Management and Change, Bill Gates
By: regina • Research Paper • 2,072 Words • December 10, 2009 • 1,424 Views
Essay title: Management and Change, Bill Gates
Management and change
--Bill Gates (The richest man in the world)
Bibliography
William (Bill) H. Gates is chairman and chief software architect of
Microsoft Corporation, the worldwide leader in software, services and
Internet technologies for personal and business computing. Microsoft
had revenues of US$32.19 billion for the fiscal year ending June
2002, and employs more than 50,000 people in 72 countries and
regions.
Born on Oct. 28, 1955, Gates grew up in Seattle with his two sisters.
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.
The birth of Microsoft
A. The idea
In December of 1974, his partner Allen was on his way to visit
Gates when along the way he stopped to browse a magazine. After he
saw that, it changed his and Bill Gates's lives forever. On the cover
of Popular Electronics was a picture of the Altair 8080 and the
headline "World's First Microcomputer Kit to Rival Commercial
Models." He bought the issue and rushed to Gates's room. They both
recognized it was a great opportunity for business and their business
brain started to work. They knew that the home computer market was
about to explode and that someone would need to make software for the
new machines.
Within a few days, Gates had called MITS (Micro Instrumentation and
Telemetry Systems), the makers of the Altair. He told the company
that he and Allen had developed a BASIC that could be used on the
Altair [Teamgates.com, 9/29/96]. They had not even written a line of
code. They had neither an Altair nor the chip that ran the computer.
The MITS company was very interested in seeing their BASIC since they
never seen such thing before. Gates and Allen began to work
feverishly on the BASIC they had promised. The code for the program
was left mostly up to Bill Gates while Paul Allen began working on a
way to simulate the Altair with the schools PDP-10.
When they both felt their program was ready. Allen was to fly to MITS
and show off their creation. The day after Allen arrived at MITS, it
was time to test their BASIC. Entering the program into the company's
Altair was the first time Allen had ever touched one. If the Altair
simulation he designed or any of Gates's code was faulty, the
demonstration would most likely have ended in failure.
B. The start
In the Spring of 1968, the Lakeside prep school decided that it
should acquaint the student body with the world of computers
[Teamgates.com, 9/29/96]. Computers were still too large and costly
for the school to purchase its own. Instead, the school had a fund