What did Bill Gates come up with? Who is the creator of Microsoft (Microsoft Corporation)? Bill Gates and Paul Allen - founders of Microsoft

The name Bill Gates is familiar to almost everyone, especially those who use Microsoft operating systems, because this man is considered their creator. But, in addition to the fact that Bill Gates is an extraordinary businessman, he also seems to be a very reasonable man who recently surprised the whole world with his approach to raising his own children.

Bill Gates is the richest businessman in the world according to Forbes

In 2015, Forbes magazine again summed up the results of the year and compiled its annual ranking. This list was headed for the 16th time by Bill Gates, the creator of Microsoft Corporation.

More than one touching film could be made based on the life of Bill Gates. He did not do well at school and considered all subjects except mathematics unnecessary. For bad behavior the boy was even referred to a psychiatrist for consultation.

But the guy had a good understanding of computers and programming. At the age of 13, Bill was already writing the simplest computer programs, and a couple of years later, together with his friends, he managed to hack the program of one large corporation in Seattle - Computer Center Corporation.

At the age of 17, together with Paul Allen, Gates founded his first company, which within a couple of months had $790 thousand in its account. And in 1975, the first Microsoft BASIC was created.

Personal life of a billionaire

Gates met his future wife, being already a very rich man. He flew to New York for a press briefing and there he met Melinda French, whom he married on January 1, 1994.

Melinda was born in Texas, in large family an ordinary engineer. Bill Gates in his interviews is often surprised at how his chosen one was able to force him to marry her, because before meeting this girl he had an ambiguous attitude towards family ties. However, there is nothing strange in what Melinda found with computer genius common language, after all, she once received a bachelor's degree in computer science.

In the 90s, Melinda joined the Microsoft team, and already in 1994 she became a wife. The wedding ceremony took place in Hawaii, after the wedding Melinda became a housewife. If we talk about how many children Bill Gates had in his marriage to this woman, then there will be three heirs to the multi-billion dollar fortune: two girls and one boy.

She is also widely known for her philanthropic work as the founder of the Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation.

Features of raising children

The “seasoned” Bill Gates has very specific children of his own. Providing for them for the rest of your life and even after your death is not the goal of the owner of a multimillion-dollar fortune. On the contrary, he understands that his main task is to teach his offspring to cope with all problems on their own, including financial ones.

Bill Gates' children should have learned the following truths while growing up. Firstly, a person must have adequate self-esteem. It's good to have dignity and self-respect, but to be respected by everyone else, you need to do something worthwhile in your life.

Secondly, nothing happens quickly, and after graduating from school or university you will have to work hard for many more years before you have your own limousine.

Thirdly, bad work doesn't happen. Even working behind the McDonald's counter, you have the chance to make a dizzying career.

Bill Gates's daughters: biography. Jennifer

Little is known about Gates’ children in general and in general, because they are quite young.

In 1996, Bill Gates' eldest daughter was born. What is the name of the billionaire's first child? The parents named their first child Jennifer. On ancient name means something like “white sorceress” or “bright spirit.”

Gates' eldest daughter turned 19 in 2015. But it is almost impossible to find mentions of the girl in the press. However, several years ago there was a very active discussion on the Internet about the fact that the lifestyle of Gates and his children could hardly be called modest (as the media likes to cover this issue). For his daughter, who was only 15 years old at the time, Gates easily rented luxury house in Florida costing 600 thousand dollars a month.

It turned out that Jennifer was seriously involved in equestrian sports, and she wanted to take part in the festival, which was to be held in Palm Beach. To make Jen feel comfortable during this entire time, her father rented her a “royal” mansion. So Gates's strictness with regard to raising children is most likely exaggerated.

Is Rachel Leigh Cook the daughter of Bill Gates?

IN lately in various social networks They post a photo of a pretty girl, captioned with a joke: they say that Gates’ daughter has become the best “product” that Microsoft has ever released. However, the real appearance of Bill Gates' daughter is far from the appearance of the pretty person whose image is being circulated on the Internet.

