DOCSLIB.ORG

Bill Gates: How Paul Allen Changed My Life

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Bill Gates: How Paul Allen Changed My Life • TECH Bill Gates: How Paul Allen Changed My Life Gates describes the moment Allen showed him a new computer called the Altair 8800, which marked the end of Gates’s college career and the beginning of Microsoft Microsoft founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen in 1983 just after completing MS-DOS for the Tandy laptop and signing a contract to write MS-DOS for IBM. PHOTO: DOUG WILSON/CORBIS/GETTY IMAGES By Bill Gates Updated Oct. 18, 2018 11:23 a.m. ET I met Paul Allen when I was in 7th grade, and it changed my life. I looked up to him right away. He was two years ahead of me in school, really tall, and proved to be a genius with computers. (Later, he also had a very cool beard, the type I could never pull off myself.) We bonded over the teletype that some students’ mothers had bought for the school and had connected to a remote mainframe. Eventually we were spending just about all our free time messing around with any machine we could get our hands on. At an age when other high school kids were sneaking out of the house to go partying, Paul and I would sneak out at night to go use the computers in a lab at the University of Washington. It sounds geeky, and it was, but it was also a formative experience, and I’m not sure I would have had the courage to do it without Paul. I know it would have been a lot less fun. (“Borrowing” computer time illicitly would become something of a theme for us. Later, when I was a student at Harvard, I got in trouble for letting Paul use the campus computer lab without permission.) Even in high school, before most people knew what a personal computer was, Paul predicted that chips would get super-powerful and would eventually give rise to a whole new industry. Many people don’t know that Microsoft wasn’t the first project we did together. That was something we called the Traf-O-Data, a machine that would analyze the information gathered by traffic monitors on city streets. We thought it was a great demonstration of the power of these new devices. We got a prototype up and working, and we imagined ourselves selling it all over the country. But no one wanted to buy the machines, and we had to wind it all down. Photos: Paul Allen, a PC Pioneer Turned Venture Capitalist The billionaire co-founder of Microsoft invested his fortune in wide-ranging ventures from science to sports as well as philanthropic endeavors Bill Gates and Paul Allen were high school friends who co-founded Microsoft Corp. in 1975. Mr. Allen died Monday, two weeks after revealing a new cancer diagnosis. He was 65 years old. DOUG WILSON/CORBIS/GETTY IMAGES 1 of 7 We decided to start our next, more successful venture in December 1974. Paul and I were both living in the Boston area—he was working, and I was going to college. One day he came and got me, insisting that I rush over to a nearby newsstand with him. When we arrived, he showed me the cover of the January issue of Popular Electronics. It featured a new computer called the Altair 8800, which ran on a powerful new chip. Paul looked at me and said: “This is happening without us!” That moment marked the end of my college career and the beginning of our new company, Microsoft. In those days, the chips were so limited that you couldn’t do what’s called “native development”—you couldn’t use a machine with that chip in it as you were developing the software for it. That made writing code for those chips pretty challenging. Paul had a great idea: to write some code that would let us emulate those chips on a more powerful computer, then port it over to the machine with the less powerful chip. That breakthrough was important for a lot of Microsoft’s early success, and Paul deserves credit for it. As the first person I ever partnered with, Paul set a standard that few other people could meet. He had a wide-ranging mind and a special talent for explaining complicated subjects in a simple way. As an adult, he pursued a huge spectrum of interests, including the arts, conservation, and artificial intelligence. He wanted to prevent elephant poaching, promote smart cities, and accelerate brain research. Because I was lucky enough to know him from such a young age, I saw that before the rest of the world did. Once, when I was a teenager, I got curious about (of all things) gasoline. What did “refining” even mean? I turned to the most knowledgeable person I knew. Paul explained it in a super-clear and interesting way. It was just one of many enlightening conversations we would have over the coming decades. Paul was cooler than I was. He was really into Jimi Hendrix, and I remember him playing “Are You Experienced?” for me. I wasn’t experienced at much of anything back then, and Paul wanted to share this amazing music with me. That’s the kind of person he was. He loved life and the people around him, and it showed. His generosity was as wide-ranging as his interests. In our hometown of Seattle, Paul helped fund homeless shelters, brain research, and arts education. He also built the amazing Museum of Pop Culture, which houses some of his huge collection of music, science fiction, and movie memorabilia. When I think about Paul, I remember a passionate man who held his family and friends dear. I also remember a brilliant technologist and philanthropist who wanted to accomplish great things, and did. Paul deserved more time in life. He would have made the most of it. I will miss him tremendously. —Bill Gates co-founded Microsoft along with Paul Allen. He is now co-chairman of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. .
