What did Bill Gates create? Bill Gates - biography, information, personal life
William Henry Gates III. Born October 28, 1955 in Seattle, USA. Better known as Bill Gates ( Bill Gates). American entrepreneur and public figure, philanthropist, co-creator (with Paul Allen) and former largest shareholder of Microsoft.
Until June 2008, he was the head of the company; after leaving his post, he remained as its non-executive chairman of the board of directors. He is also co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
In the period from 1996 to 2007, in 2009 and in 2015 - the richest person on the planet according to Forbes magazine. His fortune in March 2015, according to Forbes magazine, was estimated at $79.2 billion, an increase of $13.2 billion compared to September 2012. This made him the richest man in the United States 20 times in a row and the first in the world 16 times (the second was Carlos Slim Helu with his family, his fortune is estimated at $ 77.1 billion).
Bill Gates is one of the record holders for the amount of money donated to charity: between 1994 and 2010, he contributed more than $28 billion to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. In February 2010, Gates made a proposal to all billionaires to donate half of their wealth for charitable activities.
Gates was born in Seattle, Washington, the son of corporate lawyer William Henry Gates II and board member of First Interstate Bank, Pacific Northwest Bell, and national board member of United Way Mary Maxwell Gates. Gates has 2 sisters: the older one is Christy and the younger one is Libby.
Gates attended Seattle's most exclusive school, Lakeside, where he was able to develop his programming skills on the school's mini-computer. At the age of thirteen, Bill wrote his first program, the Tic Tac Toe game, in the BASIC programming language. In eighth grade, during a programming class, he met tenth-grader Paul Allen. With his friends, Gates tested the PDP-10 computer from Digital Equipment Corporation, owned by Computer Center Corporation (CCC).
When the time allotted for Bill and his friend Paul to work in the CCC expired, they hacked the program. For hacking computers, four students at the school - Rick Wayland, Kent Evans, Paul Allen and Bill Gates - were banned from working on computers throughout the summer. The initiator of the punishment was the Computer Center Corporation, whose computer the students hacked. After the punishment ended, the students offered the company to find errors in their software in exchange for the opportunity to work on the company’s computers. The company agreed, and Gates and his friends studied a variety of software source codes written in languages such as FORTRAN, LISP, and machine code.
This cooperation continued until 1970, when the company went bankrupt. Next year, Information Sciences, Inc. hired four students (including Bill and Paul) to write a payroll program. The program was needed in the Cobol language, in return the guys received free work time on PDP-10. They called their company Lakeside Programming Group, but were unable to complete the work.
At school, Gates did not excel in grammar, social studies, and other subjects he considered trivial, but he did achieve top marks in mathematics. By the end primary school Gates's bad behavior began to worry his parents and teachers so much that he was referred to a psychiatrist.
At age 17, Gates, Paul Allen, and Paul Gilbert founded Traf-O-Data. The name was coined by Gates from “jack-o’-lantern” - a jack-o’-lantern. The company's goal was to create meters to read road traffic and generate reports for traffic engineers. The Traf-O-Data device was sold 1972 to 1982. and as a result, $794.31 remained in the company’s account.
December 25, 1972 (Christmas Day) Bud Pembroke, the one who invited Bill and Paul to work for Information Service Inc., invited them to work for TRW. A large software project was underway for the Bonneville Power Administration using the PDP-10.
In 1973, Bill Gates entered Harvard University, where he met his future partner Steve Ballmer. After 2 years, Gates was expelled and immediately began creating software.
In January 1975, Paul Allen read an article in Popular Electronics magazine about the new Altair 8800 personal computer. After reading the article, Gates contacted the president of Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS), the developer of the new computer, Ed Roberts, and told him that he and his friend are working on the software for this computer (although in fact Gates and Allen had nothing to do with the Altair 8800, but emulated that processor).
