Bill Gates: success story, rules of business and life. The success story of Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft

According to Forbes magazine (Forbes) Bill Gates is the richest man in the world who created his fortune solely through his own intelligence, genius and leadership talent.

Brief biography of Bill Gates

Bill Gates (real full name: William Henry GatesIII) was born October 28, 1955 in Seattle, USA. His father - Henry Gates (William Henry GatesII) was a corporate lawyer. His mother - Mary Maxwell Gates was a member of the board of directors of First Interstate Bank, Pacific Northwest Bell and national council USWest, United Way.

William Henry Gates III was the second child in a family of three children and the only boy. The older sister is Christy, the younger is Libby.

Schooling

Bill Gates studied at the most privileged school in Seattle - LakeSide. His parents expected him to follow in his father's footsteps and attend Harvard Law School and become a lawyer. However, Gates was not good at grammar, civil law and other subjects that he considered trivial.

By the 7th grade, Bill became interested in mathematics and dreamed of becoming a professor. In 1968 when Bill and his schoolmate Paul Allen studied in middle school, the school management decided to buy computer time from.

Gates and Allen became seriously interested, they even skipped classes to study all the available computer literature. At the same time Bill wrote one of my first programs- a simple simulator that allowed you to play against a machine.

Young hackers quickly figured out the intricacies of the machine and found vulnerabilities and began to cause trouble - they hacked the security, caused the system to crash several times, and changed the files in which information about the computer time used was recorded. Noticing this, in the SSS ( Computer Center Corporation) suspended them from working with computers for several weeks.

First success

At one point, CCC's business began to suffer from constant failures and weak security. Remembering the destructive activities of the Lakeside computer geeks, SSS invited them to identify deficiencies and security gaps. In exchange, the company offered endless computer time.

It didn't take long to persuade Bill Gates and Paul Alan. The friends threw themselves into their work; in addition to their direct duties, they studied absolutely all the information about automated calculations. The guys constantly improved their skills.

Start programming

In 1971 Information Sciences hired friends to write a program that would create payroll. This time, in addition to unlimited computer time, they were promised payment for each software that would bring commercial benefit to the company.

10th grader – teacher

While studying in the 10th grade, Bill Gates himself began teach computer science at school! A group of young programmers periodically received orders and made money from it.

For example, they developed a program for optimizing street traffic under the leadership of Gates, and sold it for 20,000 dollars. This is at 15 years old!

Serious order

Despite the fact that Bill's parents did not share the fierce zeal for learning programming and even forbade him to do it, they could not resist when the young man received a serious order - writing a software package for energy distribution of the Bonneville Dam.

Gates was 17 years old at the time.. The entire work took him about 1 year, for which he received $30,000.

BASIC (Basic)

In 1974 Paul Allen learns about the personal computer created by MITS Altair 8800. Gates plucked up courage and proposed a new programming language to the company that created this computer. BASIC.

He, of course, lied that the language was developed specifically for Altair, but the program worked literally the first time. This option suited the managers, who invited young people to work on writing programming languages.

Birth of Microsoft

Also in 1974, Bill Gates decided to create a company to develop software. The original name of the company was written as Micro-Soft, but quickly enough turned into one word - Microsoft.

The company did not have sufficient funds to hire good manager sales, so this function was performed by Bill Gates’ mother, Mary Gates.

In 1979 Bill Gates was expelled from Harvard for systematic absenteeism and poor academic performance, and so Microsoft moved to Seattle.

Collaboration with IBM

Expulsion from the university did not upset the young programmer at all, unlike his parents, and already that same year he accepted a large order from companyIBM– creation of an operating system (OS) for the first PC (personal computer).

However, Microsoft was initially forced to turn down IBM because Bill Gates did not have the resources to do the job. Therefore, the order moved to their direct competitors - Digital Research.

It is noteworthy that later, it was Microsoft that sold IBM its OS for their first PC. It was the famous MS-DOS. In September 1980 IBM has entered into an extensive contract with Microsoft.

This contract was destined to change
industry history personal computers!

Joint triumph of IBM and Microsoft

In 1981 IBM introduces its PC with the 16-bit MS-DOS 1.0 operating system. In addition, the computer software includes other Microsoft products - BASIC, COBOL, Pascal and others.

