[Image Temporarily Omitted]

: ''See also Bill Gates (disambiguation).''

"William Henry Gates III Kt" (born October 28, 1955), commonly known as "Bill Gates", is the co-founder and current Chairman and Chief Software Architect of Microsoft. According to Forbes magazine in 2004, Gates is the wealthiest person in the world.

Biography

Bill Gates was born in Seattle, Washington to William Henry Gates, Jr., a corporate lawyer, and Mary Maxwell, board member of First Interstate Bank, Pacific Northwest Bell and the national board of United Way. Gates went to Lakeside School, Seattle's most exclusive prep school, and later on went to study at Harvard University, but dropped out without graduating.

While he was a student at Harvard, he co-authored with Paul Allen the original Altair BASIC interpreter for the Altair 8800 (the first commercially successful personal computer) in the mid 1970s. It was inspired by BASIC, an easy-to-learn programming language developed at Dartmouth College for teaching purposes.

Gates married Melinda French on January 1, 1994. They have three children, Jennifer Katharine Gates (1996), Rory John Gates (1999) and Phoebe Adele Gates (2002). Theylive in a very large earth-sheltered home in the side of a hill overlooking Lake Washington.It is a very modern 21st century house in the "Pacific lodge" style, with advanced electrical and electronic systems everywhere. In one respect though it is more like an 18th or 19th century mansion: It has a large private library with a domed reading room.

Also in 1994, he acquired the Codex Leicester, a collection of writings by Leonardo da Vinci; as of 2003 it was on display at the Seattle Art Museum.

Microsoft Corporation

In 1975, Gates and Allen co-founded Microsoft Corporation to market their version of BASIC, called Microsoft BASIC.It was the primary interpreted computer language of the MS-DOS operating system, and was key to Microsoft's early commercial success.

Microsoft BASIC evolved into Microsoft QuickBasic and QBasic, Visual Basic, and later still, Visual Basic .NET.

[Image Temporarily Omitted] police photo for a minor traffic violation, Dec 13, 1977. Microsoft used this photo in a German advertisement with the slogan "Good that there are no speed limits for software"]]

In February 1976, Gates wrote the Open Letter to Hobbyists, which shocked the computer hobbyist community by asserting that a commercial market existed for computer software. Gates stated in the letter that software should not be copied without the publisher's permission, which he equated to piracy. While legally correct, Gates's proposal was unprecedented in a community that was influenced by its ham radio legacy and hacker ethic, in which innovations and knowledge were freely shared in the community. Nevertheless, Gates was right about the market prospects and his efforts paid off: Microsoft Corporation became one of the world's most successful commercial enterprises, and a key player in the creation of a retail software industry.

In the process, Gates developed a debatably unsavory reputation for his business practices. A case in point concerns the origins of MS-DOS. In the late 1970s, IBM was planning to enter the personal computer market with its IBM Personal Computer (PC), which was released in 1981. IBM needed an operating system for its new computer, which was based on the newly developed, 16-bit architecture of the Intel x86 processor family. After briefly negotiating with another company (the Digital Research Corporation in California), IBM approached Microsoft. Without revealing their ties with IBM, Microsoft executives in turn approached Seattle Computer, which had developed an x86-based operating system, and purchased the operating system for a reported sum of $50,000. (In Microsoft's defense, they may have been under agreement not to discuss their talks with IBM, so they really couldn't have revealed their ties.) Microsoft subsequently licensed the operating system to IBM (which released it under the PC-DOS name) and worked with computer manufacturers to include its own version, called MS-DOS, with every computer system sold.

Spectacularly successful, this deal was challenged in court by Seattle Computer on the grounds that Microsoft had concealed its relationship with IBM in order to purchase the operating system cheaply; subsequently, there was a settlement, but no admission of duplicity or guilt. Gates' reputation was further sullied by a series of major antitrust actions brought both by the U.S. Department of Justice and individual companies against Microsoft in the late 1990s.

In the mid-1980s Gates became excited about the possibilities of compact disc for storage, and sponsored the publication of the book ''CD-ROM: The New Papyrus'' that promoted the idea of CD-ROM.