In fact, the photo shows Rachel Leigh Cook - star of the films "Texas Rangers" and "Dawson's Creek." And it is completely unclear who thought of marrying the famous American actress to the daughter of Bill Gates. Most likely it was a joke. But many Internet regulars still believe that the pretty blonde is real daughter billionaire.

Phoebe Gates: facts from life

Bill Gates' daughter Phoebe is the youngest child in the family. The girl was born in 2002 and on at the moment still remains a teenager. As is the case with other children of the billionaire, the girl’s biography is shrouded in a halo of mystery, and even getting her photographs is not an easy task: Bill Gates’ daughters lead a quiet and “closed” lifestyle to prying eyes.

Did Bill Gates really leave his children without an inheritance?

Bill Gates' daughters will not be able to enjoy their father's multimillion-dollar fortune. In 2015, at one of the conferences, Bill stated that his children would receive practically nothing after his death.

Of course, the media inflated this news by releasing a lot of articles under flashy headlines, saying that Gates left his children with nothing, forgetting to clarify one detail: the billionaire recently drew up a new will, according to which Bill Gates’s daughters, as well as his only son, will still receive something, namely $10 million.

Any person on Earth would be very happy about such an inheritance: 10 million dollars is not a joke, but a very good starting capital. Also, on top of that, Gates will provide his children with the most better education, which is also important for successful life. Children must earn all other material goods through their own labor, says Bill Gates. He also noted that multi-million dollar fortunes, bequeathed to people who did not earn them with their own labor, become only a “disservice”. His children should know the value of money.

Gates picked up this approach to raising children. And in general, being “hardworking” and “smart” is now fashionable again. Apparently, the “time of fools” is over, since even millionaires want their children to be smart, independent and productive.

In the biography of Bill Gates, his primary education was received in municipal school. Then he studied at a private school, where he was interested in mathematics, and for the first time began writing small programs on a minicomputer. In 1973, Gates entered Harvard University. In 1975, he founded Microsoft with Paul Allen. In his third year, he left the university to devote himself entirely to the company (later in 2007 he was recognized as a Harvard graduate and received a diploma).

The year 1995 in Gates’ biography was marked by the publication of the book “The Road to the Future.” Gates, being one of the co-authors of the book, expressed his vision of the development of information technology. In 1996, Microsoft began to develop Internet technologies, and Bill Gates amended his first book. The second book, “Business at the Speed ​​of Thought,” was published in 1999 and presented possible solutions business tasks using information technology.

In 1998, Gates ceased to be the company's president, and in 2000 he resigned as chief executive. In June 2008, he gave up his executive powers to Microsoft Corporation, but remained Chairman of the Board of Directors. In October 2008, in the biography of Bill Gates, his third company, bgC3, was founded - a research center in the field of analytics and information technology.

In the photo, Gates looks like a good-natured person. That’s right: together with his wife, he founded the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, whose funds go to support healthcare and education.

Bill Gates' story is reminiscent of the American Dream. Working hard, he achieved not only the prosperity of the company, but also the title of the richest man. Gates' net worth is now about $57 billion.

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“Business is a most exciting game that combines maximum excitement with a minimum of rules,”- this is approximately how Bill Gates spoke about what became his life’s work. However, as we know, this is not just business, but brilliant ideas that turned the IT world upside down and still have a huge impact on the most different areas our life.

- was born on October 28, 1955 in the family of lawyer William Gates and school teacher Mary Gates.

He first attended a public school and then entered a private school, Lakeside School. It was there, at the age of 13, that Bill first became interested in programming, and their friendship with Paul Allen played no less a role in his life: “I'm obsessed with computers. I skipped physical education. I sat in the computer class until nightfall. Programmed on weekends. We spent twenty to thirty hours there every week. There was a period when we were banned from working because Paul Allen and I stole passwords and hacked into the system. I was left without a computer for the whole summer. Then I was fifteen or sixteen years old...” Concerned about their son’s addiction, the parents even referred the boy to a psychiatrist.

