Bill Gates -The Founder of Microsoft

Reading Time – 6 Minutes approx.

Birth of Microsoft-

Back in January 1975 was reading an issue of Popular Electronics in that there was a demonstration of Altair 8800. So, both Bill and Paul contacted MITS (Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry System) to inform them that there are working on a BASIC interpreter for the platform, but in reality, both didn’t have an Altair and they didn’t even write code for that. But luckily MITS president Ed Roberts was agreed to meet them for a demonstration. The tool this challenge as an opportunity and in a few weeks’ time they developed an Altair emulator that could run on a minicomputer and then the BASIC interpreter. The demonstration which was held at the MITS office was a successful event and this leads a deal between MITS and Bill & Paul to distribute the interpreter as Altair BASIC. In November 1975 Allen Paul coined the name “MICROSOFT” for his partnership with Bill. So, Both Bill and Allen took a leave of absence from Harvard University so that they can work with MITS. The word “Microsoft” is a combination of “Microcomputer” and “Software”. Their first office was situated in Albuquerque. Bill and Allen officially registered the trade name “Microsoft” on November 26th, 1976 with the Secretary of the State of New Mexico. Bill never returned back to Harvard to finish his education.

In the early days of Microsoft Bill Gates personally wrote and reviewed each a d every line of code that their company produced in their first five years. As the company grew bigger Bill's role also changed into a manager role than an executive. 

Microsoft and IBM Partnership-

In the 1980s in the field of computer equipment supplying commercial enterprises, IBM was the leading the industry. In July 1980 IBM approached Microsoft for the software for their upcoming personal computer the IBM PC. After a few weeks of meeting and work, Bill and Allen proposed 86-DOS an operating system to IBM for their IBM PC. Microsoft and IBM had a 50,000-dollar deal, which was a one-time fee for PC DOS. Though this deal brought a very small amount for Microsoft this deal brought prestige for Microsoft as their operating system was used in IBM manufactured PCs. Microsoft did not sell the copyrights of the operating system to IBM. They started to sell this operating system as MS-DOS to other customers. This made Microsoft a major player in the computer industry.

Journey of DOS to WINDOWS-

On November 20, 1985, Microsoft company launched their first ever retail version of Microsoft Windows to give competition to Apple’s Macintosh GUI. Windows 1.0 was nothing but an extended version of MS-DOS. It didn’t become popular.

Bill Gates and Microsoft-

Bill Gates led Microsoft as a Chairman and CEO. Bill stepped down as CEO of Microsoft in January 2000 but remained chairman of the board of directors. In February 2014 Bill also stepped down from Chairman of the Board so that he can fully concentrate on Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation-

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is a merging of the William H. Gates and the Gates Learning Foundation. This foundation is situated in Seattle, Washington, and launched in 2000. Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is considered as world’s largest private foundation. Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation holds around 46.9-Billion Dollars in assets. The main aim of the foundation is to reduce extreme poverty across the world, expand educational opportunities and enhance the healthcare system.

Books Written by Bill Gates-

• The Road Ahead -This book was written with Nathan Myhrvold (Microsoft Executive) and Peter Rynearson (Journalist). Published in November 1995. In this book the implications of the personal computing revolution and described a future profoundly changed by the arrival of a global information superhighway.
• Business at the Speed of Thoughts – Published in 1999. This book is about how business and technology are integrated and shows how digital infrastructure and information networks can help to get an edge on the competition.
• How to avoid a Climate Disaster - Published in February 2021. This book is about what Bill Gates learned in over a decade of studying climate change and investing in innovations to address climate problems.

Documentaries films about Bill Gates-

• The Machine That Changed the World – 1990
• Triumph of the Nerds -1996
• Nerds 2.0.1 – 1998
• The Virtual Revolution – 2010
• Inside Bill’s Brain: Decoding Bill Gates – 2019