The MITS president invited Paul to his office and he demonstrated a working BASIC interpreter for their computer, and within a few weeks Paul and Bill were working at MITS. They thought about calling their company “Allen and Gates,” but felt that it was more suitable for a law office, and then Paul suggested Micro-Soft, from microprocessors and software. In the credits of the BASIC language interpreter, which they created at the request of MITS, the friends included the following line: "Micro-Soft BASIC: "Paul Allen wrote the supporting codes. Bill Gates wrote the executable codes. Monte Davidoff wrote a mathematical library".
In 1975, Bill was arrested for the first time, for speeding and driving without a driver's license, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. After which he began to quarrel with the policeman and he was put in a “bad” cell, where there were drunkards and it was not cleaned. Bill made the required one call to Paul Allen and he collected the last money available to rescue Bill. "Micro-Soft" was created specifically for the development of programs for MITS, in the city of Albuquerque. Within a year of working for MITS, the hyphen in Gates and Allen's company name disappeared, and on November 26, 1976, a new company was registered with the New Mexico District Clerk's Office. trademark"Microsoft". Paul got 36% of the company's shares, Bill 64%, basically how Bill saw his contribution to the product.
In the joint business, Paul Allen was involved in technical ideas and promising developments, Gates was closer to negotiations, contracts, etc. business conversation. And yet, the friends resolved the main issues together - sometimes, as Gates later admitted, the arguments continued for 6-8 hours in a row.
In the mid-1970s, the CP/M operating system was the most popular operating system for Intel 8080 and Zilog Z80 based computers. In 1980, IBM began searching for a suitable operating system for personal computer IBM PC. Initially it was planned to use CP/M for it. Negotiations were held with Digital Research, a company owned by Gary Kildall and his wife. However, the deal did not take place, and IBM entered into an agreement with the small company Microsoft (the mother of the owner, Bill Gates, was the chairman of the executive committee at United Way International, along with two very influential leaders of the computer market monster IBM, John Opel and John Akers (John Opel, President since 1981, then John Akers, President since 1985).
Microsoft did not have its own OS for Intel processors 8086, so it licensed the 86-DOS (QDOS) system, which was a 16-bit clone of CP/M, from Seattle Computer Products. Subsequently, Microsoft completely bought the rights to 86-DOS, after which, after working on it, it was completely adapted for IBM personal computers, earning $50,000. This is how the MS-DOS operating system appeared and the beginning of the collaboration between Microsoft and IBM.
In 1977, Gates was arrested a second time, for running a red light and, again, for driving without a driver's license.
In 1980, Microsoft signed a contract with IBM to develop MS-DOS for IBM. But Microsoft did not meet the deadline and transferred the source code to IBM for faster development in 1981. This half-baked system featured a demo game called "DONKEY.BAS" made by Bill Gates and Neil Konzen. "DONKEY.BAS" was a tech demo of the PC-DOS system and the BASIC language, and is the predecessor of all IBM PC games. In this game you control a racing car and have to avoid donkeys. In 2012, this game was re-released for Windows Phone 7.5/8 (free to download), iOS (costs $0.99).
Next, Microsoft is working on a completely new operating system, the idea of which was taken from Xerox and Apple. Cooperation with IBM continued and on November 20, 1985, the new Microsoft Windows operating system appeared. Thus began the era of Windows - the operating system that glorified and made Gates the richest man.
In 1989, Gates founded the multimedia company Corbis and was arrested a third time on charges of drunk driving.
In 1994, Gates acquired Codex Leicester, a collection of works by Leonardo da Vinci. Since 2003 it has been on display at the Seattle Art Museum.
In 1995, Bill Gates wrote the book The Road Ahead, in which he outlined his views on the direction in which society is moving in connection with the development of information technology. In 1996, when Microsoft was refocused on Internet technologies, Gates made significant adjustments to the book.
In 1997, Gates spoke via video link in Boston at the Macworld Expo, where they talked about the development of MS Office, IE, Java products for the Macintosh, and investing $150 million in Apple. Bill's performance was broadcast on the big screen and it was like Big Brother performing in the Apple "1984" commercial.
In 1997, Gates became a victim of extortion by Chicago resident Adam Quinn Pletcher. Gates testified at the subsequent trial. Pletcher was found guilty and sentenced in July 1998 to six years in prison.