Load more

Recommended publications
  • 8 Highly Effective Habits That Helped Make Bill Gates the Richest Man on Earth
    8 Highly Effective Habits That Helped Make Bill Gates the Richest Man on Earth Adopting these habits may not make you a billionaire, but it will make you more effective and more successful. By Minda Zetlin, Co-author of 'The Geek Gap' How did Bill Gates get to be the richest person in the world, with a net worth around $80 billion? Being in the right place with the right product at the dawn of the personal computer era certainly had a lot to do with it. But so do some very smart approaches to work and life that all of us can follow. The personal finance site GOBankingRates recently published a list of 10 habits and experiences that make Gates so successful and helped him build his fortune. Here are my favorites. How many of them do you do? 1. He's always learning. Gates is famous for being a Harvard dropout, but the only reason he dropped out is that he and Paul Allen saw a window of opportunity to start their own software company. In fact, Gates loves learning and often sat in on classes he wasn't signed up for. That's something he had in common with Steve Jobs, who stuck around after dropping out of Reed College, sleeping on floors, so that he could take classes that interested him. 2. He reads everything. "Just about every kind of book interested him -- encyclopedias, science fiction, you name it," Gates's father said in an interview. Although his parents were thrilled that their son was such a bookworm, they had to establish a no-reading-at-the-dinner-table rule.
    [Show full text]
  • Microsoft Quiz: Questions and Answers
    kupidonia.com Microsoft Quiz: questions and answers Microsoft Quiz: questions and answers - 1 / 4 kupidonia.com 1. When was Microsoft founded? 1976 1975 1977 2. Where was Microsoft founded? Old Mexico Washington New Mexico 3. Who is the founder of Microsoft? Bill Gates Mark Gates Lebron Gates 4. Where are the headquarters of Microsoft? Washington New York Mexico 5. Who has been the CEO of Microsoft since 2014? Satya Nadella Steve Jobs Microsoft Quiz: questions and answers - 2 / 4 kupidonia.com Tim Cook 6. How many stocks of the company does Bill Gates own? 7.5% 50% 70% 7. Which OS was developed by Microsoft company? Mac OS Linux Windows 8. Which company Microsoft had tried to buy in 2008 but didn't succeed? Yahoo! Google Apple 9. When did Microsoft buy Skype Limited? 1998 2011 2018 10. When did Paul Allen leave the Microsoft? 1983 1996 2002 Microsoft Quiz: questions and answers - 3 / 4 kupidonia.com Microsoft Quiz: questions and answers Right answers 1. When was Microsoft founded? 1975 2. Where was Microsoft founded? New Mexico 3. Who is the founder of Microsoft? Bill Gates 4. Where are the headquarters of Microsoft? Washington 5. Who has been the CEO of Microsoft since 2014? Satya Nadella 6. How many stocks of the company does Bill Gates own? 7.5% 7. Which OS was developed by Microsoft company? Windows 8. Which company Microsoft had tried to buy in 2008 but didn't succeed? Yahoo! 9. When did Microsoft buy Skype Limited? 2011 10. When did Paul Allen leave the Microsoft? 1983 Microsoft Quiz: questions and answers - 4 / 4 Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org).
    [Show full text]
  • Allen Discovery Centers: Communications Toolkit
    The Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group Allen Discovery Centers: Communications Toolkit 2019 The Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group Communications Toolkit for Allen Discovery Centers About this Toolkit This toolkit is designed to provide direction on how to tell The Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group story as well as guidance on how to include and integrate information about the Allen Discovery Centers (ADC) across multiple communications channels, such as your website, press releases, biography, articles and social media. Overview of The Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group For more than a decade, Paul G. Allen made awards to support extraordinary scientific minds and spark new directions in bioscience research. To date over $200M in research awards have been made, and with the 2016 launch of The Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group, a division of the Allen Institute, the award mechanisms have grown to include both Allen Distinguished Investigators as well as Allen Discovery Centers. The Frontiers Group continues to identify and foster ideas that will change the world and increase creative dialogue and pioneering approaches, through its ever-growing network of Allen awardees. We strive to have such efforts lay the foundation for a new era in biology, shaping how science can be done both here at the Allen Institute and across the globe. We are committed to a continuous conversation with the scientific community that allows us to invest in the people and approaches at the very frontiers of science and accelerate our understanding of biology. Our Mission The mission of The Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group is to uncover and make visible the emerging frontiers of science, identify pioneering explorers to create new knowledge, and produce important solutions that make the world better.
