William Henry Gates III was born to William H. Gates Sr. and Mary Maxwell Gates, in Seattle, Washington on October 28, 1955. His father was a prominent lawyer, while his mother was on the board of directors for First Interstate BancSystem. He had one older sister, Kristianne, and one younger sister, Libby. For over a decade, he has been hailed as the “World’s Richest person” on Forbes’ list of the World’s Richest People. For a short time in 1990s his net worth was $101 billion, resulting in him being called a “centibillionaire” (Wallace, 1993, page 2) by many. He is also on TIME Magazine’s list of 100 most influential people in the century. Gates has become one of the most famous and influential people in our society today, with his major role in the invention of the Windows Operating System(s), and MS-DOS. After stepping down from his position as President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Microsoft, Gates began his charity organization, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which is now the world’s largest transparent charity organization. Since the age of 20, Gates has been an important entrepreneur, changing our world today, through both technology and philanthropy. There can be no doubt that Bill Gates has been a huge positive influence on our society, and our world.
The world of computers opened itself up to Gates when he was in high school. At the time, he was “a student of unparalleled intelligence.”(Fridson, 2001, page 2). The Mothers Club at his school purchased an ASR-33 teletype terminal and also a block of time on a General Electric computer for school students. Gates and a friend, Paul Allen (who would later go on to become one of Gate’s business partners), found bugs in the General Electric and ASR-33 terminals, which they exploited in order to give themselves extra computer time. They were banned for a short period of time when caught, but were later hired to find (and fix, when possible) bugs in the computer’s code. They were mainly compensated with extra time on the terminals. Eventually, Gates and his friends were given the job of writing the school’s scheduling program.
After graduating from Lakeside High School in 1973, he went on to study at Harvard, where he met Steve Ballmer, who would later on become CEO of Microsoft. After the summer of 1974, Gates and his high school friend, Paul Allen, quit college and started their own computer software company, Micro-Soft. Micro-Soft soon entered a partnership with a microcomputer company, MITS (Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems). Micro-Soft’s responsibilities included writing code for MITS new computer, the Altair 8800. During this time period, Gates and Allen innovated new programming styles and architectures.
After a few years, Micro-Soft left its partnership with MITS. During this period of time, the name Micro-Soft was changed to Microsoft. Microsoft was contracted by IBM (International Business Machines Corporation) to develop code for their new personal computer line. Microsoft was still a relatively small company, with only a handful of employees. Gates and Allen were still the main programmers working on all of Microsoft’s projects. Microsoft created the PC-DOS operating system for IBM’s computers. After their contract was complete, broke off and began developing a new operating system. Through their work came the birth of MS-DOS (Microsoft Disk Operating System). MS-DOS became extremely popular in the industry because of its compatibility, easy-to-use functions, and its short data access times. For a few years, MS-DOS was a standalone operating system, but in November of 1985, Microsoft released its Windows 1.0 operating system. While Windows 1.0 had a GUI (graphical user interface), as opposed to the older text-based MS-DOS, Windows 1.0 was actually programmed on top of MS-DOS. MS-Dos was used as the base of all Windows operating systems until the year 2000. Even today, MS-DOS can still be used in all Microsoft operating systems. It is called Command Prompt, and is available in the start menu, although it is now primarily used as a tool to access information.
Despite the fact that MS-DOS had now been dropped, there can be no question as to whether or not it shaped technology around the world. Gates changed the way computers worked with MS-DOS. Almost every computer company, including the older and more prominent Macintosh Corporation, lost out to Microsoft’s MS-DOS software, and eventually the Windows software. Through Microsoft, Gates affected the entire planet. Microsoft made the Personal Computer cheap and readily available for people to use. Companies began using computer systems to file information faster. The internet was invented on a Windows machine, and it was first used on a Windows Machine. Through the Windows Internet Explorer, we entered the information age, where information is transferred at the speed of light, and processes that used to take days, months, and years, now take seconds.
Unfortunately, not everything ran smoothly for Microsoft. By the 1990s, Microsoft was the main user-oriented operating system. Macintosh made expensive, sluggish machines that were largely incompatible with most programs, which meant that consumers could not look to Macintosh for alternatives. Other small software startups failed because of compatibility issues and other inconsistencies. Gates and Microsoft were accused of attempting to monopolize the web browser and PC markets. When the internet first became popular, web browsers were created to facilitate the usage of the internet. At the time, there were three main competitors: Apple’s Safari, Netscape’s Navigator, and Micrsoft’s Internet Explorer. Part of Microsoft’s strategy of winning the “Browser Wars” was to bundle its Internet Explorer with its Windows operating system. Many called this unfair, because internet connections were slow, so it took a long time to download Safari or Navigator from the internet. This discouraged people from using other browsers. The other way to get a browser was by purchasing it in a store, which cost money. Apple and Netscape complained that this was unfair. At the trial, Gates argued “If Microsoft doesn’t include Internet Explorer, how are users supposed to connect to the internet to download it in the first place?”(Gates, 1996, Page 39) Also, Macintosh included the Safari browser with all of its Apple software and computers. No fingers were pointed at Macintosh Corporation.
The second allegation, which was more serious and more legitimate claimed that Microsoft had been attempting to stop other operating systems from gaining a foothold in the market. Microsoft had been offering rebates to OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers), such as Intel, if they made parts almost exclusively for Windows machines. The case ended in a settlement. Windows was not barred from including Internet Explorer with its Windows operating systems, but it was no longer allowed to offer discounts to OEMs in exchange for exclusive compatibility rights. A panel of three people was set up to watch Microsoft’s every move for 5 years to ensure that they complied. Microsoft had to share its application programming interfaces with third-party companies. The panel’s time with Microsoft expired in 2007, but Microsoft has voluntarily agreed to extend the time by 2 years, and has announced that it has no objection to extend that time to 2012.
In 2006, Gates stepped down from his position in Microsoft to do charity work. He has said that he in fact did not like being the richest man in the world, because of “the unwanted attention that it brings.”(Bolger, Page 1) He started the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation with his wife, Melinda French Gates. Before starting the organization, he extensively studied the charitable organizations of John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie. The charities of Rockefeller and Carnegie greatly influenced the ideology of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The BMGF tends to give money to global issues, and/or issues that are largely ignored by the government. The BMGF is the world’s largest transparent charity organization. Benefactors can see exactly where and how the money is being used by the organization, making it almost impossible for insiders to steal from the organization. The BMGF has given money to many different organizations and causes. A few of them are: HIV Research, Aeras Global TB Vacination Foundation, University of Washington Department of Global Health, Children’s Vaccine Program, The Institute for OneWorld Health, The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, Care International, International rescue Committee, Mercy Corps, Save the Children, World Vision, and many, many others. He has also pledged to leave all of his estimated $58 billion to the BMGF, and not his children. He says "We want to give it back to society in the way that it will have the most positive impact." (Obrien, Page 1)
Bill Gates is undoubtedly one of the most influential people in the world. He is one of the few people directly responsible for bringing about the information age. There can be no question as to whether or not his accomplishments as both a philanthropist and an entrepreneur have helped people worldwide. “Until we're educating every kid in a fantastic way, until every inner city is cleaned up, there is no shortage of things to do.” (Gates, 1996, page 264)
