FREE ESSAY ON WILLIAM H. GATES

WILLIAM H. GATES

BIOGRPAHY OF BILL GATE
William H. Gates 
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer 
Microsoft Corporation 
William (Bill) H. Gates is chairman and chief executive officer of 
Microsoft Corporation, the leading provider, worldwide, of software 
for the personal computer. and employs more than 20,000 
people in 48 countries. 
Born on October 28, 1955, Gates and his two sisters grew up in 
Seattle. Their father, William H. Gates II, is a Seattle attorney. Their 
late mother, Mary Gates, was a schoolteacher, University of Washington regent and 
chairwoman of United Way International. 
Gates attended public elementary school and the private Lakeside School. There, he began
his 
career in personal computer software, programming computers at age 13. 
In 1973, Gates entered Harvard University as a freshman, where he lived down the hall
from 
Steve Ballmer, now Microsoft's executive vice president for sales and support. While at 
Harvard, Gates developed the programming language BASIC for the first microcomputer --
the 
MITS Altair. 
In his junior year, Gates dropped out of Harvard to devote his energies to 
Microsoft, a company he had begun in 1975 with Paul Allen. Guided by a 
belief that the personal computer would be a valuable tool on every office 
desktop and in every home, they began developing software for personal 
computers. 
Gates' foresight and vision regarding personal computing have been central 
to the success of Microsoft and the software industry. Gates is actively involved in key

management and strategic decisions at Microsoft, and plays an important role in the
technical 
development of new products. A significant portion of his time is devoted to meeting with

customers and staying in contact with Microsoft employees around the world through
e-mail. 
Under Gates' leadership, Microsoft's mission is to continually advance and 
improve software technology and to make it easier, more cost-effective and 
more enjoyable for people to use computers. 
In 1995, Gates wrote The Road Ahead, his vision of where information technology will take

society. Co-authored by Nathan Myhrvold, Microsoft's chief technology officer, and Peter

Rinearson, The Road Ahead held the No. 1 spot on the New York Times' bestseller list for

seven weeks. Published in the U.S. by Viking, the book was on the NYT list for a total of
18 
weeks. Published in more than 20 countries, the book sold more than 400,000 copies in
China 
alone. In 1996, while redeploying Microsoft around the Internet, Gates thoroughly revised
The 
Road Ahead to reflect his view that interactive networks are a major milestone in human 
history. The paperback second edition has also become a bestseller. Gates is donating his

proceeds from the book to a non-profit fund that supports teachers worldwide who are 
incorporating computers into their classrooms. 
In addition to his passion for computers, Gates is interested in 
biotechnology. He sits on the board of the Icos Corporation and is a 
shareholder in Darwin Molecular, a subsidiary of British-based 
Chiroscience. He also founded Corbis Corporation, which is developing 
one of the largest resources of visual information in the world-a 
comprehensive digital archive of art and photography from public and 
private collections around the globe. Gates also has invested with 
cellular telephone pioneer Craig McCaw in Teledesic, a company that is working on an 
ambitious plan to launch hundreds of low-orbit satellites around the globe to provide
worldwide 
two-way broadband telecommunications service. 
In the decade since Microsoft has gone public, Gates has donated more than $270 million
to 
charities, including $200 million to the William H. Gates Foundation. The focus of Gates'
giving 
is in three areas: education, population issues and access to technology. 
Gates was married on Jan. 1, 1994 to Melinda French Gates. They have one child, Jennifer

Katharine Gates, born in 1996.
Gates is an avid reader and enjoys playing golf and bridg