Bill Gates and Microsoft

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Bill Gates and Microsoft

Just past 9 PM on

October 28, 1955, the man who would revolutionize the

computer industry as we know it, was born. The son of Bill Jr.

and Mary Gates was named William Henry Gates III. The

computer super-genius was soon to take his place in history.

Within the last fifteen years the company that he and Paul

Allan started, Microsoft, has become the largest software

corporation in the computer industry. What is Bill Gates

background, and how did he preserve his place in history

while amassing his fortune? Bill Gates grew up in a typical

wealthy family. His father, Bill Gates Jr., was a lawyer in

Seattle, Washington. His mother was a socialite housewife

and occasional teacher. Growing up, Bill Gates’ nickname

was "Trey." This nickname was indicative of the III after his

name. This nickname has stayed with him throughout his life

to date (Wallace and Erikson 10). Bill also grew up as a

middle child between his two sisters. His older sister is named

Kirsti, and his younger sister’s name is Libby (Sihvonen 3).

Bill Gates attended Lakeside School (an expensive private

school in Seattle) as a child. Bill Gates was first introduced to

computers as a student at Lakeside School. A company called

Computer Center Corporation (referred to as "C-cubed" by Bill

Gates) leased computers from Digital Equipment Corporation.

In 1968, the board of Lakeside School decided to provide a

computer (a GE PDP-10 connected via Teletype at the

school), and computer time for their students (Wallace and

Erikson 26). Almost instantly, Bill and a handful of fellow

students were addicted to the new computer. Within a year,

Bill Gates, Paul Allan, and two other students of Lakeside

School formed the Lakeside Programmer’s Group. At the age

of 13, Bill Gates had already constructed an application

(program) that played tic-tac-toe. Later, the Lakeside

Programmer’s Group developed an application called

Traf-O-Data. This was a program that would calculate the

number of cars traveling down a road, and would give the

best timing for a stop light. C-cubed used Gates and his

friends to try and hack items, but Gates was often scolded for

hacking too much. Unfortunately, in 1970, C-cubed went out

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