    [Show full text]
  • Bill Gates and Paul Allen on Aprildream 4, 1975
    WELCOME Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational software corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services related to computing. How it all Started ?? The company was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen on AprilDream 4, 1975. of having a PC on every desktop • Microsoft is founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen; they sell BASIC, the first PC 1975 computer language program to MITS Computer, Microsoft's first customer. • Microsoft, Inc. is incorporated; IBM uses Microsoft's 16-bit operating system 1981 for its first personal computer. • Paul Allen resigns as executive vice-president but remains on the board; Jon Shirley is made president of Microsoft (he later becomes CEO); Microsoft 1983 introduces the Microsoft Mouse and Word for MS-DOS 1.00. • Microsoft and IBM forge a joint development agreement. They launch Windows 1.0 ( first window based OS) and after that in 1986 Bill gates 1985 become youngest billionaire at the age of just 31. • Microsoft co-develop SQL server 1.0. 1989 • Jon Shirley retires as president and CEO; Michael R. Hallman is promoted in Shirley's place; the 1990 company becomes the first PC software firm to surpass $1 billion of sales in a single year. • The company introduces Windows 3.1. Windows now has over 25 million licenced users. 1992 • In this year Microsoft released Windows NT. 1994 • In, 1995 Microsoft launch windows 95 and sell 1 million copies in 4 days. 1995 • The Justice Department alleges that Microsoft violated a 1994 consent decree concerning licensing the 1997 Windows operating system to computer manufacturers • First beta of .NET framework released.
    [Show full text]
  • Paul Allen Compound
    PAUL ALLEN COMPOUND During the late 1990s, a large structure was being built on a large plot of ground in the Agua Caliente Canyon area to the north of the Mount Hopkins and FR-183 roads. This structure was very evident on Green Valley Hiking Club hikes to the top of the large rock formation known to the hiking club as “Little Elephant Head”. In the early stages of construction there was no information available as to what this facility was or who was building it. Speculation abounded. When hikers climbed to the top of Little Elephant Head, they usually took along a good set of binoculars to check on the status of the construction and speculate as to what it was going to be. It was soon obvious that it was going to be a large house with a large swimming pool. Eventually it came out that the complex was being built by Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft. The total land area of the entire complex was quite large and Forest Road 183 crossed a small portion of the south end of the complex. This forest road provided access to a number of hiking trails on the west side of the Santa Rita Mountains. This caused a lot of consternation on the part of Microsoft lawyers who were afraid that an accident occurring on the portion of the road that traversed the private property would result in a huge lawsuit. The result was that the road was closed and no access permitted until the Forest Service, at a meeting in Phoenix, was able to convince the Microsoft lawyers that there was no cause for concern.
    [Show full text]
  • Microsoft Corporation Vs. the U.S. Court of Justice and the European Community
    Robert Schuman Microsoft Corporation vs. The U.S. Court of Justice and the European Community Francisco J. Lorca Jean Monnet/Robert Schuman Paper Series Vol. 9 No. 10 June 2009 Published with the support of the EU Commission The JeanMonnet/Robert Schuman Paper Series The Jean Monnet/Robert Schuman Paper Series is produced by the Jean Monnet Chair of the University of Miami, in cooperation with the Miami-Florida European Union Center of Excellence, a partnership with Florida International University (FIU). These monographic papers analyze ongoing developments within the European Union as well as recent trends which influence the EU’s relationship with the rest of the world. Broad themes include, but are not limited to: ♦ EU Enlargement ♦ The Evolution of the Constitutional Process ♦ The EU as a Global Player ♦ Comparative Regionalisms ♦ The Trans-Atlantic Agenda ♦ EU-Latin American Relations ♦ Economic issues ♦ Governance ♦ The EU and its Citizens ♦ EU Law As the process of European integration evolves further, the Jean Monnet/Robert Schuman Papers is intended to provide current analyses on a wide range of issues relevant to the EU. The overall purpose of the monographic papers is to contribute to a better understanding of the unique nature of the EU and the significance of its role in the world. Miami - Florida European Union Center Jean Monnet Chair Staff University of Miami Joaquín Roy (Director) 1000 Memorial Drive Astrid Boening (Associate Director) 101 Ferré Building María Lorca (Associate Editor) Coral Gables, FL 33124-2231 Maxime
    [Show full text]
  • Study Guide Is Capitalism Moral?
