William Henry Gates was born on October 28, 1955, in Seattle, Washington.
His father, William, was a corporate lawyer and his mother, Mary, was a school teacher.
At the age of 17, Gates sold his first piece of computer programming, a time table system, to his high school for $4,200.
Gates scored 1590 on a standardized SAT (the U.S. college entrance exam) test, a test that has a maximum score of 1600.
Gates told his college teachers to be a millionaire by the time he was 30, and by the time he was 31 he was a billionaire. That means Gates knew he would be rich later in life, but he didn't expect to be this rich.
While attending Harvard, Gates was involved in writing Altair BASIC, which became Microsoft's (then known as Micro-Soft) first product.
He met his future wife, Melinda French, at a 1987 Microsoft launch event in Manhattan, where Melinda was a Microsoft employee. They married on New Year's Day 1994.
In 2005, Gates was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) by Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.
The March 2007 issue of Forbes magazine again named Bill Gates the world's richest person, the 13th consecutive year he has received the title. He is currently worth $56 billion.
Gates recently announced that he would be phasing out his work at Microsoft and devoting more time to philanthropy.
There is currently a building named after Gates at Carnegie-Mellon University (a university in Pennsylvania, USA) - the Gates Computer Science Building.
Gates is the latest owner of the Leicester Codex, a 72-page Leonardo da Vinci codex. The codex contains observations on the nature of water, astronomy, rocks, and fossils. Gates puts the codex on public display once a year in a different city around the world.
Bill Gates spent his childhood in Seattle, Washington, USA, which is also known as Boeing City because it is the base of Boeing, the U.S. company that employs nearly half of the city's workers. It is one of the three major gateways to the west coast of the United States, along with San Francisco and Los Angeles.
In 1969, Seattle's Lakeshore High School, where Gates was enrolled, was one of the first in the United States to offer a computer program. At that time there was no PC, the school only got a terminal, or from the community and parents to collect a large number of funds to buy. This terminal is connected to other units have a small electronic computer PDP - 10, can only be used for a short period of time each day, the cost per hour is also very high. Gates like the discovery of a new continent, as long as there is time, will be drilled into the computer room to operate the terminal, almost to the point of sleep and food. 13 years old, he independently programmed the first computer program, you can play on the computer screen the moon soft landing game. July 20 of that year happened to be the day that American astronauts Ames Mullen and Aldrin took the Lunar Module and set foot on the surface of the moon for the first time on behalf of mankind. Gates thought to himself, I can not take the spaceship to the moon, then let me use the computer to realize my dream of landing on the moon!
But the good times didn't last long, after only six months, Lakeshore Middle School no longer had the money to pay the rent for the use of the expensive PDP--10 minicomputer. It was as painful for Gates as the loss of his schooling, because by this time he was obsessed with computers to the point of obsession. So he and his classmates ran around and finally found an opportunity to help a computer company called CCC to catch bedbugs, and use the payment for removing the bugs to pay for the cost of operating their computers. What do I mean by bugs? It's a synonym for what people in the computer industry call bugs in software, i.e., pesky bedbugs (Bugs). Because once the bugs, will make the computer to export the wrong results or crash, the United States sent to Venus Mariner rocket and the French authority Liana rocket, because of computer software failure (bugs) and make the launch failure, the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars. Gates excitedly asked a few computer enthusiasts from his classmates to ride their bicycles to work there at about 6:00 p.m. every night, after the CCC employees were off duty. There were many teletypewriter terminals available, and all kinds of computer software could be studied to their heart's content, which was really like a fish out of water. Gates was so fascinated by computer software that he stayed there almost all night, as obsessed as he had been in grade school when he set out to make a new name for himself, and every night he filled a CCC logbook with a computer bug he and his buddies had discovered. Through this period of time to catch bedbugs, Gates made himself in the computer hardware and software to learn a lot of books and school can not learn the knowledge and skills for future research and development, laying a profound foundation.
By 1970, when Gates was 15 years old, his computer talents were already well known. A company called Information Sciences approached Gates, hoping to offer computer time using the PDP-10 in exchange for software skills from Gates and his classmate Paul. Since, by U.S. law, minors cannot be paid, the company decided to pay them $10,000 worth of computer time for designing payroll management software for the company. In 1971, Lakeshore Middle School asked Gates to design a set of computer software for scheduling classes. At the time, scheduling was done manually, and because of the large number of students and the complexity of the courses, the scheduling was often uneven, resulting in overcrowding in certain courses. Gates successfully completed this difficult task, which in turn enabled him to extend his valuable time using computers.