It is incontestable that Gates has played hardball in the software industry. It has also been established in a court of law, and unanimously affirmed on appeal by a pro-business appellate court, that his company, under his leadership, repeatedly and egregiously engaged in business practices that violated U.S. laws.

In 2000, Gates promoted long-time friend and Microsoft executive Steve Ballmer to the role of Chief Executive Officer and took on the role of "Chief Software Architect".

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Along with his wife, Gates founded the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, a charitable organization. Critics have called this a response to negative public outcry over the seemingly monopolistic and anti-competitive practices of his company, but those close to Gates say that he had long expressed his plan to eventually give away most (in 1997 the ''Washington Post'' reported 90%) of his large fortune.The foundation's grants have provided funds for underrepresented minority college scholarships, AIDS prevention, diseases that strike mainly in the third world, and other causes.In June 1999, Gates and his wife donated $5 billion to their foundation, the largest single donation ever by living individuals.

Accolades

* Honorary KBE from the United Kingdom announced, 2004 [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3428673.stm

* Top 100 influential people in media, the ''Guardian'', 2001

* The ''Sunday Times'' power list, 1999

* ''Upside'' Elite 100, Ranked 2nd, 1999

* Top 50 Cyber Elite, ''TIME'' magazine, Ranked 1st, 1998

* Top 100 most powerful people in sports, ''The Sporting News'', Ranked 28th, 1997

* CEO of the year, ''Chief Executive Officers magazine'', 1994

* Entomologists have named the Bill Gates flower fly, ''Eristalis gatesi'', in his honor www.sel.barc.usda.gov/Diptera/syrphid/gates.htm

[Image Temporarily Omitted]

Estimated wealth

According to ''Forbes'' list of the World's Wealthiest People www.forbes.com/lists/home.jhtml?passListId=10&passYear=1996&passListType=Person:

*1996 - $18.5 billion, ranked #1

*1997 - $36.4 billion, ranked #2

*1998 - $51.0 billion, ranked #1

*1999 - $90.0 billion, ranked #1

*2000 - $60.0 billion, ranked #1

*2001 - $58.7 billion, ranked #1

*2002 - $52.8 billion, ranked #1

*2003 - $40.7 billion, ranked #1

*2004 - $46.6 billion, ranked #1

Fictional portrayals

Several films and television shows have portrayed fictionalized versions of Bill Gates.Among them:

* ''The Simpsons'' (February 15, 1998) (Season 9, Episode 5F11) — Bill Gates comes to "buy" Homer Simpson's Internet company ''CompuGlobalHyperMegaNet''.

* ''South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut'' (1999) — an army general complains that his new Windows 98 upgrade crashed is no more stable than his previous copy of Windows 95, and demands to see Bill Gates. When an animated Gates begins to explain just how much stabler Windows 98 actually is using technobabble, the general shoots him.

* ''Pirates of Silicon Valley'' (1999) — a dramatized film about the history of Apple and Microsoft.

* ''AntiTrust'' (2001) — a film about a programmer in a fictional software company. Tim Robbins plays Gary Winston, the corporate head, whose characteristics are believed by some to be derived from Gates.Gates is also mentioned by name in the film.

* ''Nothing So Strange'' (2002) — a film about a fictional assassination of Gates in 1999.

* ''2DTV'' (2004) (Series 4, Episode 6) — Bill Gates is seen at his "computer-shaped" home writing a letter to a customer, when the Office Assistant pops up and starts annoying Gates. Ultimately, it drives the animated Gates to near-suicide, at which point the paperclip proclaims, "Hi there, it looks like you're writing a suicide note", and a number of disgruntled customers appear, continuing, "would you like some help?". Gates also appears in episode 4 of this series, in an animated "Matrix for Windows" spoof, mocking the growing size of Microsoft operating systems.

Real-life quotes

''Nov 1995 - PBS interview with David Frost'' "In terms of doing things I take a fairly scientific approach to why things happen and how they happen. I don't know if there's a god or not, but I think religious principles are quite valid."

