS does not last long - the company does not pass the test of the financial crisis and declares bankruptcy. Microsoft, on the contrary, is gaining momentum, mastering more and more new industries in this area. One of the company's innovations, introduced almost immediately after its creation - licenses for Microsoft software - becomes a real discovery. It was the licenses that made it possible to integrate new operating systems and programming languages ​​into computers, which also significantly increased Microsoft’s fortunes.

A new stage in the Microsoft era

Work on finding new partners continues and is quite successful: Apple Corporation, Commodore, computer developer Radio Shack - they all want to get the software of the innovative manufacturer.

It begins for the company new stage– planning and development of the existing structure in the long term. Gates is responsible for the paperwork and development public relations and the search for new lucrative contracts, while Allen focuses on the technical component of the issue.

1977 – The Microsoft Fortran operating system is presented to the world. It was a completely new OS that competed with the “monopolist” of those times - the CP/M system.

But the company's crazy success is just ahead. In 1980, Microsoft entered into a deal with IBM Corporation, a giant in the computer business. Microsoft offers IBM an innovative solution - a system for their new computer. IBM, who have worked with Digital Research systems for a long time, sensing the fundamental difference between the products, become Microsoft partners on for many years. That Gates' mother was in good relations with the leaders of IBM, it was no secret to anyone, which subsequently gave rise to a lot of judgments about how everything was decided in advance.

But, be that as it may, the fact remains a fact. MS-DOS, proposed by Microsoft, has become a completely new product on the market and for a long time secured its status as the “leader” of operating systems for Intel-based computers existing at that time.

In 1985 appears completely new system Windows. It is distinguished by its graphic design, and it is with it that the era of Windows begins, and already in 1993, with the advent of Windows 3.1, a real breakthrough occurs.

The long road to becoming the richest man in the world

Microsoft, which went public in 1986, makes Gates a billionaire in just a couple of months. Shares, constantly growing in price, strengthen the company's position and already in 1988 Microsoft was officially recognized as the most major manufacturer Software in the world.

In 1998, Gates, being the richest person, announced his resignation from the corporation. Refusing his position, he plunges headlong into programming. Until 2006, he takes part in the life of his brainchild - he is responsible for the production strategy, but he also refuses these obligations, choosing charity.

The country's leading philanthropist

In 1994, the businessman organized the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (originally the William Gates Foundation), which has been one of the largest foundations in the world for almost half a century. The main focus of the organization's work is improving the healthcare system and finding ways to avoid hunger in poor countries. The fund's funds are used to combat many diseases, including HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, etc. In the USA, the foundation mainly works to improve the level of education and the system itself as a whole. For this purpose, $12.9 million was donated in 2009 alone. That fall, the foundation awarded a $25 million grant to modernize more than a thousand public libraries.

Personal life

WITH future wife He met Melinda Gates in 1987. Interestingly, she was an employee of his own company. The couple married in 1994 and had three children together: daughter Jennifer Katharine, son Rory John and daughter Phoebe Adele. The couple have repeatedly received awards for their philanthropy, and in 2005 they were named couple of the year (Time magazine).

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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. Bill Gates's date of birth 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. Luckily, I got into Lakeside new student, whose father worked as the chief programmer at the Computer Center Corporation. New contract school 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 computer scientists from Lakeside, SSS them to identify flaws and security holes. 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's father Allen 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 in school years became a program for scheduling classes. The loophole built into it constantly reassigned Bill to the 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 said, was the initiator: “I was the guy who said: “Let's call real world and offer to sell him 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 volitional decision suspended 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 rest.

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 Altair 8800 personal computer created by MITS. Gates plucked up courage and offered the company that created this computer new language BASIC programming. He, of course, lied that the language was developed specifically for Altair, but the program worked literally the first time. This option suited the managers, who invited young people to work on writing programming languages.

Creation and development of Microsoft

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 a good sales manager, so Bill Gates' mother performed this function.

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 the development 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 the “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 its business direction and no longer participated in the competition.

In 1981, Microsoft became a corporation whose management 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.