In 1973, the U.S. defense project contractor TRW to develop a set of computer supervisory and control system for managing reservoirs, but the old can not eliminate a variety of computer bugs, slow progress, look to be punished for breach of contract. In this emergency, TRW learned of Gates and Paul two little computer geniuses, they asked for help, and the two boys happily agreed. It was a very specialized and difficult job, and as a rule, high school students could only get the low wages of work-study students. But Gates didn't mind; his main goal was to improve and hone his software design skills through this kind of work. Lakeshore High School was also open-minded enough to allow upperclassmen to intern and work in companies after completing their required courses. Thanks to Gates and Paul, it was finally possible for TRW to complete the project on time and avoid a huge fine. In turn, Gates and Paul received specific instruction from one of the company's computer specialists, allowing both to improve their software skills.
Young Gates In the early 1970s, Gates shocked the computer world by writing his famous Open Letter to Enthusiasts. Gates declared that computer software would be a huge commercial market and that computer hobbyists should not feel free to copy computer programs without the consent of the original authors. The computer world at the time was influenced by the hacker culture and believed that creativity and knowledge should be ****enjoyed. Gates then left campus and single-handedly founded Microsoft, one of the world's most successful companies, and gradually industrialized software.
In 1975, at the age of 19, Gates predicted: "We realize that the age of software is upon us, and we have enough insight into the long-term potential of the chip to mean what? The software industry will never wait for me where I am if I don't seize the opportunity now instead of finishing my Harvard degree."
But one of Gates' business maneuvers that has often called for criticism is the origin of MS-DOS. In the late 1970s, IBM was planning to enter the personal computer market and officially launched the IBM Personal Computer (PC) in 1981.IBM needed to find a suitable operating system for its products, based on the Intel x86 family of processors.IBM found Microsoft after brief negotiations with another company. Microsoft, in turn, without telling IBM that it was negotiating with them, approached Seattle Computer to buy the operating system they had developed from them for a reported $50,000 (Microsoft supporters claim that there was an agreement between Microsoft and IBM at the time that Microsoft was not to disclose the negotiation to outsiders). Microsoft then later licensed the operating system (which has been renamed PC-DOS) to IBM. Microsoft also negotiated with other computer manufacturers to install the altered MS-DOS system on every new computer. Seattle Computer later sued Microsoft for purchasing the company's products at very low prices without telling them the facts, but the two sides eventually settled out of court. Gates' reputation was tarnished again by a series of U.S. government monopoly suits against Microsoft in the late 1990s.
Gates was optimistic about the future of the optical disk as a data storage medium in the mid-1980s and aggressively promoted the CD-ROM, but just last year he announced that the DVD would become obsolete.
When Apple's applied the mouse to the user interface in 1983 with its new Lisa product, it was a revolution in the personal computer industry. Gates immediately recognized the importance of a friendly graphical interface.
In 1990, Microsoft launched WINDOWS 3.0.
In 1995, Microsoft launched the Windows 95 operating system, which is a truly epoch-making software. It allowed users to get rid of the cumbersome and boring DOS commands, thus making personal computers extremely easy to use.
The Road Ahead, published in 1995, topped the New York Times bestseller list for seven weeks. Some of the book's predictions have come true.
Gates has also been accused of business misconduct. Gates was repeatedly sued for many of Microsoft's business practices under his leadership that violated U.S. law (antitrust laws). And was subjected to numerous lawsuits and was in danger of being split up. It is quite interesting to note that at the end of the 20th century, the two Bills (Bill Clinton and Bill Gates) ran into lawsuits and trouble almost simultaneously.
In 1998, Microsoft launched Windows 98, which was widely welcomed and Microsoft consolidated its dominance in the computer software industry.
In 1999, Gates authored the book "Future Tense," which showed how computer technology could solve business problems in new ways. The book was published in more than 60 countries and in 25 languages. Future Tense has won critical acclaim and has been listed as a bestseller in The New York Times, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, and Amazon.com.
In 2000, Gates named his longtime friend Steve Ballmer as Microsoft's chief executive and himself "Chief Software Architect.
Towards the end of 2001, Microsoft launched Windows XP, and Gates himself came to Times Square to promote it.
On March 10, 2006, the 2006 Forbes "World's Richest People" was announced, and for the 12th consecutive year, Microsoft's Bill Gates became the world's richest person, with his net worth increasing from 4.5 million to 4.5 million. Microsoft's Bill Gates became the world's richest person for the 12th consecutive year, increasing his net worth from $46.5 billion to $50 billion.
