Who is Mr. Microsoft? The success story of Bill Gates

Born in Seattle, Washington, in 1955, Bill showed a great interest in reading from an early age. His parents enrolled him in the Lakeside Private School, where he was introduced to the computer for the first time, so his passion for computers and software technology grew, and he and his friend Paul Allen began to hone their talents in programming. While in the classes at Lakeside School, he was able to write a program in BASIC language that allowed computer users to play against the computer, and this was the first result of his passion for programming. He attended Harvard University and left after two years to found Microsoft with his friend Alan—the company that changed his life forever. Who is Bill Gates? How did he achieve all this success? Let's find out together in this article.

Who is Bill Gates?

Bill grew up in a middle-class family with his two sisters, Christian and Libby. His father was a lawyer, while his mother worked as a teacher, then with several charities, and then as an administrator on the boards of directors of some banks and companies. 

Bill was a voracious reader in his childhood, devoted to reading various books and encyclopedias, and at the age of twelve, his family seemed concerned about his studies as he showed signs of restlessness from school, so his family enrolled him in Lakeside Private School.

Bill excelled in all his subjects, specifically in science, mathematics, language, and drama. Computers captured all his attention when the Lakeside School introduced a computer into its halls, and he later managed to write a program in BASIC that enabled computer users to play against the computer.

At Lakeside School, Bill met Paul Allen, who is two years his senior, and their shared love of computers brought them together. The two friends spent most of their time working on computer programming. They found gaps in the school’s computer operating system that enabled them to obtain additional time for using the computer. This angered the company that designed this program, which in turn prevented the school from using the operating system for a while. After the expiration of the deprivation period, the company accepted Bill and his friend Allen's offer to address the operating system gaps, and indeed, the two young men were able to do so. Bill was even able to develop the company's employee payroll program and a school attendance system.

In 1970, when Bill was fifteen years old, he and his friend Allen developed a computer program to monitor traffic on the streets of Seattle. Their net profit from that project amounted to $20,000. The two friends were determined to start their own company, but Bill's parents wanted their son to continue his high school studies so that he could join university, hoping that he would become a lawyer. Bill finished high school in 1973, passing the SAT with a score of 1590 out of 1600, an achievement that he has bragged about for years as he introduces himself to new people. Bill joined Harvard University to study law, but he was not attracted to this field because he spent most of his time in computer laboratories at the university as computers and software occupied all his thinking.

Bill grew up in a middle-class family with his two sisters, Christian and Libby. His father was a lawyer, while his mother worked as a teacher, then worked with several charities, and then worked as an administrator on the boards of directors of some banks and companies.

Bill was a voracious reader in his childhood, devoted to reading various books and encyclopedias, and at the age of twelve, his family seemed concerned about his studies, as he showed signs of restlessness from school, so his family enrolled him in Lakeside Private School.

Bill excelled in all his subjects, excelling in science, mathematics, language, and drama. Computers captured all his attention when the Lakeside School introduced a computer into its halls, and he later managed to write a program in the BASIC language that enabled computer users to play against the computer.

At Lakeside School, Bill met Paul Allen, who is two years his senior, and their shared love of computers brought them together. The two friends spent most of their time working on computer programming, and when they found gaps in the school computer operating system, this enabled them to obtain additional time in using the computer, which angered the company that designed this program, which in turn prevented the school from using the operating system for some time. After the expiration of the deprivation period, the company accepted Bill and his friend Allen's offer to address the operating system gaps, and indeed the two young men were able to do so. Bill was even able to develop the company's employee payroll program and was able to develop a school attendance system.

In 1970, when Bill was fifteen years old, he and his friend Allen developed a computer program to monitor traffic on the streets of Seattle, and their net profit from that project amounted to $ 20,000. The two friends were determined to start their own company, but Bill's parents wanted their son to continue his high school studies so that he could join the university, hoping that he would become a lawyer. Bill finished high school in 1973, passing the SAT with a score of 1590 out of 1600, an achievement that Bill has bragged about for years as he introduces himself to new people. Bill joined Harvard University to study law, but he was not attracted to this field, as he spent most of his time in computer laboratories at the university, and computers and software occupied all his thinking.