In 1982 Gates convinces IBM management that MS-DOS needs to be sold under license to other computer manufacturers, thereby creating competition for IBM, which by that time was selling its computers based on its own OS.

In 1983 Microsoft creates a manipulator Mouse for more convenient data entry into a computer with graphical interface. In the same year, the corporation introduced a text editor for MS-DOS.

In addition, Bill Gates' company announces Windows- an extension of the operating system for MS-DOS in the form of a universal operating environment for graphical application programs.

Windows success

In 1993 number of registered users Microsoft Windows amounts to 25 million people. Thus Windows becomes the world's most popular operating system with a graphical interface.

Microsoft also releases Windows NT- a line of operating systems designed for workstations and servers.

Windows 95

In 1995 The OS was put into production Windows 95. The excitement that accompanied the sale of Windows 95 was so great that even people who did not have a computer stood in line for this operating system.

In 1996-97 Microsoft introduces next generations Windows NT (4.0 and 5.0), which have been significantly improved compared to the first version of this software.

Windows 98

In 1998 comes into being Windows 98, which looks no different from Windows 95 except for improved internal features.

Windows 2000

Then, in 2000, comes out Windows 2000. This program, according to many users, is the best Microsoft corporate OS.

Windows XP

In 2001 Microsoft's new OS goes on sale - Windows XP, which users liked and for more than 10 years was the most popular operating system in the world.

Windows Vista

In 2007 The next generation of Microsoft OS goes on sale - Windows Vista And a new version office suite Microsoft Office 2007.

Bill Gates' departure from Microsoft

From the end June 2008 Gates has stepped away from active management of Microsoft. He transferred his powers to the general director Steve Ballmer, while simultaneously expanding the area of ​​responsibility Craig Mundy And Ray Ozzie.

Despite this, Bill Gates remains Chairman of the Board of Directors (but without executive powers), and also remains the largest shareholder of the corporation - 8,7% .

Bill Gates often visits schools and always shares at his speeches personal experience and vision global problems. Every time he finishes a speech he says about 11 things, which he believes will not be taught at school. These tips will help anyone survive in the modern world:

  1. Life is not fair - get used to it.
  2. Society doesn't care at all about your self-esteem. They expect you to achievements, first of all.
  3. You you won't 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 teacher too harsh towards you - that's just a small thing. Wait until you have boss.
  5. Fry hamburgers - beneath your dignity? Your grandparents thought completely differently. For them, frying hamburgers was an opportunity to get hooked 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 necessary to be promoted to another class. Everything in life completely different.
  9. Life is not divided into semesters. You won't have summer holidays, and your employer will not help you find yourself. You'll have to do this 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 nicer to the “nerds”. One of them might end up being your boss after you graduate.

Bill Gates was born in Seattle (Washington, USA) in the family of corporate lawyer William Henry Gates II, as well as Mary Maxwell Gates, who held leadership positions on the board of directors of several major American companies. Bill was the second child in the family, he has two sisters - the older Christy and the younger Libby.

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When the boy went to school, his parents enrolled him in the most privileged educational institution Seattle - Lakeside. Bill's favorite subject was programming, to which he devoted almost all his free time. As a teenager, the American wrote his first game in Basic. Although these were simple “Tic Tac Toe”, for the boy they became the starting point in his future professional success.

At a prestigious school in Seattle, the student began to develop skills in programming on a minicomputer, but some subjects were difficult to improve. In particular, he considered the lessons in grammar and civics to be trivial in their way, but in mathematics the future billionaire had only the highest scores. In elementary school, Bill showed no results at all, and his grades disappointed his parents so much that they turned to specialists for help. The worried parents were forced to refer their son to a psychiatrist.


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In high school, Bill met, who would later become his main business partner, but at school the guys had more fun hacking computer programs, without thinking about the strategy for developing unique ideas. In 1970, together with his school friend Bill wrote the first traffic control software and started a distribution company called Traf-O-Data. This project brought the authors 20 thousand dollars. Such success made programmers believe in themselves, defining the future strategy for introducing their own concepts for many years to come.