    STUDY GUIDE IS CAPITALISM MORAL? KEY TERMS: capitalism free-market bailout morality zero-sum coercion NOTE-TAKING COLUMN: Complete this section during the CUE COLUMN: Complete this section after video. Include definitions and key terms. the video. Why is a free market morally superior to ‘…any other way of What is the underlying principle of a free organizing economic behavior’? market, as characterized by Dr. Williams? What creates zero-sum games in our economy? Why is limited government so important to a free market system? What is “…the America that our Founding Fathers envisioned…?” WWW.PRAGERU.COM DISCUSSION & REVIEW QUESTIONS: • How would you summarize the criticisms of capitalism mentioned in the video? Do you believe those criticisms to have any merit? Why or why not? • Why do you think that some critics of free markets vehemently and automatically equate many big corporations with being greedy, and profits with being evil? Can you think of some examples that those critics would cite as evidence for their claims? What might some counter-examples be? • In the video Dr. Williams asks, “Isn’t it more moral to require that people serve their fellow man in order to have a claim on what he produces rather than not serve others and still have a claim?” What exactly is Dr. Williams asking here? How would you answer his question? • Dr. Williams explains that, “Free market capitalism will punish a corporation that does not satisfy customers or fails to use resources efficiently. Businesses, big and small, that wish to prosper are held accountable by the people who vote with their dollars.” Is this true? Should this be true? Why and how could a government (local or federal) be so damaging to this process? • At the end of the video we hear that, “It’s this brilliant, limited-government notion that produced the wealthiest nation in history.
    [Show full text]
  • Hasta La Vista Microsoft and the Vista Operating System
    HASTA LA VISTA MICROSOFT AND THE VISTA OPERATING SYSTEM James R. “Doc” Ogden Kutztown University of Pennsylvania Denise T. Ogden Pennsylvania State University – Lehigh Valley Anatoly Belousov Elsa G. Collins Andrew Geiges Karl Long Kutztown University of Pennsylvania Introduction Jim Allchin, an executive in the Platform Product and Service Group, responsible for operating system development, walked into Bill Gates’ office in July 2004 to deliver bad news about the Longhorn operating system. “It’s not going to work,” said Allchin to Gates, Chairman of the Board and Steve Ballmer, CEO. Longhorn was too complex to run properly. The news got worse with reports that the team would have to start over. Mr. Gates, known for his directness and temperament, insisted the team take more time until everything worked. Upset over the mess, Gates said, “Hey, let's not throw things out we shouldn't throw out. Let's keep things in that we can keep in,” The executives agreed to reserve a final decision until Mr. Ballmer returned from a business trip (Guth, 2005). Over time it became clear that Longhorn had to start from scratch and remove all the bells and whistles that made the system so complex. After Bill Gates reluctantly agreed, the change was announced to Microsoft employees on August 26, 2004 and the new development process began in September 2004 (Guth, 2005). Often technology-oriented businesses have a more difficult time understanding the nuances of marketing because of the complex nature of the products/services. Nevertheless marketing is important and understanding customer needs becomes central to success.
    [Show full text]
  • History of Microsoft
    3/9/2009 MICROSOFT Pink Group Speakers: Robert Eastman Microsoft, and how it's Augustine Vettikka Mark O'Meara Padraig Redmond “monopoly” has had an adverse Questioners: David Ruane effect on society Patryk Szafranski Dennis Theurer Cyril O'Floinn Ming Chung Poon Robert Eastman Introduction •History of Microsoft •Microsoft's Monopoly History of •Competitors Today Microsoft •Future of the Monopoly Robert Eastman Robert Eastman In the Beginning The Big Breakthrough •Microsoft was founded in 1975 •IBM’s negotiations with Digital Research falls through. by Bill Gates and Paul Allen •The same contract is awarded to Microsoft. •Microsoft purchases the rights to Q-DOS for $50,000. •In 1980,IBM approaches them This is later repackaged as MS-DOS. to make a BASIC interpreter for the upcoming IBM-PC. •Gates insists that IBM let Microsoft keep the copyright on the operating system. •Clones of the IBM-PC begin to appear. •IBM is working with another company, Digital Research, to make the operating system for the IBM-PC •Microsoft gets MS-DOS onto many of these clones. Robert Eastman Robert Eastman 1 3/9/2009 •Internet Explorer 4.0 is released on Windows Domination of the corporate market and Mac O/S. •In 1989 they release Microsoft Office. •Microsoft taken to court by the US Justice Court and asked to stop bundling Internet Explorer •In 1995, Microsoft released Windows 95 with Windows •More than a 40 million copies were sold in the •In 2000, judgement passed in US federal court first year after its release. calling Microsoft an “abusive monopoly.” •Microsoft release their first web browser, Internet Explorer.