Much later in his public appearances, Gates admits: “Sometimes I envy those who program. After I stopped programming for Microsoft, I myself often half-jokingly said in meetings: “Maybe I’ll come over this weekend and write this program myself.” Now I don’t say that anymore, but I think about it all the time.”. In general, the result of the training was almost complete indifference to humanitarian subjects in comparison with an ardent interest in the exact sciences.

After graduating from school in 1973, Gates entered Harvard University. There, in a student dormitory, a fateful acquaintance took place with Steve Ballmer, with whom Gates developed the BASIC programming language. Ballmer subsequently took the post of vice president of Microsoft.

However, after his second year, Gates was expelled from the university. However, his studies at that time worried him less and less: he was captivated by the idea of ​​​​developing software for personal computers in which accurately guessed the future. Later in his "Road of the Future" he will say: “One of the most important lessons taught by the computer industry is that to the user, the value of a computer is determined primarily by the quality and variety of existing programs».

In 1975, Gates and Allen created Micro-Soft, which later became Microsoft Corporation. Having based the company's work on the desire to make working on a PC as simple and user-friendly as possible, Bill Gates is gradually building the most influential corporation in the software industry, which has a developed network of branches around the world. To this end, he makes a number of strategic decisions, relies on innovative research and development, investing considerable funds in this area.

In 1983, Allen left the company, unable to find mutual understanding with Gates regarding development strategy.

In 1985, the first version of Windows, 1.0, was released. for many years which has become the most popular product on the operating systems market. Subsequently, releases were released at intervals of 2-3 years, until another breakthrough was made in 1995: the system came out with a radically updated interface, separate NT and server lines appeared.

“They don’t switch to other versions just because bugs are fixed. This is absolutely true. The dumbest idea I've ever heard of is to upgrade to new versions of software because bugs have been fixed. When we make new versions, we add new features that people ask us for,” says Gates.

Since 1995, developments have been introduced for mobile devices, which later grew into a line of products called Windows Mobile. Every year, improving and releasing new versions of the product, Microsoft won an increasing share of the market, until in 2004 antitrust sanctions were first applied to it. But to this day, Windows OS is used on 90% of personal computers.

In 1995, Bill Gates’ famous book entitled “The Road to the Future” was published.

In it, Gates outlines his views on the future development of society in the era of information technology:

I think these are interesting times. Never before have there been so many opportunities to do what previously seemed simply impossible. Now is the best time to open a new business, move science forward (for example, medicine, which improves the quality of life), and not lose contact with friends and family. It is very important to discuss both the good and bad aspects of technological progress as widely as possible, so that its direction is determined by the whole society, and not just specialists.

We are forced to constantly improve our software products in order to keep up with the progress of hardware. Each subsequent version only gains acceptance from new users if it is accepted by existing customers... Only major advances can convince enough people that improved versions are worth the cost.

The end for a market leader can come very quickly. When you are suddenly thrown out of the positive cycle feedback, then it is often too late to change something: all the delights of a negative spiral come into play. The most difficult thing, therefore, is to catch the first signs of a crisis and begin to act when, it would seem, things are going well.

The book was published in more than 20 countries and entered the bestseller list. However, already in 1996, Gates made adjustments to it: the company made a powerful turn towards Internet technologies, and it was interactive networks that were emphasized in the second edition of “The Road to the Future.”

In 1999, a second book entitled “Business at the Speed ​​of Thought” was published, co-authored with Collins Hemmingway. Here, Gates elaborates on how information technology can impact a wide range of business areas: “The most reliable way to distinguish your company from competitors, to break away from the crowd of pursuers, is to organize your work with information well”. Gates directs proceeds from the sale of the book to a special fund, the purpose of which is to support the introduction of information technology into the educational process.

Gates' interests also include biotechnology, communications and all kinds of innovative developments in the IT field. He regularly acquires companies and invests in projects where he sees good prospects. One of these projects was, in particular, the launch of several hundred satellites into low Earth orbit in order to provide two-way broadband communications. And in 2008, he founded his third company, bgC3, which is engaged in research in the field of science and high technology.

In 1994, Gates married Melinda French, who works as a product manager for Microsoft. Bill and Melinda have three children - Jennifer Katharine, Rory John and Phoebe Adele. Together they founded the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

In 2005, Bill Gates was awarded the title of Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his contribution to British businesses and solving the problems of the poor around the world. That same year, Time magazine named Bill and his wife People of the Year.

