From parking meters to saving the world. What does Bill Gates do today - the man who founded Microsoft?

Together with Paul Allen, he founded Microsoft. He conducted it ruthlessly, and the success of his company owes to unethical practices. Today, computers do not care much about him. He would rather deal with saving the world.

An abusive businessman. Smart nerd. Philanthropist. The richest man in the world. A big reddita fan. Bill Gates. It's amazing how many faces this man has. It is therefore hardly surprising that our cycle of the largest figures in the world of IT is starting from it. Because it is really difficult to decide whether this man is worth worshiping or not suffering.

William Henry Gates III, because the hero of our text is actually called, was born in Seattle, October 28, 1955. He comes from the so-called good house: his father was an acknowledged lawyer, his mother was a member of First Interstate BancSystem and United Way board. His grandparents were also high-ranking people. And the whole family had a plan for the young Bill.

Bill Gates was to become a lawyer.

And he received full support from his parents so that he could be educated in this direction. He was given education in esteemed private schools. Young Gates learned well, but his attention was not stolen from mathematics or law. The school has spent money on the Teletype Model 33 teletype and access to the General Electric computer. And Gates was fascinated by the concept of computer programming.

His first application was playing a game of noughts and crosses, which could be played with a GE computer. When the school ran out of computer access, Gates started looking for other programming opportunities. He studied on CCP's DEC PDP computers. There he met Paul Allen. The student is quite ... unruly.

[caption id = "attachment_839666" align = "alignnone" width = "896"] DEC PDP-10 [/ caption]

Allen attended the same school as Gates. He also learned on the CCC programming computers, although his right to use them was suspended, when it turned out that he used defects in the device software to gain additional, unpaid work time on the computer. Allen, however, was smart: along with three other students who were guilty of the same offense, he suggested looking for mistakes in the company's software in exchange for the possibility of further use of the computer. CCC agreed to this proposal. There were also Gates in the three.

Young Bill took the opportunity to gain direct access to the machine, without the use of a teletype. He thoroughly analyzed the programs used by the company in Fortran, Lispa and machine language. CCC, however, went bankrupt in 1970. The four students decided to start boasting about their abilities in other companies.

Allen, Gates, Ric Weiland and Kent Evans found the first digital employer. It was the Information Sciences company.

This commissioned - in exchange for access to computers and cash - to write a program supporting the payroll system in COBOL. The news that the Gates minor is already earning money for programming has finally reached his school. So Bill got another job: to write a program for her that automatically distributed students to particular lessons in the plan. He used it to provide the company of the most beautiful girls in class. It is not clear whether he used it in any particular way.

[caption id = "attachment_839672" align = "alignnone" width = "640"] 22-year-old Bill Gates. A photo from police archives after arrest for breaking traffic regulations [/ caption]

Bill also began thinking about the future of computers. The law was tempting him less and less. Together with Allen, he founded the first company at the age of 17. It was called Traf-O-Data and was involved in the creation of intelligent parking meters, using an Intel 8008 processor. However, he did not forget about education. He graduated with distinction and scholarship, earning 1590 points for 1600 points in the American SAT competence test. He went to Harvard - admittedly to the law faculty, but he chose the most in mathematics and computer science. At this university he also met Steve Ballmer.

Computer science on the right, right on the left.

It is difficult to find good sources about Gates' results when it comes to tests and law exams and related subjects. Bill, however, clearly felt Harvard was not for him. He mainly lived in IT classes. He solved, among others, the mathematical problem of sorting pancakes with a more efficient algorithm than the professors of this distinguished university. He kept in touch with Paul Allen all the time. And he was looking for an excuse to change the course of his career.

[caption id = "attachment_839663" align = "alignnone" width = "1495"] Altair 8800 [/ caption]

This came with the release of the MITS Altair 8800 computer. Gates contacted Allen, telling him that he was throwing Harvard (and more specifically - taking a dean's leave) to be able to write programs for this equipment. The colleague shared Bill's enthusiasm and decided to enter into another company with him.