In 1971, Bill and Paul even worked for professional company Information Sciences. The guys wrote a program for maintaining payrolls, but did not have time to complete it completely, since the project was stopped. In addition, as schoolchildren, Gates and Allen worked for TRW, where they programmed part of the code for a project that employees of the Bonneville Power Administration planned to use.


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In 1973, Bill Gates became a student at Harvard University. Of course, he was going to specialize in software, but the practical side of things attracted him. young man much more than the theory of science, so the unmotivated student missed a lot of classes. After studying only 2 courses, the aspiring programmer was expelled from the university.

Microsoft Company

In early 1975, Paul Allen learns that Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems is releasing a new generation of computers, the Altair 8800. Bill Gates gets bolder and calls Ed Roberts, who headed this organization. He tells Ed that he and a friend are writing software specifically for the computers of a famous corporation, but although this was not true, Bill’s assertiveness bears fruit. Shortly after the interview at MITS bosom friends become partners of a large company.

The guys needed to come up with a name for their enterprise. Initially, they planned the name “Allen and Gates,” but such names are not very typical for the high-tech market. Then the guys looked at the name of the employing company, deciding on a specific phrase - Micro-Soft (Microprocessors and Software). Within a year, the hyphen disappeared from the brand name, and in November 1976 it was registered trademark"Microsoft".


D"Marge

In 1976, Gates also introduced the practice of licensing proprietary software for direct use by computer manufacturers, allowing them to "build" new operating systems and programming languages ​​into PCs. Such an innovation in the field of marketing significantly increased the organization's income. MITS soon ceased to exist, but Microsoft was able to attract new customers. The Apple corporation, whose founder was , and the Commodore company, as well as the large computer developer Radio shack, have become new partners of Microsoft.


Hitek

Gates and Allen began planning the development of an innovation structure for decades. The share of investments was distributed equally from the very beginning. Paul Allen invested only a third of the funds in the common business, so he owned 36% of the shares, the rest belonged to Bill Gates. The co-founders also saw their place in the company differently. Allen dealt primarily with technical issues, while Gates focused on developing public relations, contracts, and other business contacts.

The result of Microsoft's work was the Microsoft Fortran operating system, which appeared in 1977. It is this OS that can safely be considered the first full-fledged competitor to the standard CP/M system for Intel-based computers.


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In 1980, Microsoft achieved enormous success by concluding a deal with the monster of the computer business - IBM Corporation. Gates and Allen were able to offer a more enticing and promising system for their new computer than Digital Research, with which IBM had previously collaborated. In fairness, it should be noted that the friendly acquaintance of Gates’ mother with IBM executives John Opel and John Akers was not the least important for achieving this goal.

However, soon enough Bill and Paul's company was able to offer the computer market completely new system MS-DOS, which would become the main operating system for Intel-based personal computers for a long time. In 1985, Microsoft released Windows, which was different from all previous competitors. graphic design. Thus, the Windows computer era began, although the real breakthrough came only in 1993 after the appearance of the third version of this system - Windows 3.1.


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In 1986, Microsoft Corporation entered the stock markets. The value of the shares grew rapidly, and within a few months Bill Gates became a billionaire. The company's position is gradually strengthening. By 1988, Microsoft was already the largest computer software developer in the world.

By 1998, Gates becomes the richest person in the world. Now finances allowed him to concentrate his attention on programming, and he announced that he was leaving the organization. Until 2006, Bill was still responsible for product strategy at Microsoft, but decided to step down from business development responsibilities, declaring that he wanted to devote his time to charity. Now Bill Gates is actively involved in implementing various assistance programs in different countries.

Other companies

In 1989, Gates founded Corbis. The main task This structure was the licensing of photographs, videos and other multimedia material for the media. Gates' idea was that one day people would decorate their homes not with real paintings, but with electronic reproductions of them.


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Today, Corbis owns exclusive rights to reproduce images of works of art in various museums around the world. St. Petersburg Hermitage, Philadelphia Art Museum and London National Gallery constantly cooperate with the company of a famous American entrepreneur. Bill Gates personally acquired a collection of rare works by Leonardo da Vinci, which are now on display at the Seattle Art Museum.

In the fall of 2008, Gates registered a new company, bgC3 (Bill Gates Company Three). This acronym stands for Bill Gates' Third Company. The main task of the organization is research and analytical. It is a center providing scientific and technological services.


Headquarters of the Bill and Foundation | Mnenie.me

In addition, Bill Gates is currently involved in a lot of charity work. He and his wife Melinda are the founders of the world's largest charitable foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which provides assistance to all those in need, regardless of nationality. The goal of this enterprise is to support and improve the healthcare system, as well as overcome hunger in poor countries. From his own funds, Gates partially financed the Republican presidential campaign in 2004, spending more than $30,000.

Personal life

In 1987, at a meeting in New York, Bill Gates met Microsoft employee Melinda French. They got married on January 1, 1994. After 2 years, the couple had a daughter, Jennifer Katharine, and later a son, Rory John, and a daughter, Phoebe.


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For the huge amount of money that Bill and Melinda spend annually on charity, Time magazine named them People of the Year in 2005. In the same year, Bill received a Knight of the British Empire for his contribution to the UK's innovative enterprise and efforts to reduce global poverty.

Income

How much money does Bill Gates have? Many inhabitants of the planet have always been interested in this question.

According to Forbes magazine, Bill Gates' net worth reached $90 billion in 2016. This is the highest level of wealth of an American entrepreneur in history. He is the richest man in the world.


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Every year, the founder of Microsoft takes a leading position in the ranking of the financial and economic magazine. 13% of the famous billionaire's total fortune is in Microsoft shares, and the rest consists of investments in numerous enterprises from a variety of industries. Forbes analysts predict a further increase in the income level of the famous businessman.

The Gates family lives in the “house of the future,” so called because of the huge amount of electronics that control the entire estate. The house is located on the shores of Lake Washington and occupies about 12,000 square meters.


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Bill Gates visits quite often educational institutions Worldwide. During his speeches, he shares his experience and talks about his vision of global problems. Every time a well-known businessman speaks in public, he ends his speech with a certain phrase that in recent decades, raising children has been carried out in the spirit of political correctness, creating a generation of people who do not have the necessary skills to survive in the modern world.

The co-founder of Microsoft Corporation is called one of the most smart people on the planet, since he is among the cohort of people with the highest level of intelligence. 160 – Bill Gates' IQ level.

Books

Bill Gates is the author of two bestselling books. In his new books, the entrepreneur decided to tell his success story. In 1995, the book The Road Ahead was published, which was on the list of the best bestsellers of the American newspaper for a long time. The New York Times. In 1999, Gates published the book Business the Speed ​​of Thought. This creation has been translated into 25 languages. The author in his publications talks about in various ways use computer technology to solve business problems. Proceeds from the sale of both books went to non-profit organizations, which provide support for technology and education.


Bill Gates' book "Business at the Speed ​​of Thought" | Masteryproject.wikispaces.com

Bill Gates Quotes

Our modern look life was not created by politicians. Before 1700, people were as poor as church mice, and their lives were short and brutal. Everything changed when people began to actively invent. Yes, stability and education are extremely important, I will not argue with that, but the real engine of progress is innovation.

When did it occur to you good idea, act immediately.

Life is unfair - get used to it.

Business – most exciting game, in which maximum excitement is combined with a minimum of rules.

My children will not receive billions. They must understand that they have to work.

My forecast: by 2035 there will be no poor countries left in the world (poor in the modern sense). Governments will find a way to use innovation to improve living standards. Human capital these countries will benefit greatly from education and will be able to attract investment.

I'm glad to see how computers are no longer something exotic. They have become a tool that we use every day. This was once my dream, which has now become a reality.

William Henry Gates III- the founder of Microsoft and the richest man in the world was born on October 28, 1955, in the family of lawyer William Henry Gates II and school teacher Mary Gates. After completing primary school to continue education Bill Gates was transferred to the private Lakeside School. Here he shows his remarkable academic abilities and shows an increased interest in computers and programs. At the age of 13, Gates began programming for the first time.