Microsoft then thought about creating an operating system based on the graphical interface that Apple already had at its disposal by that time. But first, Microsoft is testing the capabilities of the graphical interface on its Word programs and Excel, 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 introduced a 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 applications.

In 1986, Microsoft shares went to open sale. During the day, their price 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 market software products. This hinders the growth of their closest competitors. In 1991, Mitch Kapor, the 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 light bulb: part innovator, part entrepreneur, part trader, 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.

Gates' departure from Microsoft

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 managing the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, a charitable foundation created in 2000 together with his wife. main goal which is to support projects in the fields of education and healthcare. With the money from this fund, a vaccine against AIDS is being developed, assistance programs are being created, including medical assistance, for developing countries and their starving populations, and a lot of 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 general director 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. According to 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 a candidate for 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 software Microsoft is an undeniable success. But Bill Gates seems to be indifferent to him: “Success is a bad teacher. He forces 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?!

11 rules of Bill Gates

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. Life is not fair - get used to it.
2. Society does not care at all about your SELF-ESTEEM. ACHIEVEMENTS are expected of you above all.
3. You WILL NOT earn $60,000 a year immediately after graduating from 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 were not 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 won't help you FIND YOURSELF. You will have to do it yourself free time.
10. They don’t show it on TV REAL life. IN real life You won’t be able to sit in a cafe all day and chat with friends.
11. Be more kind to the “nerds.” One of them might end up being your boss after you graduate.

0:00 17.12.2012

There is probably no person who has not heard or does not know who Bill Gates is. The name of this legendary man has already gone down in history, and his interviews and speeches are analyzed for quotes. Bill Gates would continue to be the richest man in the world according to Forbes if he had not donated more than $25 billion to a charitable account. And the story of a billionaire is like a fairy tale, in which main character, working hard, achieved success and became one of the most richest people planets.

Bill Gates success story

Bill Gates' real name is William Henry Gates III. The future billionaire was born on October 28, 1955 in Seattle in the family of a lawyer and a teacher. Bill studied at one of the most prestigious schools, and everyone predicted a career as a lawyer for him. However, the boy “didn’t have a good relationship” with grammar and civics. But most of all, Bill loved mathematics and dreamed of becoming a professor. Already at school, Gates showed amazing programming abilities. At the age of 13 he wrote his first program - computer game, as well as with his school friend (and future co-founder of Microsoft Corporation) Paul Allen, even hacked the database of one of the companies. For such an offense they were punished - to spend the entire summer without a computer. However, after the punishment expired, the company ComputerCentreCorporation, whose database was hacked by schoolchildren, invited them to find errors in their software. In exchange, they will use the company's computers for free and at any time. Thanks to this, the boys were able to learn several programming languages. After the company went bankrupt in 1970, high school students were hired by Information Sciences to write payroll software. Bill was never afraid to propose his projects well-known companies, despite the fact that he was not even 18. So, at the age of 15, he sold an optimization program for 20 thousand dollars traffic and reading street traffic. Another project that Bill came up with while still in school was a scheduling program. Thus, in the 10th grade, Bill himself taught computer science and programming at school.

This passion for computers forced Bill's parents to remove him from the computer and even show him to a psychiatrist. During the year without a computer, Bill Gates read the life stories of great people and continued to think through new projects in his head. At the age of 17, he received an order for which he earned $30,000.

After graduating from school, Bill entered Harvard University, from which a few years later he was expelled due to poor academic performance. Here he met Steve Ballmer, his future companion. Today, Steve serves as the company's vice president of sales and support.

Development of Microsoft

In 1975, Bill Gates invited his friends to create a company that would develop software for personal computers. Despite the fact that this idea at that time seemed unpromising, and the first few orders did not bring the desired profit, Bill Gates was confident that their company would become the first, and he was right. Initially, their company was called "Micro-Soft", but after a few months the hyphen in the name disappeared, and on November 26, 1976 it was registered new brand"Microsoft". Within five years, the company becomes a corporation run by Bill Gates and Paul Allen. Microsoft also owns such developments as: a computer mouse, the MS-DOS text editor and, of course, the Windows operating system, which continues to improve and develop. Gates' "brainchild" occupies a leading position in the software market, and competitors have long recognized Gates' victory in this area. Despite the fact that Bill is no longer a direct leader of Microsoft, he continues to have a significant influence on the development of new products and cooperation with other companies. For example, it was Bill Gates who expressed the idea of ​​​​buying Skype and proposed exchanging code between the Windows8 and WindowsPhone8 operating systems. At the end of 2008, Bill Gates finally left his company, handing over the reins to Steve Ballmer.