Books by Bill Gates

* ''Business @ The Speed of Thought'' (1999) ISBN 0446675962

* ''The Road Ahead'' (1996) ISBN 0140260404

Further reading

* James Wallace (1993) ''Hard Drive : Bill Gates and the Making of the Microsoft Empire'' Harper Business. ISBN 0887306292

* Jeanne M. Lesinski (2000) ''Bill Gates'' Lerner Publications Company. ISBN 082259689X

* Janet Lowe (1998) ''Bill Gates Speaks : Insight from the World's Greatest Entrepreneur'' John Wiley and Sons. ISBN 0471293539

External links

*Home page Bill Gates at Microsoft

*Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

*Wikiquote - Quotes by Bill Gates

*Interview with Bill Moyers

*Bill Gates hit with cream pie

*Forbes 400 listing

Gates, Bill

Gates, Bill

Gates, Bill

Gates, Bill

Gates,Bill

Gates, Bill

zh-cn:比尔·盖茨

---

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license. See http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html for details. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Bill Gates.

---

 Bill Gates in the News
1. Costco favors shoppers, employees - - The Desert Sun
Costco favors shoppers employees Retailer manages to offer its workers top-line wages USA Today September 25th 2004 When she left home on a recent morning Cynthia Fordon thought she only needed coffee and eggs A few hours later her shopping

2. Memo From bill gates: Focus on Security - 01 Apr 04 - ABC News
Microsoft's bill gates issues a public memo, saying the company will invest in four areas to try and curb the effects of malicious code such as viruses.

3. bill gates tops Forbes rich list - 24/09/2004 - BBC News
Microsoft founder bill gates is still the richest man in America, topping the Forbes rich list for the eleventh year.

4. MSNBC - The Forbes 400 richest Americans - - www.msnbc.msn.com
                              Web Search            Search MSNBC Advertisement   RESOURCE GUIDE • • • •   Forbes com The Forbes 400 richest Americans The rich aren t feeling any economic pinch this year

5. EU commissioner admits gates link - 20/08/2004 - BBC News
The EC's new competition commissioner admits that she once gave an honorary degree to bill gates, founder of the firm that is battling Brussels on anti-trust issues.

6. So whose campaign is this, anyway? - Outside groups change face of state elections (09-26-2004) - - www.eastsidejournal.com
> So whose campaign is this anyway - Outside groups change face of state elections 2004-09-26 by David Ammons Associated Press Outsiders special interest groups and assorted fat cats are having a heyday playing in Washington s elections In

7. Do Britain's wealthy give enough back? - 02/08/2004 - BBC News
Are the UK's richest failing in their civic duty to help the poorest?

8. Advanced Search - - Business Week
Search By clicking the links below you ll get the full table of contents for the issue you select Stories from before October 1995 are available only by using the search engine To get a BW Digital single copy of any of these issues BROWSE TEXT

9. Microsoft looks beyond Windows - 30/07/2004 - BBC News
Microsoft has outlined the novel technologies that it hopes will help the company grow in the near future.

10. 'Tango Pasion' in Ankara again on January 11 - - Turkish Daily News
25 September 2004 Saudi Arabian National Day celebrated ANKARA - Turkish Daily News Celebrating the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia National day Ambassador Mohammed Al Bassam hosted a dinner at the Ankara Hilton hotel All Saudi s living in Ankara attended

---

 Bill Gates on the Web
1. bill gates: Before Microsoft
This decision had far reaching effects on bill gates's life. For at Lakeside, bill gates was first introduced to computers. ... bill gates Links. ...
http://ei.cs.vt.edu/~history/gates.Mirick.html Google, MSN, Hotbot, Yahoo Sites, Alltheweb, Yahoo

2. bill gates is Dead.
ultimate portal to the life, death, and legacy of the Microsoft head honcho.
http://www.billgatesisdead.com/ Yahoo Sites, Yahoo, MSN, Hotbot, Alltheweb

3. bill and Melinda gates Foundation
contributing toward increasing access to innovations in education, technology, and world health.
http://www.gatesfoundation.org/ Yahoo Sites, Yahoo, MSN, Hotbot, Alltheweb

4. The bill gates Interview
The bill gates Interview. A candid conversation with the sultan of software about outsmarting his rivals. "The Wallet PC is a futuristic device. Instead of having tickets to the theater, your Wallet PC will digitally prove that you paid. ... grow, asserts Fortune magazine. CEO bill gates could buy out an entire years ...
http://ei.cs.vt.edu/~history/bill.gates.html MSN, Hotbot, Alltheweb, Yahoo Sites, Yahoo