BASIC programming language Bill Gates I studied on my own using a textbook. Bill's interests were fully shared by Paul Allen - his best friend. Gates's first program, created in 8th grade, was converting numbers from one mathematical base to another. Bill's second program was a game of tic-tac-toe. A little later, Gates created a strategic computer game, the goal of which is to achieve control over the entire planet.

In the ninth grade, according to the results of math testing, he was one of the best students in the country. And already a year later Bill Gates shares his extensive knowledge of computers and software with everyone by teaching computer skills. Bill received his first salary, $4,200, for a program he created that was responsible for scheduling classes at school.

While still a student, William Gates, along with his close friends Paul Allen and Kent Evans, founded the Lakeside Programmers Group. The first order of the newly formed company was to create a calculation program wages. It is at this moment that the first conflict arises between Bill and Allen. As a result, Gates shows his leadership and establishes his primacy in common affairs.

Gates, Allen and Evans also created the company Traf-O-Data, which analyzed traffic in the city and compiled special schedules. The income from the project was $20,000. At seventeen William Gates writes a software package for Bonneville Dam power distribution. He receives $30,000 for his work.

Evans' death turns out to be a huge shock for Bill. He becomes even closer to Allen. In 1973 Bill Gates enters Harvard to continue his studies. In parallel with his studies, he and Allen are studying a computer programming language and are creating versions of the BASIC language for the first PCs. By the way, it was at Harvard that Bill met his future successor at the post general director Microsoft, .

On April 4, 1975, Micro-Soft was founded by friends in Albuquerque (New Mexico), which eventually changed its name to Microsoft. In 1975, in order to devote himself entirely to work, Gates left his studies at Harvard and took the post of chief executive officer of the company. In 1986 William Henry Gates becomes a billionaire, and Microsoft becomes joint stock company open type.

Bill had a long-term affair with businesswoman Ann Winblad, but in 1987 Gates and Ann broke up, keeping friendly relations. That same year, Bill met his future wife Melinda French. This happened in Manhattan during a meeting with journalists. They got married on January 1, 1994. At the time of her acquaintance with Gates, Melinda was an employee of Microsoft, but later she left the company and began to actively engage in charitable activities. In 1998, Gates gave way to his Harvard comrade as president of the corporation. Ballmer joined the company back in 1980 as a partner, receiving a certain share of the profits.

Organized in 2000. The Foundation's activities are aimed at developing education and healthcare systems around the world. By 2005, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was donating more than $3.6 billion to health care and more than $2 million to various educational programs. The foundation finances many social projects and regularly conducts charity campaigns.

In the same year, Gates completely transfers the reins of his company to Ballmer and resigns his powers, remaining chairman of the board of directors. In March 2005, Bill Gates was awarded the title of Knight of the British Empire, and Time magazine recognized the Gates couple as People of the Year. In 2006, Gates became the richest person on the planet, and in 2007 received an honorary degree from Harvard University. Since June 2008 Bill Gates leaves the post of Chairman of the Board of Directors of Microsoft and decides to devote himself entirely to charity and his invariably favorite activity - programming.

The billionaire also sits on the board of directors of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., owns a stake in Darwin Molecular, and is also a board member of Icos Corporation. Bill Gates has three children: Jennifer Catherine, Rory John and Phoebe Adele. Unlike his wife, Gates is not religious, which sometimes leads to disagreements between spouses, especially in matters of education.

The richest man in the world is the author of two remarkable books: The Road Ahead (1995) and Business at the Speed ​​of Thought (1999). Both books became bestsellers, and the proceeds from their sales were directed to organizations that develop technology and education.

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In the nineties, Bill Gates was the most famous person in the world of computer technology and software. Over time, his popularity waned, as did the Microsoft company he co-founded with his friend Paul Allen. Despite this, Microsoft is still the most famous and successful company, not only in its industry, but throughout the business world. And it’s quite hard to believe that just over forty years ago it was a small enterprise of two students passionate about programming.

What is Microsoft?

Every time most users start their computer, a picture with a four-color flag appears on their screen. This is the Microsoft logo and also a symbol that this device is running its operating system. More experienced users know that Microsoft Corporation is a world leader in the production of programs and applications. And not only for computers, but also for set-top boxes, tablets and various mobile phones.

