Computer genius, top businessman and manager, multiple times the richest person in the world, and the most active philanthropist today. These are just a few of the titles that belong to Bill Gates, one of the most iconic figures of the 20th and 21st centuries.
An exclusive foundation for personal development
Bill Gates, whose full name is William Henry Gates III, was born into a family of a corporate lawyer and a teacher and a member of the board of directors of First Interstate Bank. In addition, his mother, Mary Maxwell Gates, also held the position of a member of the national board of the international non-profit organization United Way. Bill thus received an exceptionally good family, financial and moral background, thanks to which he became a student at an early age at the prestigious private high school Lakeside School and later at the renowned Harvard University.
His interest in electronic devices was already evident during his high school studies. In the 1970s, computers were still at the beginning of their journey, which even today has not yet reached its destination. Young Bill already got a job at one of the local computer companies, which provided him with access to the then mini-computer PDP-10. Working with it became so interesting and valuable for Bill that soon, at the age of seventeen, he was able to prepare a complete program for creating a school timetable. For this program, he even received a scholarship of 4200 USD, which at that time represented a significant financial amount.
In 1973, he enrolled at Harvard University, where he met Steve Ballmer, later the CEO of Microsoft. He brought another acquaintance from high school, Paul Allen, with whom he managed to create the so-called Altair BASIC programming language interpreter for the first commercially successful computer, the Altair 8800. It is here that the basic building block of the current Microsoft Corporation can be found.
Micro-Soft
In order for Gates and Allen to sell their programming language, they had to start a company. Therefore, in 1975, Micro-Soft was founded with a single product – the Microsoft BASIC programming language. The success of their work was so great that it determined the future direction of the company and created capital for aggressive expansion. This required all of Gates' time, so in his third year he left the prestigious Harvard and began to devote himself fully to the company. The most significant turning point in Microsoft's history came in the late 1970s, when it entered into cooperation with the giant IBM. At that time, IBM was preparing to enter the world of personal computers, and Gates became the supplier of the MS-DOS operating system. For a long time after that, this system was the basis of all personal computers in the world. Later disagreements with IBM led to the fact that Microsoft had to start building its own operating system, today's Windows. Microsoft first introduced the Windows operating system in November 1985 as an extension to the MS-DOS operating system in an attempt to respond to the growing popularity of graphical user interfaces. Windows eventually gained a dominant position in the global personal computer market and brought Gates immense wealth. Today, its share is around 90% and is declining, and Bill Gates has regularly ranked among the richest people in the world between 1996 and 2011, mostly in the first position.
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Over time, Gates' wealth became a phenomenon that even started to be joked about. He could have used this wealth to provide for his family and devote himself to the rest of his life, but instead, the need to make the world a better place prevailed. And Gates fulfills this need to an unprecedented extent. With his wife, he runs the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which covers over 20 different humanitarian goals. These include fighting diseases prevalent in third world countries, including HIV, pneumonia, malaria and tuberculosis, helping the homeless, developing new drugs, controlling the tobacco industry and providing financial assistance to the poor.
The foundation was symbolically established on January 1, 2000, as if to suggest that just before the end of the 20th century, even the very rich should share their wealth with those who did not have it so easy in life. The turn of the 20th and 21st centuries became the most significant in Gates' life, because other talented people took over big business for him and he began to devote himself almost entirely to altruism. However, he still retained his analytical thinking and the desire to look into the future, which is why his foundation addresses not only the consequences, but also the causes of human misfortune.
The foundation's efforts to improve the lives of people in third world countries through education and healthcare are unparalleled. However, the scope of the foundation's activities is much broader - for all its marginal activities, we will recall the huge volume of plant seeds preserved for future generations in specialized warehouses.
To be good at all costs
Like every great figure in history, Bill Gates has been the target of harsh criticism, especially on the topic of population reduction. He has been criticized for his activities related to controlled parenthood in poor countries. Despite this, Gates chooses the path of open discussion and emphasizing the importance of responsible parenthood. The fact that the world's philanthropists do not let themselves be discouraged has the potential to make the world an increasingly better place to live.
"We believe that every person deserves the chance to live a healthy, productive life."
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation motto
Maria Synakova