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WILLIAM HENRY III GATES
Founder of Microsoft#### with Paul Allen

|--> Seattle (Washington) 28-10- 1955
-->| living

History:

Dad William H. Gates II was attorney. The mother, Mary Gates, a teacher at the University of Washington and president of United Way International.

1968 Because he was a lazy public school student, he was sent by his parents to Lakeside Private School north of Seattle. It was there that at the age of 13 he became passionate about computer science. The school had leased a DEC PDP-10 owned by Computer Center Corporation, of which the school had leased a certain number of access hours.
Bill Gates, Paul Allen, and other Lakeside students (many of whom were later employed by Microsoft) became inseparable from that computer. They stayed in the computer room day and night, writing programs, reading texts and anything that could be useful for learning computer science.
In a few weeks, the rent hours agreed upon by the school were used up, when the principals thought they would be enough for the whole year.
In the fall of 1968, the school deals with a new company, Computer Center Corporation's, for another student computer. It didn't take long for the little group to cause trouble by causing various system crashes and hacking into the security system. They modified the documents that reported the number of computer hours they used. Discovered, they were banned for a few weeks from the system.
The group of students soon ran into trouble with the faculty. They didn't study the other subjects, they skipped lessons and they always stayed in that classroom.
Bill Gates, Paul Allen, and two other Lakeside hackers (Ric Weiland and Kent Evans) formed the "Lakeside Programmers Group" in late 1968.

The same company (Computer Center Corporation's) that banned them hired them to find weaknesses in their system, and in return gave them unlimited computer time. It was during this time that the group learned the foundations for what their future as successful computer scientists would be.

In March 1970, Computer Center Corporation's company closed and the Lakeside Programmers Group had to look for other ways to gain access to a computer.
They found Information Sciences Inc (ISI), which accepted them for the creation of a payroll program, promising in exchange, in addition to computer access, a royalty if the group's programs made any money. Around that time it happens that the other three of the group asked Gates to leave the group, because the work did not seem enough for everyone, but Gates convinced them to stay with them.

Later, in 1972, Bill and Paul founded Traf-O-Data, which designed a computer to measure road traffic (they paid $20,000). Traf-O-Data lasted until Bill finished his studies. The two also worked together to computerize the school's management system (they received $4,200).
The TRW company also had problems with bugs infesting their computer, similar to that of Computer Center Corporation. But TRW was asked not only to identify the problems, but also to fix them. So it was at TRW that Gates began his training as a real programmer and it was at that time that Allen and Gates first started talking seriously about setting up their own software company.

In 1973, Gary Kildall wrote a simple operating system in his PL/M language, CP/M (Control Program/Monitor), and left the sources accessible to all for educational purposes. In the fall of 1973, Bill Gates enrolled at Harvard University in law plus enrolled in the mathematics class. He obtained results, modest and not significant. He got lost again in the institute's computer center. While at Harvard, however, Gates developed a version of the BASIC#### language for the first microcomputer, Altair's MITS.

At Lakeside, Gates, Allen, and their friend, Paul Gilbert, an expert in wiring, built their own machine, using Intel's 1kb 8008 processor. The group had the opportunity to demonstrate the product, but after the trial failed, the idea of ​​starting a company to produce computers was abandoned.
At the end of his freshman year at Harvard, Gates convinced Allen to move so that they could pursue their plans.

In the summer of 1974, both found jobs at Honeywell. Toward the end of the summer, Allen pressed more and more with the idea that they should start a software company. Gates hesitated because he was not interested in computer science and wanted to continue his studies.
But, in December 1974 the first Altair8800 Microcomputer Kit came out and they both realized that the personal computer market was about to explode and that the software for the new machines was going to be needed. On the General Electric machines, with which Gates and Allen had had their first experiences, the language used was BASIC. It was also available on DEC machines and within days Gates telephoned MITS, the Altair manufacturer, and proposed specific software for the Altair 8800. The company was very interested and Gates, frantically planning, within eight weeks produced the modifications, while Allen developed a simulator of the Altair on the school's PDP-10. Monte Davidoff joined the group and wrote several mathematical packages. Subsequently, Allen brought the program to the company for the first test on the Altair; passed the test, the company bought the software, which was marketed under the name of Altair BASIC

In 1975 the couple moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, headquarters of MITS and, in April 1975, Gates and Allen founded the Microsoft Corporation. Microsoft sold its BASIC system to NCR Corporation and Intel. Microsoft then hired Marc McDonald and Rid Weiland, both friends from Lakeside school.