History in the 70s

As you know, Jobs and Wozniak were at the origins of Apple. In the same way, two friends who are interested in programming, Gates and Allen, are the founders of the Microsoft Corporation.

It is worth saying that the mid-seventies was the time when the active development of computer technology began. The most amazing thing is that this area was actually created and then developed by ordinary student enthusiasts. Such were Bill Gates and his fellow student Allen. Together the guys tried to spend all their time on computers, writing various programs.

In 1975, Altair released a new device - Altair-8800. The guys were so interested in him that they created an interpreter for him, the then popular “Basic”. The program written by a couple of students amazed the owners of the company, and they entered into an agreement with the talented guys to use their software.

However, in the USA, in order to provide any services for the purchase and sale of goods or services, and especially software, you need to have a registered company. So Paul Allen and his friend Bill quickly filled out the paperwork and named their venture Microsoft Corporation.

Soon the company began to gain momentum. Although in the first year of operation the profit was just over sixteen thousand dollars, after a couple of years the company became so famous that it even opened its representative office in Japan.

Microsoft in the 80s

The eighties brought tremendous changes to the company. In addition to the experiments with the logo, another thing happened an important event. Microsoft founder Allen decided to leave the company due to personal problems.

Meanwhile, the company itself had a serious client - IBM. It was for them that the MS DOS disk operating system was created based on an already existing one that Microsoft bought from another company. This OS was used by IBM and other companies until 1993.

Not stopping there, the company was developing a qualitatively new operating system, which was presented to the world already in 1985 and was called Windows. Thanks to this Microsoft product, its creators gained incredible popularity and wealth.

The decade ended with another breakthrough in the field of computer programs. In 1989, the user introduced Microsoft Office - an analogue of a typewriter. However, unlike the latter, in the new editor it was convenient to adjust the text, change the font, its color and indents. Since then, programmers have created many similar programs, but they all originate from here.

Microsoft in the 90s

The company entered the nineties inspired by a series of successes in the eighties. At this time, Bill Gates, the only creator of Microsoft remaining in the company, began to pursue a rather tough, but at the same time successful policy. Due to this, by 1993, Windows OS had become the most popular and used in the world.

To meet the growing needs of users, Microsoft has developed improved versions of the OS over the years: Windows 95 and Windows 98. It is noteworthy that in the version of ninety-five, a browser for working with the Internet - Internet Explorer - already appeared.

Microsoft in the 2000s

The company marked the new millennium with the release of new versions of its legendary OS - Windows 2000 and Windows Millenium. Unfortunately, they were not very successful. To rehabilitate itself, Windows XP, beloved by many users, was released in 2001, which helped Microsoft remain the leader in the software market.

With the increasing popularity of tablets, Windows 7 was released in 2009. It was not so demanding on device resources and could be freely used on tablets and laptops. She was able to help the company turn things around after the disastrous Windows Vista.

Microsoft today

Despite numerous lawsuits and fines, the company confidently remains one of the most profitable in the world. And although Microsoft earned significantly less in 2015 than in the previous year, its management is not giving up.

In 2012, a new version of Windows 8 was released, which quickly gained popularity. And in 2015, Windows 10 launched.

Microsoft logo and its history

At the dawn of Microsoft, when its young creators were just thinking about registering an enterprise, they planned to take a completely different name. “Allen and Gates” is what Paul and Bill wanted to call their company. But soon the guys found such a pretentious name more suitable for an organization providing legal services than for a company developing and selling computer programs. Then Paul Allen suggested calling their company an abbreviation for the two words microprocessors and software. This is how the name Micro-Soft appeared.

However, in this form it did not last very long and in the fall of 1976 the company of Gates and Allen was renamed Microsoft Corporation.

The logo appeared around the same period. True, at that time it bore little resemblance to the multi-colored flag known throughout the world. At first, the Microsoft logo was the company name written in two lines in a disco style.

In 1980, it was decided to change the logo. The inscription began to be written in one line and in style was very reminiscent of the logo of the cult group Metallica.

Just a year later, after signing a lucrative contract with IBM, it was decided to make a more solid logo. As a result, the company name began to be written in milky color on a green background.

