Having written the first computer language for a personal computer, Gates and Allen established the Microsoft Corporation in 1975. The first time we tried it was at MITS, and it came home without a glitch" (July 1986). In an interview in Money, Gates later recalled, "One little mistake would have meant the program wouldn't have run. When MITS expressed interest, Gates and Allen ignored their studies and spent the next four weeks frantically working on turning their boast into reality. The two called the computer's manufacturer, MITS, saying that Gates had taken a primary computer language called BASIC and adapted it for the machine. Gates's old friend Allen showed him an advertisement for a kit to build a home computer. What became the Microsoft Corporation grew out of two college undergraduates' bluff and bravado. By the time he was a sophomore in 1975, however, Gates was more interested in computers and electronics than in his pre-law studies. Although Gates was interested in computers, he enrolled at Harvard University with the intention of becoming a lawyer like his father. The company remained in business until Gates and Allen graduated from high school. They put together a small computer for measuring traffic flow and made about $20,000. Gates and Allen then formed a company that they called Traf-O-Data. The Programmers Group primarily earned its founders free computing time on machines owned by a company in Seattle. Gates and his friends from Lakeside became fascinated with the machines and formed the Lakeside Programmers Group to try to make money in the computer field. In 1968 the Lakeside School was still purchasing computer time on a machine owned by General Electric, as computers were extremely expensive in the late 1960s. It was at Lakeside that he first became interested in the relatively new field of computer programming, met his friend and future business partner Paul Allen, and developed his first computer software program at the age of 13. The son of a lawyer and a schoolteacher, Gates attended a public grade school and then the Lakeside School, a private college preparatory institution. Gates grew up in a prosperous area of Seattle, Washington, with his parents and two sisters. According to industry analysts, he also demonstrated that he was a shrewd marketing strategist as well as an aggressive corporate leader. One of the pioneers of home computing, Gates proved himself to be a technological visionary and software applications guru. In 1985, 10 years after Microsoft was founded, it had $140 million in revenue, which grew to $28 billion by 2002. As the long-time CEO of Microsoft, Gates was able to borrow and integrate other computer programmers' innovations and sell them to a new and rapidly expanding home computer market. Although Bill Gates started Microsoft as a small business based on a single innovative software program that he had helped to develop, his real genius was his business acumen. ■ William Henry Gates III cofounded the Microsoft Corporation in 1975, built his software company into the one of the most successful businesses in the world, and established himself in the process as the world's richest man. Publications: The Road Ahead (with Nathan Myhrvold and Peter Rinearson), 1995 Business the Speed of Thought, 1999.Īddress: Microsoft Corporation, 1 Microsoft Way, Building 8, North O, Redmond, Washington 98052-6399. National Medal of Technology, 1993 Chief Executive of the Year, Chief Executive, 1994 President's Medal of Leadership Award, New York Institute of Technology, 1995 Louis Braille Gold Medal, Canadian National Institute for the Blind, 2002 Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire, 2004. Cofounder and chairman, Microsoft Corporationīorn: October 28, 1955, in Seattle, Washington.Įducation: Attended Harvard University, 1973 –1975.įamily: Son of William Henry Gates II (attorney) and Mary Maxwell (teacher) married Melinda French (Microsoft manager), Januchildren: three.Ĭareer: Lakeside Programming Group, 1968 –1969, founder Traf-O-Data, 1970 –1973, founder Microsoft Corporation, 1975 –, founder and chairman 1975 –2000, CEO 1992 –1998, president.Īwards: U.S.
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