The following episode gives some idea of Gates' religious views: when a magazine correspondent The Times asked if he believed in God, Gates replied: “I don’t have any facts about him.”
According to Forbes magazine, Gates donated money to George W. Bush's presidential campaign in 2004. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Gates donated at least $33,335 to more than 50 political campaigns during the 2004 election.
In 1999, Bill Gates wrote the book Business at the Speed of Thought. the Speed of Thought), which shows how information technology can solve business problems in a completely new way. Of particular note is the fact that Bill Gates' ideas fit well with the concept of lean manufacturing.
This book has been released in 25 languages and is sold in more than 60 countries. Business at the Speed of Thought received critical acclaim and was featured on the New York Times, America Today, Wall Street Journal, and Amazon.com bestseller lists.
On December 14, 2004, Bill Gates joined the board of Berkshire Hathaway, thus formalizing his relationship with Warren Buffett. Berkshire Hathaway is a conglomerate that includes Geico (auto insurance), Benjamin Moore (paints), and Fruit of the Loom (textiles). Gates also serves on the board of Icos, a Bothell biotechnology company.
On 2 March 2005, the UK Foreign Office announced that Gates would receive the title of Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his contributions to UK businesses and his efforts to reduce global poverty.
At the end of 2005, Bill Gates and his wife Melinda Gates were named People of the Year by American Time magazine.
On January 7, 2008, Bill Gates announced his intentions to step down as the head of Microsoft Corporation in July 2008, switching his activities to charity.
On June 15, 2008, Bill Gates announced his intention to leave his full-time job at Microsoft as of July 2008. After leaving his post, he intends to devote himself entirely to managing the charitable foundation Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
June 27, 2008 was Bill Gates' last as Microsoft CEO. Despite this, he is not breaking with the company for good - Gates will remain Chairman of the Board of Directors (without executive powers), will be involved in special projects, and will also remain the largest (8.7% of Microsoft shares) shareholder of the corporation. In 2008, Gates resigned as president of Microsoft Corporation, and in 2010 he left the post of chief executive officer. Steve Ballmer received both positions. In December 2011, he denied rumors about him possible return to company management.
At the end of October 2008, in Kirkland (Washington State, USA), Bill Gates registered his third company called “bgC3”. Unverified sources claim that "bgC3" stands for Bill Gates Company Three. It was announced that this will be a research center whose tasks will include the provision of scientific and technological services, work in the field of analytics and research, as well as the creation and development of software and hardware.
Since 2009, Bill Gates has published the “Bill Gates Annual Message” on the official website of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, in which he talks about the achievements of his charitable organization and also makes plans for the future.
Personal life of Bill Gates:
On January 1, 1994, Gates married Melinda French. They have three children - Jennifer Katharine (born 1996), Rory John (born 1999) and Phoebe Adele (born 2002).
00:00 17.12.2012
There is probably no person who has not heard or does not know who Bill Gates is. Name of this legendary person has already gone down in history, and his interviews and speeches are parsed into quotes. Bill Gates would continue to be the richest man in the world according to Forbes version, if he had not transferred more than 25 billion dollars to a charitable account. And the story of a billionaire is like a fairy tale, in which main character, working hard, achieved success and became one of the most richest people planets.
Bill Gates success story
Bill Gates' real name is William Henry Gates III. The future billionaire was born on October 28, 1955 in Seattle in the family of a lawyer and a teacher. Bill studied at one of the most prestigious schools, and everyone predicted his career as a lawyer. However, the boy “didn’t have a good relationship” with grammar and civics. But most of all, Bill loved mathematics and dreamed of becoming a professor. Already at school, Gates showed amazing programming abilities. At the age of 13 he wrote his first program - computer game, as well as with his school friend (and future co-founder of Microsoft Corporation) Paul Allen, even hacked the database of one of the companies. For such an offense they were punished - to spend the entire summer without a computer. However, after the punishment expired, the company ComputerCentreCorporation, whose database was hacked by schoolchildren, invited them to find errors in their software. In exchange, they will use the company's computers for free and at any time. Thanks to this, the boys were able to learn several programming languages. After the company went bankrupt in 1970, high school students were hired by Information Sciences to write payroll software. Bill was never afraid to offer his projects to well-known companies, despite the fact that he was not even 18. So, at the age of 15, he sold an optimization program for 20 thousand dollars traffic and reading street traffic. Another project that Bill came up with while still in school was a scheduling program. Thus, in the 10th grade, Bill himself taught computer science and programming at school.