In 1987, the company changed its logo again. Now it has become a recognizable black inscription with a waving flag. It existed in this form for twenty-five years, after which it was changed to a modern one. Now, for the first time in history, the “Microsoft” inscription is made in gray, and the flying flag has been replaced by a multi-colored square.

The fate of Microsoft founder Bill Gates

The legendary creator of Microsoft and its long-term leader, Gates was born in 1955 into a fairly wealthy family of a corporate lawyer.

While studying at one of the schools in Seattle, the boy almost immediately showed an ability for mathematics, and a little later - for programming. Gates' biography contains known fact: when a guy and his friends were banned from using the school computer, they simply hacked the system and gained access to it. Gates was later punished for this. But soon Bill got a job at the company whose computer he hacked.

After school, he was able to enter the prestigious Harvard. However, after studying there for only two years, he flew out. But the guy did not lose heart, because that same year he and his friend Paul founded their own company, Micro-Soft.

In total, Gates spent thirty years of his life working in this company, until in 2008 he was forced to resign as head of the company, but retained his position as chairman of the board of directors, as well as a stake in Microsoft.

In 2010, he finally left work at his company and, together with his wife Melinda, focused on charity. So, over all these years, the Gateses have donated almost thirty billion dollars. At the same time, Gates's fortune is estimated at seventy-six billion.

The Life of Paul Allen

Another Microsoft creator, Allen, is slightly less rich. He has about thirteen billion in his account. And this man was born in 1953 into a less wealthy family than Gates.

The guy's father was a librarian, and his mother was a teacher. Despite their modest income, the Allens tried to give their son a good education.

However, when the money ran out, Paul left his studies and got a job as a programmer. In his free time, he and his friend Bill tried to write own programs. We haven’t decided to start our own company yet.

Thanks to the indefatigable imagination of its creators, Microsoft's business was going uphill. Over time, Paul focused more on writing programs, and Bill dealt with organizational issues.

In 1983, Paul Allen was diagnosed with cancer. In order to undergo full treatment, he left the company, leaving with him a place on the board of directors and a stake in shares. And when the illness subsided, he decided not to return there, since dividends from Microsoft shares allowed him to lead a comfortable life.

Instead, he took up charity work. First of all, helping patients with cancer and AIDS.

In 2011, Paul Allen wrote a book of memoirs about Microsoft.

They continue to be friends with Bill Gates to this day.

Over the years, Microsoft and its operating systems have become faithful companions of every personal computer owner. And although two people were at the origins of the company, most people remember only one of them. Therefore, to the question: “What is the name of the creator of Microsoft?” - everyone will answer: “Gates.” And rarely does anyone add: “Allen.” But despite this historical injustice, the fathers of Windows are now both wealthy people who are successfully involved in charity work. And most importantly, over all these years they were able to maintain friendship.

Date of birth: October 28, 1955
Place of birth: Seattle. Washington state. USA

Bill Gates- entrepreneur. William Bill Gates managed at one time to place a bet on software development, at a time when companies around only produced computers themselves and did not perceive such an idea as a viable business model and did not see a future in it. Having managed to capture and practically monopolize modern world computers, he became one of the most famous and richest people on earth.

The first program he developed was a simple script for regulating traffic, which he made together with his friend Paul Allen, and with it he was able to earn his first twenty thousand dollars.

At the age of seventeen, Bill received an order to develop a software package for the operation of the Bonneville Dam, and he managed to agree with the leadership of his school that this project will pass him as examinations in most subjects and thus received a high school diploma.

Like his parents, after graduating from school, Gates entered Harvard University to study law and subsequently consider moving to the faculty of mathematics. During his studies, he meets Steve Ballmer, who has now replaced Gates as CEO of Microsoft. Bill devotes most of his time to working with computers and at the same time spends many hours playing poker on the university campus, which, of course, cannot have a beneficial effect on his studies.

After Gates comes across a popular electronics publication, he learns about the newly created company MITS, and sends them a proposal to develop the first operating system for the computer they produce. The company not only agrees to work with Gates and his friend Paul, but also takes Paul into the company staff, while Bill decides to take academic leave at the university, so as not to be distracted from completing the order.