In 2008, Bill Gates stepped down from direct leadership of Microsoft, still remaining Chairman of the Board of Directors and overseeing special projects. And in 2010, he left the post of president of the corporation, handing over the reins to Steve Ballmer.

His passion for biotechnology and all kinds of electronic devices also affected his life: with a rather modest design, the Gates’ house is literally crammed with all kinds of gadgets. At the same time, the life of the Microsoft founder can be called ascetic, without any frills or hints of luxury. What in its own way makes Gates similar to his eternal antagonist - .

The ceiling of his library features quotes from The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald's legendary book that chronicles an iconic era in American history. The moral of the book, to some extent, overlaps with the life credo of Gates himself: “Success is a bad teacher. He's dizzy. He's unreliable. Business plan or latest technology- the height of perfection today, tomorrow they can be as hopelessly outdated as eight-track tape recorders, vacuum tube televisions or mainframes. I watched closely as this happened. Long and careful observation of many companies helped to draw good lessons and taught us how to plan for years to come.”.

Bill Gates' personal qualities and hobbies include his love of reading, golf and bridge. He was repeatedly recognized as the richest man on the planet - from 1996 to 2007 and in 2009. At that time, his fortune was estimated at 50 billion dollars, but according to the latest data, it decreased by 7 billion due to the global financial crises.

The Microsoft founder remains one of the most generous philanthropists of our time. To date, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has donated about $28 billion to various initiatives in the fields of education, health, and charity.

And, of course, this man is still one of the most prominent figures in the IT field and beyond, rightfully called a “living legend” and a true icon for businessmen around the world. Every year, since 2009, he delivers a message on behalf of his Foundation, touching on global topics for all humanity: infant mortality, the fight against AIDS and polio, economic crisis, agriculture, aid to third world countries, innovation and education.

There is also a movie about Gates called “Pirates of Silicon Valley.” It chronicles the emergence of the Bill Gates we all know. By the way, a short review of this film will be on my blog soon.

Good luck to you friends, achieve success!

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

Childhood and adolescence

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 racing through the streets, Bill spent free time reading a 20-volume encyclopedia, carefully studying page by 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 sent 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 in charge of contracts and negotiations with clients, Paul was in charge of technical support.

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 for a 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 does not in any way detract 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 investing in scientific research, buy art and finance political campaigns. For example, in 2003, he exhibited a collection of works by Leonardo da Vinci that he had previously purchased at the Seattle Art Museum, and in 2004, according to Forbes, financed George W. Bush's presidential campaign.

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.

Bill Gates ( Bill Gates) - Success story

Personal life of Bill Gates

Since 1994, Bill has been married to a former employee of his company, Melinda French, with whom he has 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

Bill Gates(English) Bill Gates), born William Henry Gates (born William Henry Gates, date of birth - October 28, 1955) - American entrepreneur, head of Microsoft Corporation, for a number of years - the richest person on the planet.

In the period from 1996 to 2007, in 2009 and 2015 - the richest person on the planet according to Forbes magazine. His fortune in May 2016 was estimated at $76.4 billion.

Together with Paul Allen, he founded Microsoft Corporation, where he worked until June 2008; after his departure, he remained chairman of the board of directors of the corporation.

Bill Gates was born in Seattle, Washington, to William H. Gates II, a corporate lawyer, and Mary Maxwell Gates, a board member of First Interstate Bank, Pacific Northwest Bell, and the national board of the United Way. . Gates' sister Kristi Anne was born in 1953.

Bill Gates attended Seattle's most exclusive school, where he was able to develop his programming skills on the school minicomputer. At school, Gates did not excel in grammar, civics, and other subjects he considered trivial, but he did achieve top marks in mathematics. Towards the end primary school Bill Gates's bad behavior began to worry his parents and teachers so much that he was referred to a psychiatrist.