This passion for computers forced Bill's parents to remove him from the computer and even show him to a psychiatrist. During the year without a computer, Bill Gates read the life stories of great people and continued to think through new projects in his head. At the age of 17, he received an order for which he earned $30,000.
After graduating from school, Bill entered Harvard University, from which a few years later he was expelled due to poor academic performance. Here he met Steve Ballmer, his future companion. Today, Steve serves as the company's vice president of sales and support.
Development of Microsoft
In 1975, Bill Gates invited his comrades to create a company that would develop software for personal computers. Despite the fact that this idea at that time seemed unpromising, and the first few orders did not bring the desired profit, Bill Gates was confident that their company would become the first, and he was right. Initially, their company was called "Micro-Soft", but after a few months the hyphen in the name disappeared, and on November 26, 1976, the new brand "Microsoft" was registered. Within five years, the company becomes a corporation run by Bill Gates and Paul Allen. Microsoft also owns such developments as: a computer mouse, a text editor MS-DOS and, of course, the Windows operating system, which continues to improve and develop. Gates' "brainchild" occupies a leading position in the software market, and competitors have long recognized Gates' victory in this area. Despite the fact that Bill is no longer a direct leader of Microsoft, he continues to have a significant influence on the development of new products and cooperation with other companies. For example, it was Bill Gates who expressed the idea of buying Skype and proposed exchanging code between the Windows8 and WindowsPhone8 operating systems. At the end of 2008, Bill Gates finally left his company, handing over the reins to Steve Ballmer.
Other achievements of Bill Gates
In 1989, he founded the multimedia company Corbis;
In 1994, he bought the complete works of Leonardo da Vinci, which is on display at the Museum of Art in his hometown;
He wrote the book “The Road to the Future” in 1995, and in 1999 another one, “Business at the Speed of Thought.” All of Gates' books are recognized as bestsellers in America;
Creation of the WindowsXP operating system in 2001;
In 2004, he connected his interests with Warren Buffett, with whom they founded a common company that combines several funds.
In 2005, the UK announced that Bill would receive the title of Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire for his contribution to reducing global poverty and his participation in British projects.
In June 2007, Harvard awarded Bill a diploma from this university. And he received it not for graduating, but for outstanding services.
At the end of 2008 he registered his third company "bgC3".
Family and charity in the life of Bill Gates.
Bill is not only the father of a huge corporation, but also a wonderful family man. In 1994, he married Melinda French, who previously worked for his company. They have three children. Bill loves to play bridge, reads a lot and loves to travel. His wife fully shares her husband's views. So, they created together charitable foundation and travel to third world countries, helping them not only financially, but also psychologically. As the billionaire himself says, the measure of success of any businessman is lives saved and healthy children. He is sincerely surprised why the world is not trying to help African children in the fight against diseases that have not killed people in other countries for a long time. That is why Bill Gates does not spare money for charity: he allocated more than 6 billion dollars for medical needs and the purchase of vaccines to help Africa to save children already born. Thanks to his investments, new vaccines were invented and millions of lives were saved. Gates is confident that by the end of his life he will definitely achieve a reduction in mortality in such countries by at least 80%. Now in the field of health, he continues to actively fight against malaria and polio, which he intends to completely eradicate.
In addition, Bill invests huge sums in education and development innovative technologies. And also, together with Warren Buffett, he created the GivingPledge charity organization, which encourages millionaires to donate half of their wealth. More than 70 people have already joined this campaign.
