Born in 1955, Bill Gates has made a name for himself not only as a high-tech tycoon and the richest man in the world, but also as a philanthropist and controversial media figure. How did his life path evolve? In what matters should one listen to him? Let’s take a closer look at Bill Gates’ life story
Born in Seattle, William Henry Gates showed exceptional abilities from the beginning. He came from a wealthy family, his father was a respected lawyer, and his mother was on the board of directors of a bank. While attending an exclusive private high school in Seattle, young Bill became interested in computer software. Along with other students, he gained access to the then very expensive technology in exchange for finding bugs in it. By the age of 14, he was already being hired by outside companies to develop practical applications for the new technology. What the companies didn’t realize was that Gates was only 14, but that didn’t stop him from making his first $20,000
Bill Gates was accepted as an undergraduate in 1973. Harvard University was supposed to help him become a lawyer and follow in his father’s footsteps. Very quickly, however, it turned out that he was much more interested in programming. At that time he also made acquaintances, which paid off in his further career. Among other things, he worked on the BASIC language. Further successes led to the fact that in 1976 Microsoft was founded. The company quickly became independent – it dealt with programming tools for various operating systems. Gates was involved in programming, but also in management and business development
The idea of creating an operating system of our own was born during the course of our collaboration with IBM. It was not possible to negotiate an agreement with the previous potential supplier of such software, so it was decided to entrust this task to Microsoft. The creation of MS-DOS significantly increased the role of Microsoft in the market of modern technologies
Since the mid-1980s, the real streak of success of Microsoft began. The company was increasingly aggressive in the market, offering new product categories. A major role in this was played by the initiative of Bill Gates, who betrayed his talent as a visionary at this time. The years 1985-1995 were primarily marked by the release of Windows 1.0 in 1985 and the Microsoft Office suite in 1989. The turning point, however, was the release of Windows 3.0, which managed to sell 100,000 copies within two weeks. It became obvious that Windows would be the operating system of the future. Thanks to the skilful policy of the company and Gates himself, it was possible to defeat the products offered by the competition – a few years later Microsoft would even be accused of monopolistic practices. Windows 95 was already selling millions of dollars in the first days after its release.
The popularity of the global network did not escape the attention of Bill Gates. Internet Explorer 1 and its successors proved to be a success. Since 1998, Steve Ballmer became the president of Microsoft. Gates retained the positions of chairman and CEO of the company. He was the company’s primary trendsetter until 2006, after which he decided to slowly step back from that. He wanted to focus more on philanthropy.
He was listed on the list of the richest Americans since 1993. In 1999, his wealth was estimated at $100 billion, which obviously made him the richest man on Earth. He and his wife Melinda are known for their commitment to charitable causes including scholarships for children and youth, fighting AIDS and disease in poor countries. Forbes” magazine estimated that Mr. and Mrs. Gates may have donated as much as $29 billion to charity. In recent times, Bill Gates has become famous for his warnings about the advent of pandemics, which he made back in 2015. Recently, he has been warning of more such disasters – let’s hope the genius and visionary is wrong this time.
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