It was at school that 13-year-old Bill Gates and his bosom friend Paul Allen first built a crude computer terminal. They then created two programs for it. The first transformed one mathematical system into another, and the second... I don’t dare explain what the second did. I will only say that later, after reading the biography of Napoleon, Gates made it into a computer game "Risk", the goal of which was world domination.

Not being particularly academically successful, which was also a form of rebellion, he unexpectedly graduated from the 9th grade with straight A's (in English the letter "A"), without even looking at his textbooks, and entered the top ten best students America when passing the aptitude test. In the tenth grade, Bill no longer studied computer science, but taught it. Then he created a program for studying for his class. This program also had a secret purpose. She “chose” for her creator the classes where “those other girls” studied.

During those years, Gates's closest friend was Kent Evans, the son of a minister. “We read Fortune magazine together and dreamed about how we would conquer the whole world,” Gates recalls. “I still remember his phone number.” Bill, Kent and Paul founded Lakeside Programmers Group and began serving local businesses. It was then, while still in school, that Paul Allen made the first of his attempts to “borrow” Gates and take the whole matter into his own hands. But soon Paul became convinced that he needed the inexhaustible and tireless Bill to create program codes. And Paul invited him. “Okay,” Gates said, “but only on one condition: I’ll be the boss.”

He was 15 years old when he wrote a program to regulate traffic and earned $20,000 from this project. And at 17, he received an offer to write a software package for the distribution of energy at the Bonneville Dam.

The birth of Microsoft

All my later life If Gates made any compromises, their indispensable condition was “I will be the boss.”

In 1973 he entered Harvard University, but was expelled after 2 years, since Gates has already begun to create software with all his might.

Kent Evans took up mountain climbing to take his mind off work. One of his campaigns ended tragically. Evans fell and died. This was the first tragedy in Gates' life. Before this, he admitted, he had never thought about death. Bill spent two weeks in a fog, doing nothing. Evans' death brought Gates even closer to Allen. Allen convinced him to become, as they later began to say, "Harvard's most famous dropout." Instead of a Harvard University diploma, the Microsoft company was born, which was initially written as “Micro-Soft”. (There was also such an option, Allen & Gates Inc.) New company began to create software for personal computers that were just coming into fashion. The legend of the birth of Microsoft says: in December 1974, Allen, on his way to visit Gates at Harvard, stopped to buy magazines at a newsstand. What he found in one of them changed his and Gates' lives forever. On the cover of Popular Electronics magazine there was a photograph of the Altair-8080, and above it in large print was written: “The world's first microcomputer that can compete with commercial models.” With this issue of the magazine, Allen burst into Gates's dorm.

In December 1974, Bill Gates saw a $397 computer that his friend Allen said anyone could build. The only thing the machine lacked was software.

Both friends immediately realized what horizons were opening up before them. They realized that the home computer market was about to explode, and millions of people would need software.

A few days later, Gates contacted the Altair's manufacturer, MITS, and said that he and Allen had created a version of the Basic programming language that could be used in the Altair. Gates didn't tell the truth. By that time, the friends had not yet written a single line of code. Moreover, they did not yet have either Altair or its chip. MITS, unaware of this, responded that it was interested in Gates' proposal. And so the friends began urgent work on Basic. Gates worked on the code, Allen simulated the actions of the Altair 8800 (the first commercially successful personal computer) on a school PDP-10 computer. A month and a half later, the program was ready. Allen took her to MITS. And there he first touched Altair. A miracle happened - the friends program worked! The contract was concluded. This option suited the managers, who invited young people to work on writing programming languages. The couple left for New Mexico, where the history of Micro-soft began (the dash, as already mentioned, was removed later).

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

"The software market is born!" - Gates exclaimed. Microsoft was born with him.

While at Harvard, Gates became close with Steve Ballmer, who later became a member of Gates' brain trust, and when Gates decided to refocus on creativity, he handed over the reins of Microsoft to Ballmer, making him the company's president and chief information officer (CIO). Gates called Ballmer in the 1980s, when Microsoft had grown so big that it needed a “non-technical” manager. Gates lured him away from Procter & Gamble. Friends often fought. Gates has always believed that conflict is good for business. In his opinion, “gentlemanship” leads away from the essence of the problem. Therefore, he allows his subordinates to challenge the decisions he makes. Microsoft calls this the "math camp mentality."