    [Show full text]
  • How the Xbox Went 360.Pub
    Introduction to Microsoft’s Xbox 360 The Microsoft Xbox 360 is a stunning example of globalization and Globalization; the processes of both global interconnections (through production and access to the video game console) and also through the use of Globalization as a political buzz word (to generate an image of the Xbox 360 as the brand connecting users worldwide) (Sparke 2005a, 3). These two definitions of globalization; as a physical process of interconnections and as a political buzz word, can aid in understanding the systems at work when examining how Xbox is attempting to go 360. Microsoft’s Xbox as a technology can be seen as a computer with access to very specific content; all that is needed is the video game console and a connection to broadband Internet. When considering the qualifications to gain access to the Xbox 360 ‘experience,’ one must consider how to get an Internet connection and to the Xbox 360 console. While most citizens in the Xbox 360’s major markets, US, EU and Japan, may not consider these systems hard to obtain, many millions of people globally do not have the luxury of high-speed access to the Internet and the Xbox 360 console. Through understanding the impacts of creating a virtual community based on access to technology, which Microsoft states it hopes to do with the new Xbox 360 console, the inequality of the situation starts to be clarified. Introduction to Microsoft as a Global Company Microsoft is a well-known company in the computer software industry. It continues to expand to new markets with such assets as the Xbox and other offshoots of its original products.
    [Show full text]
  • Microsoft CEO Ballmer's Ups and Downs 24 August 2013, by the Associated Press
    At a Glance: Microsoft CEO Ballmer's ups and downs 24 August 2013, by The Associated Press Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced on Friday company discontinues the Zune five years later, in that he plans to retire from the world's biggest 2011. software company after more than 13 years at its helm. Here's a look at the ups and downs of his — Feb. 1, 2008: Microsoft makes unsolicited offer to tenure: buy Yahoo for $44.6 billion. Microsoft withdraws its offer months later due to resistance from Yahoo. — 1980: Ballmer joins the company co-founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in 1975. — April 12, 2010: Microsoft unveils the Kin phone, an attempt to compete with Apple's iPhone. The — July 21, 1998: Widely seen as the successor to phone was discontinued two months later. chairman and longtime friend Gates, Ballmer is named president of the software company. He'd — May 10, 2011: Microsoft announces it will buy previously led Microsoft's sales and marketing. Internet phone service Skype for $8.5 billion. — Sept. 23, 1999: Ballmer warns that technology — Oct. 25, 2012: Microsoft holds a launch event in stocks are overvalued, including those of his own New York for Windows 8, a major overhaul of its company, in public remarks that help accelerate a ubiquitous computer operating system. sharp sell-off on Wall Street. He blames a "gold rush" mentality for the stock price increases. — May 7, 2013: Microsoft says it will retool Windows 8 to address complaints and confusion. Microsoft — Jan. 13, 2000: Gates promotes Ballmer to CEO also discloses that it has sold more than 100 million of Microsoft while staying on as chairman and chief Windows 8 licenses.
    [Show full text]
  • On the NY Regents Science Exams: an Overview of the Aristo Project
    From ‘F’ to ‘A’ on the N.Y. Regents Science Exams: An Overview of the Aristo Project∗ Peter Clark, Oren Etzioni, Tushar Khot, Bhavana Dalvi Mishra, Kyle Richardson, Ashish Sabharwal, Carissa Schoenick, Oyvind Tafjord, Niket Tandon, Sumithra Bhakthavatsalam, Dirk Groeneveld, Michal Guerquin Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence, Seattle, WA, U.S.A. Abstract What constraints are there on the interaction? What guide- lines are provided to the judges? Second, recent Turing Test AI has achieved remarkable mastery over games such as competitions have shown that, in certain formulations, the Chess, Go, and Poker, and even Jeopardy!, but the rich va- riety of standardized exams has remained a landmark chal- test itself is gameable; that is, people can be fooled by sys- lenge. Even in 2016, the best AI system achieved merely tems that simply retrieve sentences and make no claim of 59.3% on an 8th Grade science exam challenge (Schoenick being intelligent (Aron, 2011; BBC, 2014). John Markoff et al., 2016). of The New York Times wrote that the Turing Test is more This paper reports unprecedented success on the Grade 8 New a test of human gullibility than machine intelligence. Fi- York Regents Science Exam, where for the first time a sys- nally, the test, as originally conceived, is pass/fail rather than tem scores more than 90% on the exam’s non-diagram, mul- scored, thus providing no measure of progress toward a goal, tiple choice (NDMC) questions. In addition, our Aristo sys- something essential for any challenge problem. tem, building upon the success of recent language models, Instead of a binary pass/fail, machine intelligence is more exceeded 83% on the corresponding Grade 12 Science Exam appropriately viewed as a diverse collection of capabilities NDMC questions.
    [Show full text]