Biography briefly

William H. Gates was born October 28, 1955, in Seattle, Washington. The son of William H. Gates II, a Seattle attorney, and the late Mary Gates, a former schoolteacher, University of Washington regent and chairwoman of United Way International, Gates' fascination with computers began at an early age.

After attending a public elementary school, Gates attended the private Lakeside School, where his career in computers would begin to manifest itself.

Gates went off to Harvard University with the original intention of becoming a math professor. It was during his Harvard days that he and his classmate Paul Allen developed Basic, the programming language for the MITS Altair (the first microcomputer). Incidentally, Gates lived down the hall from the present CEO of Microsoft and fellow Harvard student, Steve Ballmer.

Gates never made it to graduation, as he had bigger and better plans. He opted to focus his energy on his and Paul Allen's company - a then small Microsoft. Gates and Allen were driven by the belief that in a matter of time, every home and office would need a personal computer, and thus the company was born.

Microsoft's road to success began after Gates and Allen struck a deal with IBM to install the Microsoft Disk Operating System (MS-DOS) in their computers. After Microsoft developed more software applications, the company eventually became the standard in the PC market. The IBM/Microsoft relationship started after Big Blue asked Microsoft to develop an operating system for its PCs… and the rest is history.

CEO and President of the biggest software company in the world - to say the least - until November 2000, Bill Gates passed the throne to Steve Ballmer. Presently Chairman of the corporation, Bill Gates holds the title of Chief Software Architect, where he remains an active force at Microsoft.

Involved in management and strategic decisions, Gates is an important part of the technical development of the company, and devotes his time to customer service (the millions of customers, might we add) and employee relations.

Venturing into the world of publishing, Gates followed up his 1995 book, The Road Ahead, with the bestseller, Business @ the Speed of Thought. Released in 1999 and co-written by Collins Hemingway, the book was published in 25 languages and aims at showing the ways digital processes can solve business problems.

Not only have the proceeds of both books been donated to non-profit organizations supporting the use of technology in education, but Gates' charitable nature has paved the way to organizations such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, aimed at improving the standard of living for underprivileged people.

Gates has also greatly contributed to the Global Fund for Children's Vaccines with $750 million in grants, and launched the Gates Millennium Scholars Program, awarding scholarships to low-income children. He has also donated $200 million in computers and Internet access to low-income public libraries.

He may be the name people will forever associate with Microsoft, but at home he is husband to Melinda French Gates, a former Microsoft employee. Married on New Years Day, 1994, the couple resides in Seattle with their two children, Jennifer Katharine and Rory John.

A billionaire at 31, and presently one of the wealthiest men in the world (his estimated worth stands at approximately $70 billion, as of November 2000), Bill Gates is a 20th century visionary who proved to the world that it's the software that makes the computer, not the machine.

What else do you need to know?