That's how Microsoft was created. It began, how, from the scam.

Gates contacted MITS and urged him and his associates to work on the BASIC interpreter for the 8800 model. In fact, Gates did not even see the computer on his eyes. He did, however, get what he wanted - the interest of MITS. Only when the company agreed to the meeting together with Allen they built an emulator of the said computer and quite quickly developed an interpreter. MITS was delighted: he decided to establish a permanent cooperation with the young company Micro-Soft, and the work of Gates and Allen was officially released as Altair BASIC. A year later, and so in 1976, the company changed its name. More specifically, she got rid of the dash, becoming Microsoft.

Gates also experienced a curious problem quickly in his career. The environment of IT enthusiasts has not yet been accustomed to the concept of a company that lives that software sales. According to the estimates of the co-founder of Microsoft, almost 90 percent. BASIC altoir users did not purchase the appropriate license. However, the company was doing well, attracting more customers beyond MITS. Gates not only supervised her from the business side, still being the main programmer. The real breakthrough in the history of Microsoft, however, occurred in the mid-1980s.

IBM offered Microsoft a collaboration that will change the world . There was no exaggeration.

At first it was inconspicuous. The company was interested in the BASIC interpreter in the version for the mass IBM PC computer. She also looked for a partner who would create an operating system for this device. Gates recommended Digital Research, the creators of the CP / M system. IBM accepted this advice, but he failed to establish cooperation. Another advice Gates was to buy an 86-DOS system that worked on hardware with similar architecture for IBM PC. This time Bill, however, wanted to earn from this consulting. Along with the blessing of IBM, he put money from the Microsoft cash register into the system, taking over the rights and renaming him to MS-DOS. Then he sold IBM the right to use it for 50,000. dollars. Oh, poor IBM ...

Gates predicted that the open IBM PC architecture would cause other companies to start building a copy of the computer. Copies are fully program-compliant. The fact that Microsoft - and not IBM - had the rights to MS-DOS resulted in the possibility of selling this system to other companies as well as end users. IBM PC clones multiplied like mushrooms after rain. And the demand for MS-DOS grew at a tremendous rate.

Bill Gates had to have good talk, however, IBM should break the cooperation with Microsoft, but it did not happen.

Oh, poor IBM - for the second time. Although IBM PC in no way - due to Microsoft - did not stand out with the software, the company decided to trust again Gates. Recognizing the potential in operating systems with a graphical user interface, she decided to cooperate with Microsoft for the second time. The first version of Windows has made a sufficiently impressive impression on IBM to use Gates' ability to create its own GUI system.

[caption id = "attachment_839669" align = "alignnone" width = "1596"] Microsoft Windows 1.0 [/ caption]

OS / 2 was supposed to be this system. IBM, this time, formally constructed a cooperation agreement to be a co-owner of the system. Bill, however, did not intend to create a competitor for proprietary Windows designed for IBM PC clones. Works on OS / 2 were lengthening mercilessly due to the fault of Microsoft, which deliberately showed incompetence in its construction. Mainly to give Windows time to reach more and more customers. When IBM figured in the swindle, it was too late.

A silent devil. Confident and impertinent.

The ruthlessness towards IBM was not a one-off thing at Gates. Microsoft's employees referred to him as a withdrawn introvert who did not accept failures. He was not a despot like Apple's Steve Jobs. He could, however, remain silent for the whole meeting with his managers, only to make their efforts and multi-week work as a complete idiocy at the end. Although he was not immune to arguments and did not consider himself infallible - if a given manager or programmer after being up and down was able to defend himself against counterarguments, Gates listened. And he was convincing.

With the increase in Microsoft's market power, Bill Gates has been programming less and less, dealing mainly with managerial tasks. According to sources, in 1989 it officially ceased to be part of the Microsoft development team. However, many of the company's employees mention that their boss still liked to view the source codes of his company's products, suggesting improvements and fixing the errors found.

[caption id = "attachment_839660" align = "alignnone" width = "400"] Bill Gates testifies during antitrust proceedings filed against Microsoft [/ caption]

Gates' insolence almost led all Microsoft to fall. When his company was accused of monopolistic practices in the young market of web browsers, he was called to question. The reporters reporting the case described his attitude during testimonies as disrespectful and repugnant. Fortunately, Microsoft saved Microsoft from splitting into smaller companies. Microsoft was found guilty of these practices, but a more lenient penalty was applied. Probably not thanks to Gates's testimony, and despite them.

Microsoft? Boredom. And if it would save the world?

In 2000, Gates decided to resign as head of Microsoft, designating Steve Ballmer as his successor. In June 2006, he announced that he intends to slowly and gradually reduce his role in the company. He added that he intends to devote more and more time to strategic activities. He appointed two bodyguards, Ray Ozzie and Craig Mundle, who would replace him when he was unreachable. However, he never left Microsoft completely. To this day, he is the advisor to the president, he also has space inside the company to develop hobby projects .

As the richest man on planet Gates, he decided that his fortune should be used to change the world for the better. I am talking here about the entire estate. Gates's descendants have only a few million dollars inheritably saved. Microsoft's founder decided that his several dozen billions of fortune would hit the needy.

In 2009, together with Warren Buffet, he launched The Giving Pledge, through which he encourages other billionaires to transfer at least half of their wealth to charity. Which, of course, he also committed himself. However, he did not intend to transfer money for charitable purposes. That would be too easy for him.

That's how the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation was created.

[caption id = "attachment_839654" align = "alignnone" width = "2560"] Bill and Melinda Gates [/ caption]

In truth, Gates founded it with his wife already in 1994, but then he focused his attention mainly on Microsoft. It was only in 2000 that it allocated 5 billion dollars to its start-up. and completely focused on its activities. By 2013, he had secured a budget of $ 34.6 billion. As a point of honor he set himself full transparency: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as one of the few organizations of this type makes publicly available information on all their financial operations, about the dollar.

The Foundation runs four major programs: the Global Development Program, the Global Health Program, the US Program and the Global Policy & Advocacy Division. This is the second largest organization of this type of American origin, which has already managed to provide assistance to various initiatives in the value estimated at over 30 billion dollars. In particular, it is interested in the development of GMOs in agriculture, such as golden rice , which is a remedy for vitamin A deficiencies among the population of third world countries. It also earmarks many resources for the development of sanitation, trying to combat the problem of access to clean water in developing countries. The Foundation also supports many other initiatives, including UNICEF.

Gates also eagerly spends money on charitable causes that are not related to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. His subsidies to various educational institutions - from high schools to higher schools - are estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars. He also invests privately in startups fighting Alzheimer's disease.

A merciless businessman the world needs.

Gates as a business man is an absolutely absolute person. He ruthlessly eliminated opponents using his technical knowledge and business instinct. Profit and benefit for his company was higher than ethics or even human decency. The sense of multiplying capital, however, turned out to be just one of his faces.

The real legacy of Gates will be his selfless charity, conducted together with his wife. Its role in the development of education in developed countries and the improvement of living conditions in developing countries can not be overestimated. Especially since the billionaire does not rest on his laurels, investing constantly in the development of medicine, technologies to reduce the harmful human impact on the environment, the educational market and solutions that reduce social disparities.

[caption id = "attachment_839657" align = "alignnone" width = "1920"] Steve Jobs and Bill Gates [/ caption]

He has three children: Jennifer, Rory and Phoebe. He is an agnostic. His great passion is literature, and his favorite books are "The Great Gatsby" and "The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined." He also loves bridge, tennis and golf. He is also a big fan of reddit, where he often and willingly gives. He suffers from color blindness and has left-wing views: he is, among other things, an advocate of higher taxation for the richer. His favorite music album is Blue Skies from Willie Nelson. He still likes to program.

From parking meters to saving the world. What does Bill Gates do today - the man who founded Microsoft?