Arrest

In 1979, Bill Gates was arrested for the second time (photo) for violating traffic rules. movements. This time Bill was without a license and drove through a red traffic light (according to other sources, did not stop at the stop sign). He was also arrested for speeding in 1975 and in 1989 for driving while drunk.

MS-DOS and IBM

Bill Gates purchased the QDOS system(Quick and Dirty Operating System) for $50,000, changed the name to MS-DOS and sold the license to IBM. The proceeds allowed Microsoft to operate for several years. The presentation of a new IBM computer with Microsoft software created a real sensation in the market. Many companies began to approach Microsoft for a license.

Microsoft continued to capture the global market with the release of applications Microsoft Word And Microsoft Excel. Thanks to the Corbis company, part of the Microsoft corporation, Bill Gates received a huge photo file of Bettman and other photographers. Photos were used for electronic distribution.

In 1986, Microsoft was transformed into joint stock company open type. That same year, Bill Gates became a billionaire at the age of 31. On the next Microsoft year introduced the first version of Windows to the market, and already in 1993, total Windows sales per month exceeded one million. Windows95 arrived in 1995 and sold seven million copies in two weeks.

Software Microsoft became so widely used that the company came to the attention of the American antitrust committee, which several times tried to initiate a case to force the division of Bill Gates' monopoly.

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

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

According to Forbes magazine, Gates donated money to George W. Bush's presidential campaign in 2004. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Gates donated at least $33,335 to more than 50 political campaigns during the 2004 election.

December 14, 2004 Bill Gates joined the board of Berkshire Hathaway, thus formalizing his relationship with Warren Buffett. Berkshire Hathaway is a conglomerate that includes Geico (auto insurance), Benjamin Moore (paints), and Fruit of the Loom (textiles). Gates also serves on the board of Icos, a Bothell biotechnology company.

On March 2, 2005, the British Foreign Office announced that Bill Gates would receive the title of Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (this is an analogue of a knighthood that can only be received by a citizen of the United Kingdom; the knighthood gives the right to be called "Sir", and the title of Knight Commander Most Excellent Order - adding the letters "KBE" after his name) for his contribution to British enterprise and his efforts to reduce world poverty.

At the end of 2005, Bill Gates and his wife Melinda Gates were named People of the Year by American Time magazine.

On 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.

On January 7, 2008, Bill Gates announced his intentions to step down as the head of Microsoft Corporation in July 2008, switching his activities to charity.

On June 15, 2008, Bill Gates announced his intention to resign as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Microsoft effective July 2008. After leaving his post, he intends to devote himself entirely to management charitable foundation Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

June 27, 2008 was Bill Gates' last as Microsoft CEO. Despite this, he is not breaking with the company for good - Gates will remain Chairman of the Board of Directors (but without executive powers), will be involved in special projects, and will also remain the largest (8.7% of Microsoft shares) shareholder of the corporation.

At the end of October 2008, in the city of Kirkland (Washington State, USA), Bill Gates registered his third company called “bgC3”. Unverified sources claim that "bgC3" stands for Bill Gates Company Three. It was announced that this will be a research center whose tasks will include the provision of scientific and technological services, work in the field of analytics and research, as well as the creation and development of software and hardware.

Gates is most likely an agnostic in his religious views. When asked by The Times magazine if he believed in God, Bill Gates replied: “I don’t have any facts about him.”

Books by Bill Gates

In 1995, Bill Gates wrote a book "Road to the Future"(English: The Road Ahead), in which he outlined his views on the direction in which society is moving in connection with the development of information technology. In 1996, when Microsoft was refocused on Internet technologies, Gates made significant adjustments to the book.

