How Bill Gates Impacted And Shaped Technology In The United States

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During the 1970s, life lacked what many consider a necessity today: a personal computer. Major competition in making the best software and electronics didn’t yet exist. Bill Gates’ addiction for computer coding created something that changed technology and shaped life today. Bill Gates has become significant in the United States by using his brilliance in technology and business to make an impact; he reinvented computer operating systems and software with Microsoft, and is responsible for several philanthropic efforts.
Bill Gates programmed in school, which was typing out the specific coded software instructions to control the operations of the computer. This began the foundation of what was his tremendous impact. It started in 1975, when Gates and his classmate Paul Allen used the computer language BASIC, or the Beginner’s All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code, for microcomputers in their school. Keith Ferrell states, “Microsoft began in 1975 as an informal business partnership between former schoolmates Bill Gates and Paul Allen. The two men adapted the programming language BASIC (Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) for use with the earliest home computer, the MITS (Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems) Altair 8800” (Ferrell). Bill later dropped out of Harvard to publish and market their program they had coded together. In 1980, Microsoft was selected by IBM to design the operating system for its first personal computer (Ferrell). Their operating system was very different and new. According to Ferrell:
In 1985, Microsoft introduced the first of a series of operating systems called Windows. These programs employ a graphical user interface (GUI), which allows people to issue commands by pointing to on-scre...

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... revolutionize the lives of others as Bill Gates has, for he opened the floodgates of today’s technology and personal computers.

Works Cited

"Bill Gates." America the Beautiful. Grolier Online, n.d. Web. 6 Feb 2014.
Ferrell, Keith. "Microsoft Corporation." World Book Student. World Book, 2014. Web. 13 Feb. 2014.
"Gates Foundation." Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia. Grolier Online, 2014. Web. 5 Feb. 2014.
Lohr, