Facts about Bill Gates…
Jul 31st, 2007 by Vladimir Flemming
William (Bill) H. Gates is chairman of Microsoft Corporation, the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential. Microsoft had revenues of US$44.28 billion for the fiscal year ending June 2006, and employs more than 71,000 people in 103 countries and regions.
On June 15, 2006, Microsoft announced that effective July 2008 Gates will transition out of a day-to-day role in the company to spend more time on his global health and education work at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
On October 28, 1955, shortly after 9:00 p.m., William Henry Gates III was born. He was born int
o a family with a rich history in business, politics, and community service. His great-grandfather had been a state legislator and mayor, his grandfather was the vice president of a national bank, and his father was a prominent lawyer. [Wallace, 1992, p. 8-9] Early on in life, it was apparent that Bill Gates inherited the ambition, intelligence, and competitive spirit that had helped his progenitors rise to the top in their chosen professions. In elementary school he quickly surpassed all of his peer’s abilities in nearly all subjects, especially math and science. His parents recognized his intelligence and decided to enroll him in Lakeside, a private school known for its intense academic environment. This decision had far reaching effects on Bill Gates’s life. For at Lakeside, Bill Gates was first introduced to computers.
Most of Bills personal beliefs revolve around working hard and trying your hardest to succeed. He believes that if you are intelligent and know how to apply your intelligence you can accomplish anything. Bill thinks that if you don’t work your hardest you will never succeed. Microsoft’s vision is “A computer on every desk, and Microsoft software on every computer. Bill is obviously a visionary but he also works very hard and very competitively to carry out his vision. His belief in high intelligence and hard work is what put him where he is today, as well as being in the right place at the right time. He doesn’t believe in luck or any sort of god, just hard work and competitiveness. Some smaller software companies complain that even if they have a better product than Microsoft they can’t market it because Microsoft can and will always out advertise and out price their product. Bill simply sees it as good competition and he will continue to stomp out the competition until he dies. Interestingly one of Bills favorite games is the game of Risk, the game of world domination. These beliefs are few but they are quite powerful in the computer software industry and will continue to increase Bills wealth and his monopoly on the industry.
Sources: Microsoft.com, About.com, http://ei.cs.vt.edu/~history/Gates.Mirick.html#family