Other achievements of Bill Gates

In 1989, he founded the multimedia company Corbis;

In 1994, he bought the complete works of Leonardo da Vinci, which is on display at the Museum of Art in his hometown;

He wrote the book “The Road to the Future” in 1995, and in 1999 another one, “Business at the Speed ​​of Thought.” All of Gates' books are recognized as bestsellers in America;

Creation of the WindowsXP operating system in 2001;

In 2004, he connected his interests with Warren Buffett, with whom he founded general company, which combines several funds.

In 2005, the UK announced that Bill would receive the title of Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire for his contribution to reducing global poverty and his participation in British projects.

In June 2007, Harvard awarded Bill a diploma from this university. And he received it not for graduating, but for outstanding services.

At the end of 2008 he registered his third company "bgC3".

Family and charity in the life of Bill Gates.

Bill is not only the father of a huge corporation, but also a wonderful family man. In 1994, he married Melinda French, who previously worked for his company. They have three children. Bill loves to play bridge, reads a lot and loves to travel. His wife fully shares her husband's views. So, they created a charitable foundation together and travel to third world countries, helping them not only financially, but also psychologically. As the billionaire himself says, the measure of success of any businessman is lives saved and healthy children. He is sincerely surprised why the world is not trying to help African children in the fight against diseases that have not killed people in other countries for a long time. That is why Bill Gates does not spare money for charity: he allocated more than 6 billion dollars for medical needs and the purchase of vaccines to help Africa to save children already born. Thanks to his investments, new vaccines were invented and millions of lives were saved. Gates is confident that by the end of his life he will definitely achieve a reduction in mortality in such countries by at least 80%. Now in the field of health, he continues to actively fight against malaria and polio, which he intends to completely eradicate.

In addition, Bill invests huge sums in education and the development of innovative technologies. And also, together with Warren Buffett, created charitable organization GivingPledge, which encourages millionaires to give away half of their wealth. More than 70 people have already joined this campaign.

Despite good intentions the creator of a great corporation, many believe that he is too arrogant and pretends to be God, that he does this in order not to pay taxes, and many doctors are indignant that he pays great attention to vaccines without solving other medical problems. And someone calls him a saint and the savior of the world. How many people, so many opinions. And, in the words of the philanthropist himself, I would like to say: “Well, life is unfair - get used to it.” In any case, we must give him his due that, donating a huge part of his fortune to charity, he understood that these amounts would deprive him of the championship on Olympus of the richest people in the world. And he continues to do so. So who is of greater value to the world: the person who occupies all the top positions in the list of the richest and most influential people or the one who does not spare the billions he has earned for the future of the world, even at the expense of his own profits? One thing is for sure: the world will never get along without Bill Gates; the world needs him more than the world needs him.

Bill Gates (full name William Henry Gates) is an entrepreneur and founder of Microsoft, creator of the revolutionary MS-DOC operating system. He topped the ranking of the richest people on the planet 18 times.

Childhood and teenage years

Bill was born and raised in a prestigious area of ​​Seattle in a successful and wealthy family - his father was one of the most successful and influential lawyers in the city, while his mother was involved in raising children (Bill has sisters Christy and Libby) and charity work.

Parents with early years paid a lot of attention to their son’s education and tried to develop in him a sense of purpose and leadership qualities. The boy often played cards with his father and board games and always strived to win. Unlike his classmates who raced through the streets, Bill spent his free time reading the 20-volume encyclopedia, carefully studying page after page. Teachers from the prestigious Lakeside School with primary classes noted his outstanding abilities, unique photographic memory and unusual high level IQ. At the age of 12, the boy became “sick” with computers. Bill was so captivated by programming that he spent all his time in the computer class, often sacrificing other lessons for this. For bad behavior and constant absenteeism, he was even referred to the school psychiatrist.