On April 18, 2006, Chinese President Hu Jintao visited Microsoft's headquarters in Redmond, near Seattle. Gates and Steve Ballmer met with Hu and gave him a tour of Microsoft's Home of the Future. At about 18:30 p.m., Hu attended a dinner hosted by Gates at his home.
On June 15, 2006, Gates announced that he would retire in July 2008, when he would step down as chief software designer and no longer participate in Microsoft's management. At the time of the announcement, Gates appeared relatively calm, but could not hide the atmosphere of some sadness, and some employees even burst into tears. Gates will concentrate on the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, to which Gates donated tens of billions of dollars of his family's money, and said he would leave only a few million dollars for his three children. A Microsoft employee said, "There is no doubt that his generosity has brought hundreds of thousands of people back to life." Shortly thereafter, stockbroker Warren Buffett announced that he would donate $30 billion to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, provided the Gateses were still alive!
On January 30, 2007, Windows Vista had arrived as promised. Gates is now busy with his last major event as chief software designer, and after July 2008, the most sacred position at Microsoft will go to Ray Oates. After that, he'll devote himself to his foundation, but that doesn't mean he'll be indifferent to Microsoft -- he says he'll still keep an eye on its development after he retires, and offer constructive advice when appropriate.
Private life
Bill Gates has always had the impression of being a "big boy who never grew up". Many people know his life well: born on October 28, 1955 in Seattle, the United States, attended Seattle's private Lakeshore High School, entered Harvard University in 1973, dropped out of college in his junior year, and together with his fellow students, Paul Allen, founded Microsoft, launched DOS and WINDOWS, and then became the world's richest man. ......
But not much is known about Bill Gates' women. There are three women who have left their footprints in Gates' life: Ann Winblad, his first love who was nine years older than him; Melinda French, Mrs. Gates, who gave birth to a pair of children for Bill; and Stephanie Zucher, the mistress who broke Bill Gates' $8 billion fortune.
Mansion
According to Phoenix TV, Gates spent seven years, $60 million and countless efforts since 1990 to build the one-of-a-kind mansion, which occupies about 20,000 hectares and has a total building area of more than 6,130 square meters (1,854 ping). According to King County's 2002 geographic information, Gates' home (land and buildings) is worth about $113 million; it pays more than a million dollars in taxes each year, 25 times the average annual income of U.S. nationals.
Gates' home is a model of intelligence, with high-tech shadows everywhere. The whole building is divided into 12 zones according to different functions, and the exit of the passageway is equipped with organs: when a visitor passes through the exit, his personal information, including his fingerprints, is generated, which is stored in the computer as a visitor's data.
Each visitor must wear a special pin, don't underestimate it, without it, the visitor will be recognized by the system as an intruder, and the computer will alert the police through the network. So a clever thief would never patronize a house that represents top technology.
Such a powerful feature, but you can't see any cables inside the house, because the 53-kilometer-long cables are all buried under the floor. And the floor isn't just decorative, it's a giant sensor: when someone walks into a room, the floor adjusts the brightness of the lights and the temperature and humidity of the air, depending on the intensity of the sunlight.
The most intelligent part of Gates' mansion is the conference room, which has high-speed access to the Internet and provides Gates with all the information he needs 24 hours a day. Gates can hold a network video conference at any time, and staff to discuss Microsoft's major events. At the same time, the room's computers can automatically record movement throughout the residence via sensors located throughout the building.
What stands out when you enter the parlor is the 40-square-inch back-stock TV on the wall, which is big enough for a cocktail party for 150 people. The Gates' commercial-grade kitchen can cater for more than 100 people. And, of course, there's a dedicated dining room for 24 to enjoy fireplace dinners. On his way home, Gates can remotely check on everything in his home via the smart home system, including having the bath water automatically adjusted for temperature, instructing the kitchen staff to prepare dinner, and more. The only traditional thing in the smart mansion is a century-old tree, and the sensors in the house can realize timely, fully automatic watering according to the water needs of the old tree.
A person who can never be ignored
Because of Microsoft's monopoly in the industry, Gates has been called an "IT hero" and nicknamed the "Prince of Darkness" at the same time. Silicon Valley called Gates "Satan in the software industry", word perfect company's former director even called him "to take you across the river, and then eat your fox". Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, he managed to crush many of his competitors, and Gates became a name that people both respected and hated. Admired for his intelligence, but criticized for his behavior, Gates entered Harvard Law School in 1973 and became close friends with Steve Ballmer, now the CEO of Microsoft. In his third year of college, Gates left Harvard to start Microsoft with his childhood friend Allen to develop software for personal computers. Over the next 31 years, Gates built Microsoft into a global leader in computer software, services, and Internet technology through his keen insights and extraordinary business acumen, making him the richest man in the world. But Microsoft has also gotten into trouble with monopoly lawsuits because it has consistently refused to disclose the source code for its Windows family of operating systems.
