Technology

William Henry Gates III or better known by the world as the infamous Bill Gates and is consistently ranked among the worlds wealthiest people was born on October 28, 1955 in Seattle Washington. He was the middle child of William H. Gates, Sr. and Mary Maxwell. He shared his childhood days with her two sisters namely Kristi and Libby. Both parents originally planned a law career for their only child but the future had better plans for him.

At age 13, his parents enrolled him at Lakeside school, an independent private school, which uses transformative experiences in academics, the arts and athletics to expose their students to new ideas and help them develop their critical thinking skills and pushes them to pursue their passions in life (Noe). It is here where Bill Gates got acquainted with computers and sparked the beginning of a legacy which the world will remember forever. When he was in the eighth grade, the Schools Mothers Club sponsored a rummage sales so the school may have an ASR-33 teletype terminal, a teleprinter, and a block of computer time on a General Electric computer (GE). Gates was given the opportunity to work in programming using the GE system and was excused from his math subjects so he may have more time pursuing his newly found interest. He successfully made his very first computer program with the GE, tic-tac-toe which is a program that allows users to play games against the computer. He got very fascinated with the accuracy of execution produced by the machine and realized at that point forward what he wanted to pursue in the future, that is certainly not law.

Gates was not the only one who fell in love and astounded by these machines. Together with Paul Allen, Ric Weiland, and Kent Evans, the four continued their study with computers including DEC PDP minicomputers and got so engulfed by it that they exploited bugs in the operating system to obtain free computer time. Unfortunately their programming skills have not yet reached its maximum level and they got caught. They were soon banned for the summer because of this misdemeanor but these did not killed their passion for programming. Soon they offered to become the police of the Computer Center Corporation (CCC) and find bugs in exchange for computer time which was gladly given to them. Their thirst for programming knowledge grew by the second and Gates soon found himself studying source codes for various programs. Eventually, the four cyber criminals of CCC were hired by Information Science Inc., more known as Volt Inc., to create a payroll program in COBOL. The offer was irresistible since it gave them their desired computer time with a bonus of royalty pay.

Lakeside administrators soon realized the exceptional programming quality of Gates and tasked him to create the schools computer program to schedule students in classes. With power in his hands, he manipulated the system so he may be enlisted in classes with mostly female students. He remained a normal student with growing hormones and the programming talent he have proved beneficial in sufficing most of his biological needs. Nevertheless, nothing can compare his love and affection towards the most beautiful thing in the world in his eyes  the computer.  At an early age of 17 together with his fellow cyber criminal turned computer prodigies Paul Allen, he formed Traf-O-Data which makes traffic counters and created useful reports for traffic engineers.

In the year 1973, he graduated from Lakeside School and scored 1590 out of 1600 on the SAT. He enrolled at Harvard College in the autumn of 1973 with no definite study plan. He kept constant communication with Paul Allen who was two years his senior and decided to leave Harvard and pursue his passion with computers. Earning the support of his parents, they formed their own software computer company upon the twos foresight that computers will be very vital to the whole world in the near future. This belief sprung from their hearts at a period where barely 2 percent of the world population is acquainted with computers and programming which shows his advanced technological foresight.

With the onset of the release of MITS Altair 8800 presented in the issue of Popular Electronics in January 1975, Gates even with no ready code on hand contacted Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS) to inform them of their recent project BASIC interpreter for the platform which will fit with the Altair 8800. This bold move opened the doors for him to meet MITSs president, Ed Roberts, who was convinced with their proposal. They soon developed an Altair emulator which runs on minicomputer and was also successful in giving birth to the BASIC interpreter he originally had in mind. The software was then called Altrair BASIC after the fusion of the two programs. A year after, the two registered the trade name Microsoft with the Office of the Secretary of the State of New Mexico and triggered the end of his academic life in Harvard.

Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at it, software developers where not given high regards in the 70s and copyright infringement became a major issue for Gates. A lot of computer hobbyists were using their companys software and he insisted that they cannot do so without payment as stated in his famous Open Letter to Hobbyists. MIT did not side with Gates sentiments over this matter and on January 1, 1979 the two companies left one anothers comfort and stood as independent companies. From this point forward, Microsoft office was moved from Albuquerque to Bellevue Washington.

The year 1980 would be the year for IBM and Microsoft. IBM needed a basic interpreter for it upcoming personal computer and sought the help of Microsoft. Gates initially declined aid to IBM but after the failed transaction with Digital Research offered to create 86-DOS. Gates delivered this software which he called PC-DOS in exchange for a one time fee of 50,000. This program made Microsoft a major player in the computer industry. In the year 1981, IBM underwent a company restructuring which made Gates President of Microsoft and Chairman of the Board. Four years after, Microsoft launched the very first retail version of Microsoft Windows that eventually overtook the Mac OS, which was considered as the dominant player in the industry during that time. The 90s signaled several number one posts for Bill Gates as the top personality in Forbes list of the Worlds Richest People. It can be called the Golden Decade in his life because it is also the decade where he tied the knot with Melinda French, a former unit manager for several Microsoft products like Publisher, Microsoft Bob, Encarta, and Expedia. She soon gave birth to their three children. She stood side by side with Bill in almost all of his endeavors which includes charity works.

After achieving everything anyone could have ever ask for in this world financial stability, social stature, healthy family and individual flourishing, the Gates combined three family foundations and created the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The foundation is based in Seattle, Washington, which is also the hometown of Bill, with the primary aim of alleviating extreme poverty and improve healthcare system. It also includes expanding education opportunities and access to information technology. It is a transparent foundation with the Rockefellers as its major supporters. The foundation works under three major grant making programs namely Global Health Program, Global Development Program, and United States Program.  The Global Health Program supports the following The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, The Childrens Vaccine Program, Department of Global Health at the University of Washington in Seattle, HIV Research, Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation, Visceral Leishmniasis Research.  The Global Development Programs which aims to combat the growth of poverty supports the following Financial Access Initiative, Pro Mujer, Grameen Foundation, Rice Research, and Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa. The Global Initiatives is the foundations response towards the unexpected catastrophes which devastates the world population. Some of these are the following Indian Ocean Earthquake, Kashmir Earthquake, and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Lastly is the United States Program which supports the following U.S Libraries like the Southeastern Library Network, Carnergie Mellon University, D.C. Achievers Scholarships, Gates Cambridge Scholarships, United Negro College Fund, Newschools Venture Fund, Strong American Schools, The Texas High School Project, University Scholars Program, Washington State Achievers Scholarship, University of Washington School of Law, Discovery Institute, and the Computer History Museum. The foundation gained worldwide recognition and was presented with several awards which includes The Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation in the year 2006 and the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development last year.

At present, the Gates live in their estate located at Lake Washington in Medina. He acts as Microsofts Chairman and Chief Soffware Architect. He wrote two books The Road Ahead and the Business  the Speed of Thought. He also appeared in several T.V. shows and in some films. He has been awarded several times over by different institutions and is seen together with the activities supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He constantly updates his foundations blog as part of his saga to educate the masses regarding the current problems the world is facing.   Nevertheless, at the end of the day he is a happy and contented father of three children.

The life story of William Gates III is far from over. We do not know what he will do in the future or what the future will do for him. He has once again proven in history that attainment of a high educational degree is not a major key factor in achieving financial, social and individual success in the world.  It takes more than a diploma to put a man in the pedestal and admiration of the majority. Although there are some who view him as a liability to society or try so much to discredit his successes in life especially in the field of business and technology, life wouldnt be that fun if it only favors to you. In conclusion, he remains a man vulnerable to the medias scrutiny and awaits the sudden surprises in life. His book of life is still being turned to as the days go on and a new unfolding no one can ever see.