Quotes and sayings from Bill Gates

Bill Gates, born on October 28, 1955 in Seattle, Washington, U.S., is an American computer programmer, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He is best known for co-founding Microsoft Corporation, the world’s largest personal-computer software company. Gates’s journey began early—he wrote his first software program at the tender age of 13. In high school, he collaborated with fellow programmers to computerize their school’s payroll system and founded Traf-O-Data, a company that sold traffic-counting systems to local governments.

During his sophomore year at Harvard University, Gates joined forces with his childhood friend Paul G. Allen to develop software for the first microcomputers. Their initial project involved adapting BASIC, a popular programming language used on large computers, for microcomputers. The success of this venture led Gates to leave Harvard during his junior year, and together with Allen, he founded Microsoft.

Gates’s influence over the nascent microcomputer industry grew significantly when Microsoft licensed the operating system MS-DOS to IBM for use on their first microcomputer, the IBM PC. This move set the technical standard for the PC industry, and MS-DOS became the dominant operating system. Gates deftly maneuvered IBM’s reliance on Microsoft for crucial software, solidifying his position as the PC industry’s ultimate kingmaker.

His success at Microsoft catapulted Gates into the ranks of the world’s wealthiest individuals. By 1986, he became a paper billionaire, and within a decade, his net worth reached into the tens of billions of dollars. His impact on technology, business, and philanthropy remains profound, making him a true icon in the world of computing and beyond