Bill’s Greatest Achievements:

Allen had left the University of Washington and moved to Boston to work there. The two friends remained in contact with each other. One day, Allen showed his friend Bill a copy of a famous electronics magazine, showing pages of an article about a small computer called Altair 8800, manufactured by a small company in New Mexico called Mets.

The two young men realized that this was a great opportunity for them, so they contacted the company, claiming that they were working on writing a program in BASIC that could run Altair 8800 computers. Bill and Alan had not yet started writing that program when the company showed interest in seeing the alleged program, which forced them to work hard for two months in the Harvard computer laboratories to write that program.

Allen traveled to Albuquerque, New Mexico, to test the program with Mets, and indeed, their efforts were crowned with success and the program worked as required. Mets hired Allen and then hired Bill, who left Harvard University.

In 1975, Bill and Allen founded a software company they called "Microsoft," which means microcomputer software. Microsoft software was popular among amateurs, who obtained copies of those programs before they were released on the market and distributed them for free. After disagreements with these amateurs and Mets Corporation regarding software innovation rights, Bill Gates moved the headquarters of Microsoft operations to Bellevue, Washington, in 1979, when the company began creating software in various formats for multiple computer companies.

With a cadre of 25 employees responsible for production and marketing development tasks and a manager with technical creativity and business insight like Bill Gates, Microsoft earned nearly $2.5 million in 1979. Bill personally supervised every line of the software algorithms produced by his company, Microsoft. He follows up on the smallest details of the company's work.

As computer manufacturers began to grow, Bill began promoting Microsoft's software features, and he often took his mother Mary to marketing sessions with him, who, through her knowledge of fellow corporate boards, arranged for Bill to meet with the CEO of IBM. At a time when IBM was looking for an operating system for its computers, Bill Gates had managed to conclude several hidden deals with other software companies to win the opportunity to contract with IBM. Indeed, Bill was able to contract with them, and Microsoft's profits grew dramatically between 1979 and 1981 to become 16 million US dollars from 2.5 million, the company's cadre expanded to become 128 employees instead of 25, Bill became the company's president and chairman of its board of directors, and Allen was appointed deputy CEO of the company, which has expanded to have several branches in different parts of the world.

In 1983, Allen suffered from cancer and had to leave his position at Microsoft, but some say that Bill Gates was the reason behind Allen leaving the company.

In 1985, Microsoft, under the leadership of Bill Gates, released "Windows" operating system, which was a development of "DOS" system that Microsoft had previously designed. "Windows" operating system was widely spread for being easy to handle by all users. Despite Bill Gates' disagreements with the competing Apple company, Microsoft continued to develop "Windows,'' with several versions that occupied the software market and brought the company huge profits. As a result of the progress made by "Microsoft'' in its versions of "Windows" and various programs and applications, Microsoft's stock prices have grown in the financial markets, and Bill's wealth has also grown to become about $101 billion in 1999. Despite this huge wealth, Bill's enthusiasm did not wane. He managed "Microsoft"  professionally and accurately, as he was following up on the progress personally and delving into the smallest technical and administrative details. He was striving to develop the spirit of creativity and innovation in the hearts of his employees.

In 2000, Bill established with his wife Melinda the "Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation," which is concerned with charitable works. So, Bill Gates began devoting himself little by little to following the work of this foundation and gradually stepping down from his senior positions in "Microsoft." In 2014, Bill Gates stepped down from his position as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Microsoft to occupy the position of technical advisor.

Bill continued to devote more of his time and effort to Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the activities of the charitable foundation expanded tremendously to assist in the fields of education, health, and scholarship development.

Bill’s Personal Life:

In 1987, Bill met Melinda French, who was then 23 years old and working as a production manager at Microsoft. Their relationship developed into marriage in Hawaii in 1994. Bill and Melinda had three children, and the family lives in a huge house in Washington.