5. bill gates Net Worth Page
We take bill gates' massive net worth and compare it to well-known figures, and try to make the numbers accessible to the average person. ... Welcome to the. bill gates Net Worth Page ... No Microsoft employee, including bill gates has anything to do with the creation and maintenance of this web site ...
http://www.quuxuum.org/~evan/bgnw.html Yahoo, MSN, Hotbot, Alltheweb

6. macboy.com: Switch gates
Parody of Apple's Switch ad campaign featuring bill gates of Microsoft. Flash animated, by William Levin, at Macboy.com!
http://www.macboy.com/cartoons/switch/gates Yahoo, MSN, Hotbot, Alltheweb

7. bill gates' Web Site - Biography of bill gates
A biography and photos of bill gates, Chairman and Chief Software Architect for Microsoft. ... Microsoft.com Home : Site Map : Search. bill gates Home Page ... William (bill) H. gates is chairman and chief software architect of Microsoft Corporation, the worldwide leader in ...
http://www.microsoft.com/billgates/bio.asp Yahoo, MSN, Hotbot, Alltheweb

8. bill gates Wealth Index
measuring the wealth of the wealthiest man on earth.
http://www.templetons.com/brad/billg.html Yahoo, MSN, Hotbot, Alltheweb

9. Why bill gates is Richer than You
part of the Career Guide for Engineers and Computer Scientists.
http://photo.net/philg/humor/bill-gates.html Yahoo Sites, Yahoo, MSN, Alltheweb

10. bill gates' House
virtual tour of the Microsoft founder's $97 million home. Also includes an interview. From U.S. News magazine.
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/nycu/tech/billgate/gates.htm Yahoo Sites, Yahoo, MSN, Alltheweb

11. Microsoft: bill gates
corporate information on the Chairman and Chief Software Architect.
http://www.microsoft.com/billgates Yahoo, MSN, Hotbot, Alltheweb

12. The "unofficial" bill gates
sources of information about bill gates, CEO of Microsoft and one of the richest men in the world.
http://www.zpub.com/un/bill Yahoo, MSN, Hotbot, Alltheweb

13. The Smoking Gun: Archive
... Microsoft boss bill gates was photographed by the Albuquerque, New Mexico police in 1977 after a traffic violation ...
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/mugshots/gatesmug1.html Yahoo, MSN, Alltheweb

14. bill gates Hit By Cream Pie
download an MPEG movie of bill gates' pie attack - including the attack and the reaction.
http://www.bitstorm.org/gates Yahoo, MSN, Alltheweb

15. Sophos hoax description: bill gates fortune
letter. bill gates is sharing his fortune. If you ignore this you will repent later. ...
http://www.sophos.com/virusinfo/hoaxes/billgates2.html Google, Yahoo, Alltheweb

16. bill gates Mugshot
arrested in New Mexico, 1977.
http://www.mugshots.org/misc/bill-gates.html Yahoo, MSN, Alltheweb

17. Punch Microsoft's bill gates In The Face
punch bill gates in the face ... bill gates ...
http://www.urban75.com/Punch/gates.html Yahoo, Alltheweb

18. FOCUS Magazine Interview with bill gates: Microsoft Code Has No Bugs
FOCUS Magazine Interview with bill gates: Microsoft Code Has No Bugs (that Microsoft cares about) In this interview, Big bill gets distracted and reveals his contempt for you, his loyal customer. Slashdotters: yes, it's real. ... 206-212), Microsoft`s Mr. bill gates has made some statements about software ...
http://www.cantrip.org/nobugs.html Yahoo, Alltheweb

19. bill gates House
The big boss of Microsoft does have a nice little pad down on the shores of Lake Washington. bill and Melinda gates' $97 million house. Much of the house is built underground into the hill, so the house looks smaller than it actually is.
http://www.goehner.com/gates.htm Yahoo, Alltheweb

20. gates Millennium Scholars
The best and the brightest students shouldn't be denied access to higher education simply because they can't afford it. -bill gates.
http://www.gmsp.org/ Google, Alltheweb