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Showing posts with label People. Show all posts
Showing posts with label People. Show all posts

Bill Gates Biography (1955–)

Entrepreneur Bill Gates founded the world's largest software business, Microsoft, with Paul Allen, and subsequently became one of the richest men in the world.

Synopsis

Born on October 28, 1955, in Seattle, Washington, famed entrepreneur Bill Gates began to show an interest in computer programming at age 13. Through technological innovation, keen business strategy and aggressive business tactics, he and partner Paul Allen built the world's largest software business, Microsoft. In the process, Gates became one of the richest men in the world. In February 2014, Gates announced that he was stepping down as Microsoft's chairman.

Bill Gates: Gates holds up a copy of the new Windows XP operating system while posing for photos in New York's Times Square on October 25, 2001,  at a Windows XP launch event in New York. Around that same time,  Microsoft and the U.S. Justice Department had agreed on the framework  for a settlement in the government's marathon antitrust case against the  software giant (a federal ruling in 2000 designated Microsoft an  unlawful monopolist due to its rein of the PC market, with its Windows  operating system crushing competitors like Netscape). In 2002, a court settlement was approved, with a consent decree curbing some of Microsoft's practices. (Photo by HENNY RAY ABRAMS.)Early Life

Bill Gates was born William Henry Gates III on October 28, 1955, in Seattle, Washington. Gates began to show an interest in computer programming at the age of 13 at the Lakeside School. He pursued his passion through college. Striking out on his own with his friend and business partner Paul Allen, Gates found himself at the right place at the right time. Through technological innovation, keen business strategy and aggressive business tactics, he built the world's largest software business, Microsoft. In the process, Gates became one of the richest men in the world.
Bill Gates grew up in an upper middle-class family with two sisters: Kristianne, who is older, and Libby, who is younger. Their father, William H. Gates Sr., was a promising, if somewhat shy, law student when he met his future wife, Mary Maxwell. She was an athletic, outgoing student at the University of Washington, actively involved in student affairs and leadership. The Gates family atmosphere was warm and close, and all three children were encouraged to be competitive and strive for excellence. Bill showed early signs of competitiveness when he coordinated family athletic games at their summer house on Puget Sound. He also relished in playing board games (Risk was his favorite) and excelled at Monopoly.