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| ]]'''William Henry Gates, III''', a.k.a. Bill Gates (born ], ], in ], ]) is the founder (together with ]) and Chairman of ]. Because of the success of his company, he, at times, has been appraised to be the richest man in the world. | ]]'''William Henry Gates, III''', a.k.a. Bill Gates (born ], ], in ], ]) is the founder (together with ]) and ] of ]. Because of the success of his company, he, at times, has been appraised to be the richest man in the world. | ||
| Gates was originally a computer programmer who co-wrote the original ] ] for the ] in the mid ], one of the first digital personal hobby computers. Altair BASIC later became ], the primary ] of the ] (]) he helped to create several years later. | Gates was originally a computer programmer who co-wrote the original ] ] for the ] in the mid ], one of the first digital personal hobby computers. Altair BASIC later became ], the primary ] of the ] (]) he helped to create several years later. | ||
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| Partly in response to the negative public outcry over the seemingly monopolistic and anti-competitive practices of his company, Gates, along with his wife, founded the , a charitable organization. | Partly in response to the negative public outcry over the seemingly monopolistic and anti-competitive practices of his company, Gates, along with his wife, founded the , a charitable organization. | ||
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Revision as of 02:34, 28 October 2002
William Henry Gates, III, a.k.a. Bill Gates (born October 28, 1955, in Seattle, Washington) is the founder (together with Paul Allen) and Chairman of Microsoft Corporation. Because of the success of his company, he, at times, has been appraised to be the richest man in the world.
Gates was originally a computer programmer who co-wrote the original Altair BASIC interpreter for the Altair 2600 in the mid 1970s, one of the first digital personal hobby computers. Altair BASIC later became Microsoft BASIC, the primary interpreted computer language of the operating system (MS-DOS) he helped to create several years later.
As a result of his activities in this area, he eventaully co-founded Microsoft to serve as the legal entity covering his entrepreneurial software activities.
Gates built Microsoft into one of the world's fastest growing and most successful software companies. There is some controversy about Gates' role in the building of the company. Early accounts indicate that Microsoft, under Gates' control, poorly negotiated its contracts with IBM and accepted a licensing model rather than an outright sale, as IBM refused to buy the operating system Gates held rights to. It seems that luck played an important role in the early years of Bill Gates' control of Microsoft, as this led to the release of the original MS-DOS, which has grown and developed into the world famous (if not infamous) and home-computing market-dominating Microsoft Windows.
In 2000 Gates promoted long-time friend and Microsoft executive Steve Ballmer to the role of Chief Executive Officer and took on the role of "Chief Software Architect".
On the personal side, Gates married Melinda French on January 1, 1994. They have three children, Jennifer Katharine Gates (1996), Rory John Gates (1999) and Phoebe Adele Gates (2002).
Partly in response to the negative public outcry over the seemingly monopolistic and anti-competitive practices of his company, Gates, along with his wife, founded the Gates Foundation, a charitable organization.