Bill Gates

BILL GATES

Good morning. Today I would like to talk to you about the richest man on earth.

William Henry Gates (Bill Gates) is a visionary man who uses the gift to advance and extend the boundary of what software and machines can do. As a result of his work, he had influenced many people.

William (Bill) Henry Gates III was born on October 28, 1955 in SeattleÐŽ¦s Swedish hospital. He was born into a family with a rich history in business, politics, and community service. His great-grandfather had been a state legislator and mayor, his grandfather was the vice president of a national bank, his father was a famous lawyer and his late mother, Mary Gates, was a school teacher, a regent at the University of Washington and chairwoman of United Way International.

It was obvious that Bill Gates took over the ambition, intelligence, and competitive spirit that had helped his relatives rise to the top in their chosen professions. Bill grew up just like any other regular child. In elementary school he was the better of all his school mateÐŽ¦s abilities in nearly all subjects, especially in maths and science. But he had a talent that distinguished him from the rest. It was his talent that became his passion to ЎҐhackÐŽ¦ computers when his parents enrolled him at SeattleÐŽ¦s Lakeside School. At Lakeside the school was offered computer time to their students. From then on Gates became interested in computers and he wrote his first program, which played tic-tac-toe, at the age of thirteen. Lakeside was also the school where Bill Gates and Paul Allen became friends. They both worked at Computer Centre Corporation (CCC) and they also opened their first company, TRAF-O-DATA in the fall of 1971, which specialised in monitoring and analysing traffic statistics in cities and countries.

In 1973, Bill Gates left home for Harvard University. He enrolled as prelaw and took the standard freshman courses with the exception of signing up for one of HarvardÐŽ¦s toughest maths course. He did well but just as in high school, he wasnÐŽ¦t concentrating on his studies. After finding the schoolÐŽ¦s computer centre, he was lost in the world of computers. Just like in high school he spent long nights in front of the schoolÐŽ¦s computers. Gates and Allen would often discuss about one day starting a business.

In December 1974, the first microcomputer, the Altair 8080, was about to be released on the market. Both Gates and Allen knew that this was their big opportunity because someone would have to create software for the Altair. So Gates called MITS (Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems), the makers of the Altair. He told them that he and Allen would develop a program called BASIC that could be used on the Altair. So Gates and Allen got started the program which took eight weeks to complete. After testing the BASIC on the companyÐŽ¦s Altair, which succeeded, MITS arranged a deal with Gates and Allen to buy the rights to their BASIC. Microsoft was formed and within a year Gates dropped out of Harvard to concentrate on Microsoft.

In 1977, Gates had a vision of ÐŽ§a computer on every desk and in every homeЎЁ. This vision has been central to the success of Microsoft and the software industry. MicrosoftÐŽ¦s mission was to continually advance and improve technology, and to make it easier, less expensive and more enjoyable for people to use computers.

In 1981, Gates introduced MS-DOS which is the operating system for the new IBM personal computer. In 1989, he found Corbis Corporation, who owns the largest collection of digital images in the world. In 1994 Gates and Craig McCaw, a pioneer