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Buffett said of Gates, "If he sold burgers instead of software, he'd be the world's burger king." The implication is that it was Gates who made Microsoft, not the other way around. In fact, it is also true that there is no other business leader like Gates, always covering his own light over the enterprise. For Microsoft, Gates is not just a corporate executive, but an extension of the Microsoft brand. Within Microsoft, all employees revere him as a hero, believing that as long as Gates is around, the Microsoft myth will never end. Employees have been accustomed to every thing must be approved by Gates' nod, and Microsoft's internal organizational restructuring is to reduce the number of documents in front of Gates. Perhaps it is because of this realization, Gates decided to "decentralization", he hoped to connect in the "Microsoft" and "Gates" between the equals sign erase, let Microsoft become a real He wanted to erase the equal sign between "Microsoft" and "Gates" and make Microsoft a real brand, no longer a symbol of personal worship. So he embarked on a multi-year, step-by-step decentralization plan that saw him hand over the chief executive job to partner and longtime friend Ballmer six years ago, and this time he withdrew even more completely.
At about 4 p.m. ET on June 15, 2006, Microsoft formally announced that, starting in July 2008, the company's chairman, Bill Gates, would no longer be responsible for the day-to-day management of the company, but would instead focus on philanthropy at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The establishment of a two-year transition period is to ensure a smooth transfer of power, two years later, Gates will continue to serve as chairman of the board of directors of Microsoft and adviser to key development projects, and remains Microsoft's largest shareholder. Gates also resigned as the company's chief software designer that day. Almost at the same time, Microsoft employees worldwide received an e-mail from Gates. He said in the letter, "Over the past 31 years, my mind and body have been invested in the best work in the world. Together with some of the world's best and most passionate colleagues, I have created a company that has empowered countless people around the world. We're only at the beginning of the software era, and I'm looking forward to seeing just how big Microsoft's impact can be ...... Over the next two years, I'll also be fighting alongside you to realize those dreams."
News that Gates was retiring immediately drew media attention around the world, with the Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, the British Broadcasting Corporation, and other mainstream Western media outlets giving the story prominent coverage. Almost all of the U.S. media agreed that Gates' retirement signaled the end of an era, though it was undoubtedly the dawn of a new one for the world of philanthropy. Gates had promised to give most of his personal wealth to his foundation to fund health and education in poor countries, while his three children would only receive a few million dollars from their father's $50 billion estate.
Gates divides his contributions to human progress into two phases. Back in 1983, he created a corporate culture at Microsoft called the United Way, which encouraged employees to volunteer for society. Thirty years later, the number of people participating in the campaign has grown from 476 to 68,000, volunteering 60,000 hours of work worth $61 million in ninety-five countries and regions around the world and providing software and services worth $273 million. 1997, Gates and his wife, Melinda, founded the Gates Library Foundation, which provides Internet access to readers in libraries across the United States. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which merged in 2000, is dedicated to providing medical and health services and AIDS research to poor countries and regions around the world, particularly in Africa. By the end of 2005, the foundation*** had donated $29.1 billion for research and support of the above. Critics see the creation of the foundation as merely a response to negative public comments about Microsoft's monopolistic behavior. But we should also note that whatever the motivation, the foundation has contributed greatly to scholarships for poor students and to the fight against AIDS.
Gates is the most successful businessman of all time, and even in the face of both legal and ethical challenges, Microsoft has maintained its monopoly. Yet Gates is also the most generous philanthropist, returning to society almost all of the profits he has chased at all costs. These two seemingly contradictory behaviors are actually motivated by the persistence of his personality, and this controversial behavior will undoubtedly have a profound social impact on the countless young people who idolize him.
"You can love him, hate him, even hate him, but you can never ignore him -- that's the charm of Bill Gates."
In 2004 the British Foreign Office announced that Bill Gates would be enthroned by the Queen as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in recognition of his outstanding contribution to enterprise development, employment, education and voluntary work in the U.K. A KBE is the highest honorary distinction the Queen can bestow on a foreign national.
Not putting your eggs in the same basket
Warren Buffett once said of Bill Gates, "If he sold burgers instead of software, he'd be the world's burger king." The implication was that it wasn't Microsoft that made Gates who he is, but rather his business acumen that made the world's richest man.