In 1968, the teenager met Paul Allen, who was two grades older and, like him, interested in computers. Together they developed their first program, which automatically compiled school timetable and was unique for that time.

For their work, the boys received a bonus of five hundred dollars from the school principal and realized that their hobby could bring in a good income. However, Bill's parents considered their son's hobby a whim and did not really encourage him to take up programming. The father dreamed that his son would follow in his footsteps and go into law, but Bill had no intention of turning away from his chosen path.

Creation of Microsoft

After graduating from school, Gates entered Harvard University, where he continued to study programming. In 1974, he came across an article about the first portable computer, Altair. Bill and Paul approached developers with a proposal to create software for the new machine. Having received a positive response, they immediately began work. They had to write programs at night, and besides, the guys used university computers, which did not suit the Harvard leadership.

But despite the bans and threats, they managed to complete the work and sell the software for Altair for three thousand dollars. With this money, Bill and Paul created their own company, which they called Microsoft. To the disappointment of his parents, Gates dropped out of school and devoted himself entirely to his favorite business. Returning to Seattle, the guys rented a small office in the suburbs. In 1978, the company employed only eleven people: Bill was involved in contracts and negotiations with clients, Paul - technical support. THE BIRTH OF A BILLIONAIRE At twenty-four, Gates signed a contract with IBM that ultimately made him the richest and most powerful person on the planet. The largest computer company in the world needed an operating system to new development, and Microsoft set about creating it. The mediator in this deal was Bill's mother, who introduced her son to IBM management. This in no way detracts from the merits of Gates himself, who was able to convince his partners to entrust them with this important task.

Thus, in 1981, the famous text-based operating system MS-DOS (MicroSoft Disk Operation System) appeared, which at that time became the most advanced OS in the world and made personal computers more accessible to the average user.

Bill did not sell his OS to IBM, but agreed on a percentage of each computer sold by the company. Thanks to this brilliant marketing move By the age of thirty, he had become a billionaire, and by forty, the richest man in the world. Computers became a mass commodity, and Microsoft provided itself with jobs and a stable income for many years.

Life after microsoft

In June 2008, Gates resigned as head of the company and became involved in charitable and social activities. However, this did not mean that he completely broke ties with Microsoft. Until 2010, Gates remained Chairman of the Board of Directors, but without executive powers. He also retained a large stake in the corporation, namely 8.7%.

Already in October 2008, Bill Gates registered his third company called “bgC3”. It is a small research center that provides scientific and technological services.

After leaving Microsoft Gates began to invest money in scientific research, buy art and finance political campaigns. For example, in 2003, he exhibited a previously purchased collection of works by Leonardo da Vinci at the Seattle Art Museum, and in 2004, according to Forbes, he financed the presidential campaign of George W. Bush.

In early 2005, the British Foreign Office awarded Bill Gates the title of Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his contribution to British businesses and the fight to reduce global poverty.

Personal life

Since 1994 Bill has been married to former employee his company Melinda French, with whom he is raising a son and two daughters. The family lives in a huge mansion located on the shores of picturesque Lake Washington. This house can rightfully be called the house of the future - it is equipped with high-tech equipment, with the help of which it is fully controlled.

In 1999, Gates renamed his charitable foundation the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which supports health care in developing countries and education in the United States. In 2005, the couple were recognized as People of the Year by Time.

Bill Gates now

By 2016, Gates's fortune exceeded $90 billion - he was again the richest person in the world. However, in 2018, the entrepreneur lost this title to the owner of Amazon, Jeff Bezos. At the same time, Gates is one of the record holders for the amount of funds donated to charity. To date, he has donated to various projects The fund already exceeds $30 billion.

At the beginning of 2018, Bill Gates announced his intention to invest about $12 million on a flu vaccine and admitted that he refused to become a scientific adviser to Donald Trump.

According to 2018 data, Bill Gates's fortune exceeded $90.5 billion. At the same time, the billionaire excluded his children from his will and plans to leave all the money to his charitable foundation.