Despite the good intentions of the creator of a great corporation, many believe that he is too arrogant and pretends to be God, that he does this in order to avoid paying taxes, and many doctors are outraged that he places great importance on vaccines without solving other problems medicine. And someone calls him a saint and the savior of the world. How many people, so many opinions. And, in the words of the philanthropist himself, I would like to say: “Well, life is unfair - get used to it.” In any case, we must give him his due that, donating a huge part of his fortune to charity, he understood that these amounts would deprive him of the championship on Olympus of the richest people in the world. And he continues to do so. So who is of greater value to the world: the person who occupies all the top positions in the list of the richest and most influential people or the one who does not spare the billions he earns for the future of the world, even to the detriment own profit? One thing is for sure: the world will never get along without Bill Gates; the world needs him more than the world needs him.
The name Bill Gates is familiar to almost everyone, especially those who use Microsoft operating systems, because this man is considered their creator. But, in addition to the fact that Bill Gates is an extraordinary businessman, he also seems to be a very reasonable man who recently surprised the whole world with his approach to raising his own children.
Bill Gates is the richest businessman in the world according to Forbes
In 2015 Forbes magazine again summed up the results of the year and compiled its annual ranking. This list is headed for the 16th time by Bill Gates, the creator of Microsoft Corporation.
More than one touching film could be made based on the life of Bill Gates. He did not do well at school and considered all subjects except mathematics unnecessary. For bad behavior, the boy was even referred to a psychiatrist for consultations.
But the guy had a good understanding of computers and programming. At the age of 13, Bill was already writing simple computer programs on his own, and a couple of years later, together with his friends, he managed to hack the program of one large corporation in Seattle - Computer Center Corporation.
At the age of 17, together with Paul Allen, Gates founded his first company, which within a couple of months had $790 thousand in its account. And in 1975, the first Microsoft BASIC was created.
Personal life of a billionaire
Gates met his future wife, being already a very rich man. He flew to New York for a press briefing and there he met Melinda French, whom he married on January 1, 1994.
Melinda was born in Texas, into a large family of an ordinary engineer. Bill Gates in his interviews is often surprised at how his chosen one was able to force him to marry her, because before meeting this girl he had an ambiguous attitude towards family ties. However, there is nothing strange in the fact that Melinda found a common language with the computer genius, because she once received a bachelor's degree in computer science.
In the 90s, Melinda joined the Microsoft team, and already in 1994 she became a wife. The wedding ceremony took place in Hawaii, after the wedding Melinda became a housewife. If we talk about how many children Bill Gates had in his marriage to this woman, then there will be three heirs to the multi-billion dollar fortune: two girls and one boy.
She is also widely known for her philanthropic work as the founder of the Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation.
Features of raising children
The “seasoned” Bill Gates has very specific children of his own. Providing for them for the rest of your life and even after your death is not the goal of the owner of a multimillion-dollar fortune. On the contrary, he understands that his main task is to teach his offspring to cope with all problems on their own, including financial ones.
Bill Gates' children should have learned the following truths while growing up. Firstly, a person must have adequate self-esteem. It's good to have dignity and self-respect, but to be respected by everyone else, you need to do something worthwhile in your life.
Secondly, nothing happens quickly, and after graduating from school or university you will have to work hard for many more years before you have your own limousine.
Thirdly, there is no such thing as bad work. Even working behind the McDonald's counter, you have the chance to make a dizzying career.
Bill Gates's daughters: biography. Jennifer
Little is known about Gates’ children in general and in general, because they are quite young.
In 1996, Bill Gates' eldest daughter was born. What is the name of the billionaire's first child? The parents named their first child Jennifer. In ancient times, the name means something like “white sorceress” or “bright spirit.”
Gates' eldest daughter turned 19 in 2015. But it is almost impossible to find mentions of the girl in the press. However, several years ago there was a very active discussion on the Internet about the fact that the lifestyle of Gates and his children could hardly be called modest (as the media likes to cover this issue). For his daughter, who was only 15 years old at the time, Gates easily rented a luxury house in Florida worth $600,000 a month.