First of all, young people decide to create a company that receives the name Microsoft, which is initially written with a hyphen and after a year, the name turns into the one we are familiar with and the new company receives official registration.

This passion for writing programs led to his expulsion from Harvard University in 1979. Just a year later, in 1980, Microsoft signed an agreement to create the world's first operating system for a personal computer, which the company was going to release to the market. Gates does not dare to create his own product from scratch and simply buys an existing one from a company from Seattle, which he slightly changes and optimizes for the hardware of the new machine and sells it to IBM under the name PC-DOS.

At the same time, according to the terms of the contract, all rights to the new operating system remain with Gates’ company, and he subsequently sells it to several more manufacturers.
Having changed the structure of Microsoft, Gates in 1981 appointed himself to the position of president and served as chairman of the board of directors.

In 1985, the first operating system called Windows 95 entered the market, which became new era for all humanity who use computers.
The operating system was an incredible success, and the production of personal computers developed at a rapid pace, opening up unprecedented opportunities for Beal’s company.
Thanks to these conditions and the success of Windows, Bill decides to release his company to the stock market, and in 1986 he made an initial public offering on the stock exchange.

The price of shares since entering the stock market within a few months made Gates a billionaire at the age of thirty-one.
By 1993, more than one million copies of the Microsoft operating system had already been sold worldwide, and by 1995, the new Windows 95 was already on more than 85% of user computers around the world.

Having decided to devote more time to a charitable foundation than to work in the company, in 1998 Bill resigned as president of Microsoft and, despite this, took the position of executive director. After Gates formally left, virtually nothing changed in the company's policies, and its predatory strategy worked just as much for his business.
In 2006, Gates resigned from his position as director of development and explained this by the fact that his free time was still not enough for his wife's foundation, and he wanted to devote more time to its program and philanthropy in general.

While remaining as chairman of the board of directors, Gates never left the company completely and, according to many employees, takes an active part in developing a new strategy for developing the mobile device market.

Beal's philanthropic activities have grown significantly since his departure from the company, and he continues to lead various projects that he and his wife began more than ten years ago. The Corbis International Foundation is creating the largest electronic database of works of art, which contains a huge amount of information.

In 1995, Gates wrote the book The Road to the Future, which presents his worldview to the world and describes the problems of society in the light in which he imagines them. The book has been the best-selling book in many countries around the world for seven years in a row, according to New York newspaper, and it has been translated and published in more than twenty countries.

Gates’s rather ambiguous business model is fully revealed and described in the book he published in 1999 called Business at the Speed ​​of Thought, which presents him as a philanthropist and is more aimed at creating an image of business as a socially oriented model of society. The book is also an incredible success, being published in more than sixty countries and available for purchase online at a time when it was still a novelty. Bill donates all proceeds from the publication of his books to his wife’s charitable foundation. Over the years, he was practically able to defeat polio in countries South Africa, for which he managed to receive accusations of testing vaccines on its residents and children.

During his dizzying career, he became a seven-time winner of first place in the list of the richest people on the planet and throughout for long years remains in the top three.

Achievements of Bill Gates:

Created a corporation that became a monopolist in software production
Created the Bill and Melinda Gates Charitable Foundation
Became the richest man in the world seventeen times
Almost eradicated polio from the African continent

Significant dates in the life of Bill Gates:

1968 wrote the first commercial program
1972 graduation and first contract
1973 admission to Harvard University and meeting Ballmer
1979 expulsion from Harvard and the first operating system bought from the authors and sold by himself
1985 entry into the stock market and the first billion
1995 first version of the Windows operating system
1998 and 2008 leaving key positions at Microsoft
2010 ranked as the richest person in the world

Interesting facts from the life of Bill Gates:

Every minute, Gates' personal account is replenished with $6,659
Water flies. Recently discovered by scientists, it was named after Gates
Many years later, only in 2007, he received a diploma from Harvard University.
Sworn enemies and competitors Gates and Jobs, as part of a talk show in which they participated together, suddenly recognized each other as the greatest people and exchanged compliments for their achievements in business.
Most arrived. The corporation receives money not from sales of Windows, but from the created auxiliary set of Microsoft Office tools.

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