In 1999, Bill Gates wrote a book "Business at the speed of thought"(Business @ the Speed ​​of Thought), which shows how information technology can solve business problems in a completely new way. Of particular note is the fact that the ideas of Bill Gates are in good agreement with the concept lean manufacturing. In the book, Bill Gates outlined the principles of information lean logistics that he developed, based on the experience of its use at Microsoft Corporation. One of the special features of the book is that the author was one of the first to propose applying the principles of this new direction in business management for all levels of government, modernization of the education system (pedagogical logistics) and healthcare. This book has been released in 25 languages ​​and is sold in more than 60 countries. Business at the Speed ​​of Thought received critical acclaim and was featured on the New York Times, America Today, Wall Street Journal, and Amazon.com bestseller lists.

Personal life

At one of the Microsoft meetings in 1987, Bill met his employee Milena French, and on January 1, 1994, she became his wife. “Surprisingly, Milinda made me want to marry her. This is very strange, because it absolutely contradicted my rationalistic considerations about marriage,” Bill Gates would later say. The wedding took place in Lanai, Hawaii, and 130 guests were invited, including Poll Allen, Warren Buffett, Washington Post owner Katharine Graham and others. It is interesting that Bill took all possible measures to get rid of annoying journalists, in particular, all hotel rooms and all air tickets to the island were bought up.
After 2 years, the couple had a daughter Jennifer Katharine Gates born April 26, 1996, and later - son Rory John Gates (b. May 23, 1999) and daughter Phoebe Adele Gates born September 14, 2002.

Today, Melinda Gates is one of the most powerful women in the world. In 2012, Melinda openly defied the Vatican and vowed to dedicate her life to creating affordable contraception for women in the world's poorest countries. The Gates Foundation is ready to invest $140 million annually in this project.

House

Currently, Bill and his family live in their "house of the future", so named because large quantities electronics that controls the estate. The house is located on the shores of Lake Washington in the suburbs of Medina and occupies about 12,000 square meters. This luxurious mansion is valued at $147,500,000 and has property taxes of over one million dollars a year.

This house is made for maximum comfort owners and their guests. Everyone in the house carries with them a chip, the parameters of which are adjusted according to the individual comfort parameters of the person. These are temperature, lighting, music and a number of other parameters. And no matter what room the guest enters, the house adapts to him, adjusting the temperature or dimming the light, in accordance with the preferences of the visitor, chosen by him in advance.. The touch floor allows you to track a person’s location with an accuracy of 15 centimeters.

There are also traditional signs of luxury. For example, when visiting the Gates family, you can swim in an 18-meter heated panoramic pool with an underwater music system. Work out in the 230 square meter gym and relax with a book or admire the stars in the library with a domed transparent roof. Guests can dine in the banquet hall, which seats 200 people.

Bill Gates is the richest man on the planet

In 2016, Bloomberg analysts calculated Bill Gates' net worth and were extremely surprised. According to recent expert estimates, his fortune has reached a record $90 billion.

Bill Gates is the richest man on the planet.

Some of Bill's quotes are addressed to people striving to achieve something more in life:

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 right out of school. You don't become a VP with a personal driver until you earn enough to do both.
4. If you think that the teacher is too harsh towards you, that's okay. Wait until you have a boss.
5. Is frying hamburgers beneath your dignity? Your grandparents thought completely differently. For them, frying hamburgers was an opportunity to get a foothold in this life.
6. If something didn't work out for you, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine, LEARN from your mistakes. Change your attitude towards failure.
7. Parents weren't always as boring as you think now. Maybe constant care for you made them like this? They feed you, clothe you, and constantly listen to you about how wonderful you are. So before you criticize your parents' generation, start with yourself.
8. Perhaps in your school it is not correct to openly call a loser a loser and there are no more losers left in your school, but not in life. In some schools it is no longer possible to repeat a year because you are given AS MANY attempts to PASS the exams as it takes to be promoted to another class. In life everything is COMPLETELY different.
9. Life is not divided into semesters. You won't have summer holidays and your employer won't help you FIND YOURSELF. You will have to do it yourself in your free time.
10. It's not shown 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 kinder to the “nerds.” One of them may end up being your boss after you graduate.

The Gates mansion is a miracle of automation. The house has a networked system that controls the temperature, lighting and music based on microchips worn by guests that tell computers exactly where they are in the mansion. As guests move through the home, each room they enter is tailored to their preferences.