It turned out that Jennifer was seriously involved in equestrian sports, and she wanted to take part in the festival, which was to be held in Palm Beach. To make Jen feel comfortable during this entire time, her father rented her a “royal” mansion. So Gates's strictness in raising children is most likely exaggerated.
Is Rachel Leigh Cook the daughter of Bill Gates?
IN Lately in different in social networks They post a photo of a pretty girl, captioned with a joke: they say that Gates’ daughter has become the best “product” that Microsoft has ever released. However, the real appearance of Bill Gates' daughter is far from the appearance of the pretty person whose image is being circulated on the Internet.
In fact, the photo shows Rachel Leigh Cook - star of the films "Texas Rangers" and "Dawson's Creek." And it is completely unclear who thought of marrying the famous American actress to the daughter of Bill Gates. Most likely it was a joke. But many regulars on the Internet still believe that pretty blonde- That's what it is real daughter billionaire.
Phoebe Gates: facts from life
Bill Gates' daughter Phoebe - youngest child in family. The girl was born in 2002 and this moment still remains a teenager. As is the case with other children of the billionaire, the girl’s biography is shrouded in a halo of mystery, and even getting her photographs is not an easy task: Bill Gates’ daughters lead a quiet and “closed” lifestyle to prying eyes.
Did Bill Gates really leave his children without an inheritance?
Bill Gates' daughters will not be able to enjoy their father's multimillion-dollar fortune. In 2015, at one of the conferences, Bill stated that his children would receive practically nothing after his death.
Of course, the media inflated this news by releasing a lot of articles under flashy headlines, saying that Gates left his children with nothing, forgetting to clarify one detail: the billionaire recently drew up a new will, according to which Bill Gates’s daughters, as well as his The only son, will still receive something, namely $10 million.
Any person on Earth would be very happy about such an inheritance: 10 million dollars is not a joke, but a very good starting capital. Also, on top of that, Gates will provide his children with the best education, which is also important for a successful life. Children must earn all other material goods through their own labor, says Bill Gates. He also noted that multimillion-dollar fortunes bequeathed to people who did not earn them through their own labor become only a “disservice.” His children should know the value of money.
Gates picked up this approach to raising children. And in general, being “hardworking” and “smart” is now fashionable again. Apparently, the “time of fools” is over, since even millionaires want their children to be smart, independent and productive.
In the biography of Bill Gates, his primary education was received at a public school. Then he studied at private school, where he was interested in mathematics, he first began writing small programs on a minicomputer. In 1973, Gates entered Harvard University. In 1975, he founded Microsoft with Paul Allen. In his third year, he left the university to devote himself entirely to the company (later in 2007 he was recognized as a Harvard graduate and received a diploma).
The year 1995 in Gates’ biography was marked by the publication of the book “The Road to the Future.” Gates, being one of the co-authors of the book, expressed his vision of the development of information technology. In 1996, Microsoft began to develop Internet technologies, and Bill Gates amended his first book. The second book, “Business at the Speed of Thought,” was published in 1999 and presented possible solutions to business problems using information technology.
In 1998, Gates ceased to be the company's president, and in 2000 he resigned as chief executive. In June 2008, he gave up his executive powers to Microsoft Corporation, but remained Chairman of the Board of Directors. In October 2008, in the biography of Bill Gates, his third company, bgC3, was founded - a research center in the field of analytics and information technology.
In the photo, Gates looks like a good-natured person. That’s right: together with his wife, he founded the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, whose funds go to support healthcare and education.
The Bill Gates story is reminiscent of American dream. Working hard, he achieved not only the prosperity of the company, but also the title of the richest man. Gates' net worth is now about $57 billion.
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In the nineties, Bill Gates was the most famous person in the world 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 important event occurred. 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.
Was released in 2012 a new version Windows 8, 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 that develops and sells 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 the inscription “Microsoft” is done for the first time in history gray, and the waving flag was 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 free time he and his friend Bill tried to write their 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.
For many years, Microsoft and its OS become faithful companions every owner of a personal computer. 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.
