Bill Gates is the co-founder of the computer-software company called Microsoft. His company has changed how millions of people in the world communicate and how they do business.
Gates was born in Seattle, Washington, on October 28, 1955. His father was a lawyer and his mother was very active in the community. Gates attended public school until he was 12. He then went to a private school. It was here that he met and became friends with Paul Allen, his Microsoft co-founder. Gates was very good at math and at 13 he began to work with computers. He and Allen often worked together on computer projects and had their own small company in high school.
In 1973, Gates went to Harvard University. Steve Ballmer lived in the same building and they became friends. Ballmer later became the president of Microsoft.
In 1974, the MITS company asked Gates and Allen to write the programming language for its Altair 8800, the first microcomputer. It was a success and MITS gave them more work. In 1975, Gates and Allen moved to New Mexico and started Microsoft. The first few years were hard.
In 1979, they moved their company to Seattle. In 1980, the IBM company developed a computer for people to use at home. Microsoft supplied the operating system for it. Gates and Allen made enough money from this to stay in business.
Microsoft is still developing and building software for both personal and business computers. In 1995, it brought out the Internet Explorer browser. People all over the world use it to go onto the Internet.
Microsoft has been so successful that Bill Gates is one of the richest people in the world. He and his wife, Melinda, give billions of dollars to charity every year. They have set up a scholarship program to help minority students go to university. They have also given large amounts of money to global health groups, libraries, and community projects.
Gates, his wife, and their three children live near Seattle. Their 40,000-square-foot house is famous for its use of technology.
