One of the most renowned and highly iconic figure of contemporary times is William (Bill) Henry Gates III, founder and Chairman of Microsoft. For such a short amount of time, he was able to revolutionize advancement in technology through his ingenuity and sheer entrepreneurial acumen. Likewise, despite being categorized as one of the richest persons in the world, Bill Gates is also been recognized as a philanthropist with an innate and genuine desire to uplift the wellbeing of other people, especially those in need. As such, Bill is instrumental in facilitating the transformation of the global technological environment through his achievements during his professional career.
Bill was reportedly born on October 28, 1955 in Seattle, Washington . His parents are William H. Gates, II, an attorney; and Mary Maxwell, who was noted to be a school teacher, a regent at the University of Wisconsin, and chairman of the United Way International . Bill was noted to be a highly exemplary student, with gifted skills in mathematics . Thus, early in this teenaged years, his parents were worried that his academic potentials were not being maximized; as such, they deemed it best to transfer Bill to “the private and highly demanding Lakeside School” . This move provided the impetus for Bill to tinker into computer terminals which evidently led to his subsequent partnership with Paul Allen in the early establishment of Microsoft .
The main contribution of Bill Gates in contemporary generation is his alleged development of “a version of the programming language BASIC for the first microcomputer - the MITS Altair” in 1973. As reported, in 1975 during his junior year at Harvard, Bill opted to leave the university and started Microsoft with Paul Allen. Another relevant milestone in Bill’s career was disclosed to have happened in 1980 when IBM contracted them to design an operating system that would be adapted to the IBM hardware. This was later widely known as the Microsoft Disk Operating System, or MS-DOS . Likewise, in 1985, Microsoft’s introduction of Windows, the DOS- based graphic interface allegedly catapulted them to global fame.
Aside from the love for computers and the development of software, in 1999 Bill was also able to write a book entitled “Business @ the Speed of Thought, a book that shows how computer technology can solve business problems in fundamentally new ways” . Concurrently, at the age of 45, he and his wife, Melinda, established the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and focused on philanthropic endeavors. Due to his entrepreneurial skills and exemplary talent in software development and design, Bill Gates was reported to have accumulated as much as $67 billion as of March 2013 . More commendable was the fact that despite the accumulated wealth, he was able to give away as much as $28 billion in charitable works, to be aptly called “the world's most generous person” .
Overall, the quintessential success of Bill Gates is clearly traced to his exemplary gifts in intellectual skills, especially delving into the endeavor where he was most interested in. He revolutionized the technological field of endeavor through applications of his prowess in software design and solutions through the enterprise that was established and now globally renowned. Coupled with the right opportunity and in conjunction with the use of the appropriate resources, connections, and support from his family and friends, Bill was able to reach insurmountable heights in the field of software and solutions development. His unselfish, genuine and innate desire to share the gifts gained from all his endeavors to others proved to be an instrumental contribution to his remarkable legacy to the world.
Works Cited
A+E Television Networks, LLC. "Bill Gates Biography." 2013. biography.com. http://www.biography.com/people/bill-gates-9307520. 16 September 2013.
American Academy of Achievement. "William H. Gates III." 8 June 2010. achievement.org. http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/gat0bio-1. 16 September 2013.
Forbes. "Bill Gates." 2013. forbes.com. http://www.forbes.com/real-time/. 16 September 2013.
Microsoft. "News Center: Bill Gates, Chairman." 3 August 2011. microsoft.com. http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/exec/billg/. 16 September 2013.
Pettinger, Tejvan. "Biography of Bill Gates." n.d. biographyonline.net. http://www.biographyonline.net/business/bill-gates.html. 16 September 2013.
