Bill Gates is one of the most well-known people in the world. He is one of the people who started Microsoft Corporation.He was born in Seattle, Washington, on October 28, 1955.
Bill Gates is one of the most inspiring figures in history; he has had a life packed with achievements. Have a look here, and you will find everything you’ve ever wanted to know about Bill Gates’ life and accomplishments!
Bill Gates is an American programmer, entrepreneur, investor, philanthropist, and co-founder of Microsoft, the best software company in the world.With an estimated $90.6 billion net worth, Gates is the world’s second-richest man. But how did he shape this wealth, and how did he tackle the obstacles to get there?
Bill Gates’ Early Life:
Well, the guy comes from a reasonably wealthy background, so he doesn’t have a rags-to-riches story. Bill Gates had to work hard to become what he is today.
His father was a prosperous attorney, while his mother was a school teacher who became a First Interstate Bank Board of Directors member. Gates was a brilliant student who performed exceptionally well in academics, especially mathematics.
Bill Gates developed a passion for computers and programs when I was 13 years old. At the same age, he also attended the Lakeside School, a private prep school.
While at school, seeing Gates’ flair for programming, the school administration decided to buy him a computer from the General Electric Company. The school administration allowed him to pursue his interest by excusing him from classes. Bill Gates, on the GEC machine, built his first-ever computer program.
While at school, Bill Gates and Paul Allen worked together on a system that belonged to Computer Center Corporation to find bugs in it. Gates and Allen, along with two other students, wrote a payroll program for Information Sciences in exchange for computer time and royalties. This led the school to become fully aware of Gates’ talent.
At an early age, Gates and Allen continued to build software, and Bill Gates sold software to optimize traffic for $20,000 at the age of 15. He developed another piece of software a few years later and earned $30,000. And with this, he started his journey to becoming a successful billionaire.
Setting up Microsoft Corporation:
Bill Gates and Paul Allen co-founded Micro-Soft in 1975. In the initial stage, the company delivered small software products to different firms as they needed help hiring a sales manager. Mary Maxwell, Gates’ mother, was in charge of this process.
Shortly after, the company faced financial crises that made Gates and Allen realize that Microsoft had dropped to the lowest affordable point. The issue was occurring mainly due to the usage of pirated software. However, the two owners had the courage not to lose hope, and as “struggling is a part of the story,”, both came up with the launch of MS-BASIC, which helped them make a profit of $50,000.
In 1979, Microsoft was approached by one of the multinational technology companies, IBM, which had just launched (or was about to launch) the world’s first personal computer. Unfortunately, at that time, Microsoft didn’t have the resources to develop an operating system (OS), so it recommended another company to IBM for its OS.
Soon after a few months, Microsoft bought an OS system named “86-DOS” and started to enhance it regularly on a broad scale, resulting in the launch of “MS-DOS.” After the launch, Microsoft offered IBM to use MS-DOS for their first-ever personal computer they were about to launch as the critical OS.
IBM accepted the idea right away, and Microsoft was able to beat the competition from Digital Research, the company Gates and Allen had suggested IBM to work with to make their OS.
A contract between Microsoft and IBM was signed in 1980, and Microsoft became Microsoft Corporation within a year. IBM made the first personal computer, which came with MS-DOS and other Microsoft products like MS-BASIC, MS-COBOL, MS-PASCAL, and so on.
The company that Bill Gates started started to get a lot done. For example, the first mouse for a personal computer was made, and the Windows Operating System was made.
The first Windows OS launched was Windows NT, then over the next few years, a series of Windows were launched, including Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 2000, XP, and Vista. Ever since, Microsoft has been growing. Microsoft has expanded its product line from Windows OS to Microsoft Office Suites, Office 365, Xbox, Bing, Hotmail, and so on.
Currently:
Everything began with the first idea, and Microsoft is keeping on dominating the software market. Bill Gates has been successful in keeping up with the pace of change, which has led Microsoft to remain the #1 software company in the world.
For a few years now, there has been no involvement of Gates in the day-to-day operations of Microsoft. Most of the time has been dedicated to philanthropy and community projects.
He has co-founded many foundations; one of them is The Giving Pledge, which is a foundation that focuses on encouraging wealthy people to contribute the majority of their wealth towards philanthropic causes. More than 80 percent of Bill Gates’ wealth is pledged to charity upon his death.
Bill Gates is an inspiration to many people. His life and story of success can teach us many things, like how to stay focused on our goals and keep going after them.
Courtesy: Business Casual