On January 1, 1979, Bill Gates moved Microsoft with its 16 employees to Seattle (Washington). When hiring, Gates preferred people with intelligence and no previous work experience. The expansion led to the development of a Multiplan spreadsheet for the Apple II and PC, derived from Visicalc####, with CP/M operating system in 1982 and Microsoft Word in 1983.

In December 1980, Gates purchased the SCP-DOS operating system (see DOS####) from Seattle Computer Products, requesting the rights to an unspecified customer (IBM). Microsoft paid less than $100,000 for the rights to the operating system, under the name 86-DOS. The program was modified slightly and called MS-DOS. IBM refused to buy the MS-DOS license, so Gates made a deal to supply IBM#### with operating systems for their new line of personal computers. IBM in turn modified the operating system slightly and called it PC-DOS.

In 1985 Microsoft and IBM begin a collaboration for the next generation of operating systems, OS/2 and IBM releases the Topview graphical environment forerunner of the graphical user interface (GUI####) that will be used on OS/2# ###. This is also the year of 80386. The collaboration with IBM lasts until 1991, when Gates decides that it is no longer needed and changes the name of his OS/2 to Windows NT####

In March 1986, Microsoft went public. The initial $21 per-share offering made Bill Gates an instant millionaire. In 1987 with the announcement by Microsoft and IBM of the release of OS/2 v. 1.0, which was supposed to replace MS-DOS, shares reach $100. Gates is supposed to be, as of the early 2000s, the richest man in the world.

In June 1992, Gates was awarded the National Medal of Technology by the President of the United States, George H.W. Bush. In 1993, when MS-DOS 6.0 was released, it unscrupulously included a compression application called DoubleSpace after a consultancy with Stac Electronics concluded with no related agreements. Stac Electronics sues Microsoft and wins the case. Microsoft is forced to release MS-DOS 6.21 without DoubleSpace, but the damage is done. The following year with MS-DOS 6.22 DriveSpace is included which is instead produced internally, even if the principle is the same.

In January 1994, Gates marries Melinda French, a sales executive at his company, in Lanai, Hawaii, with whom he has three children: Jennifer Katherine Gates (April 26, 1996), Rory John Gates (May 23, 1999), and Phoebe Adele Gates (September 14, 2002).

In 1995 Gates wrote "The road ahed," which represents his vision of where Information Technology will lead society.
Published in more than 20 languages, the book will sell more than 400,000 copies in China alone.

In 1999 he wrote Business @ the Speed ​​of Thought in which he showed how information technology could solve economic problems. the proceeds from the sale of the book, published in 25 languages ​​and in over 60 countries, were all donated to non-profit organizations for the development of education.

Together with his wife Melinda Gates in 2000 Gates founded the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, a private humanitarian organization that deals with the fight against certain diseases such as AIDS, especially in the Third World. He has stated that in 2008 he will leave the shares of Microsoft to his wife Melinda Gates (except that the principal rights of the company will remain hers) while he will devote himself full time to his philanthropic work. A firm believer in the importance of vaccines and has always worked to eliminate extreme poverty, fight inequality, injustices and fix climate change.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is the second largest funder of the WHO after the USA.

In 2007, according to Forbes business and finance magazine, Gates is still listed as the richest man in the world, with an estimated net worth of over $56 billion.

In 2015 he proposes creative capitalism, which Gates understands as a system in which the technological progress made by companies is not exploited simply for the logic of profit, but also to bring development and well-being especially where there is the greatest need, i.e. in the poorest areas of the world.

In addition to his passion for computers, Gates is also interested in biotechnology. In addition to being part of some important companies in the sector, he founded Corbis Corp., which is developing one of the largest collections of information in the world, including a digital archive of art and photographs taken from public and private collections from all over the world .
Gates has also invested in Teledesic, a company that is working on an ambitious project to put hundreds of satellites into orbit around the Earth to provide a worldwide two-way communications service.

In May 2021, he announced his divorce from Melinda Gates.

Sources:

https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Gates