Gates naturally has his own way of managing money. Gates' confidence in Microsoft's future has kept him investing a large portion of his wealth in the company's stock, and even though he is no longer CEO, he still leads the company's direction and strategic planning as Microsoft's chief architect. But the shrewd man also cashes in some shares at good prices where appropriate. Stock market trading records show that Gates sold 1 million shares of Microsoft stock on the open market last month alone, earning nearly $27 million.
Of course, smart people like Gates will never put "eggs in one basket". The visionary Gates began diversifying his investments long before the dot-com bubble burst. Gates established an investment company in 1995, which is known to manage a portfolio worth $10 billion, a large part of which is invested in the bond market with stable income, mainly Treasury bills.
Gates is bullish on the digital and biotech industries, which represent the new economy, but does not exclude the traditional economy when investing, and particularly values the heavy industrial sector, which has been a steady performer. Gates had acquired a 7.8 percent stake in Newport News Shipbuilding through his own investment firm, and those shares have since nearly doubled; his investment in Canadian National Railway also brought him a handsome return, with the stock price rising by about 1/3 in less than a year. in addition, Gates also likes to invest in utility companies that are highly resilient to market risks. And Gates' interest in scientific innovation has led him to make the pharmaceutical and biotech industries a key investment area.
Treating every dollar well
In fact, the wealthy Gateses live frugally, with their $53 million mansion in a Seattle suburb the only thing that qualifies as luxury. But according to people who have been to the Gates' home, the furnishings inside the mansion are quite simple and not the opulence one might expect. Gates once said, "I'm going to spend every dollar I make and not waste a penny."
Over the past few years, Gates has donated much of his personal wealth to charity. According to statistics, Gates has so far donated nearly $29 billion of his wealth to charitable causes around the world, making him the world's most generous wealthy person. Currently, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, named after both the Gateses, is the world's largest private philanthropic organization, with a fund three times the size of the venerable Ford Foundation and 10 times that of the Rockefeller Foundation. Last November, while celebrating his 50th birthday in London, he told reporters in attendance that the enormous wealth in his name was not only a great right but also a great obligation for him personally, and that he was prepared to give it all to society rather than leave it as an inheritance to his children.
The world has mixed feelings about Gates. Some say he's a successful entrepreneur, others say he monopolizes industries and bullies the weak; some say he's "the most generous philanthropist", others say he's a hypocrite -- his charitable acts are just the most expensive public relations campaigns ever; some say he's the world's richest man. Some say he's the richest man in the world, others say he's just greedy, cashing in on the stock market and squeezing money out of Microsoft users. ...... But as the Americans say: "Love him or hate him, you can't ignore him - that's Bill Gates! -That's the beauty of Bill Gates."
Philanthropy
Gates, who has a fortune of more than $40 billion and has given away more than $25 billion so far, announced in his will that 98 percent of his fortune would be given to the Bill and Melinda Foundation, which he and his wife named, to be used for research into AIDS and malaria vaccines and to provide aid to poor countries around the world. The money is used to research vaccines for AIDS and malaria and to provide aid to the world's poor. From the major charitable activities in recent years, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is generous, for example, has donated $51.2 million to New York to establish 67 for minorities and low-income class children of high schools; donated $168 million to help African countries to fight malaria; donated $50 million to Botswana to help fight AIDS there... ...
The Gates family originally had two foundations: the Gates Education Foundation, named after itself, which focused on education; and the William Gates Foundation, named after his father. "The second is the William Gates Foundation, named after his father, which focuses on health giving. In order to strengthen the management and more effective donations, in January 2000, the Gates family will be the two foundations merged, formed the "Bill and Melinda Foundation". This foundation is led by William Gates, has become the world's largest charitable foundation, the total amount of money up to 24 billion U.S. dollars, the United States is the famous "Rockefeller Foundation," 10 times, "Ford Foundation," three times.
"Bill and Melinda Foundation" funding mainly in four areas: the first is to improve global health. Begin research on AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, cancer and other diseases, especially to Africa, Asia and other developing countries to donate funds; the second is to increase investment in education. The second is to increase investment in education. Create more secondary schools for children from low-income groups and reduce the number of people who cannot afford to go to university because of economic problems; and the third is to promote the development of the information industry. The third is to promote the development of the information industry, especially focusing on expanding the popularity of the Internet, so that all people, regardless of race, gender, age or wealth, can have access to information technology; and the fourth is to improve the status quo in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. That's Gates' old stomping grounds, so naturally, special care is taken, and the foundation provides many forms of donations to local communities and poor families.
On his own good deeds, Gates did not particularly publicize, just said his passion for philanthropy is derived from the influence of his parents. Mr. and Mrs. Gates have repeatedly said that when they die, they will leave only a few million dollars of inheritance to their children, and the rest will be donated to charity.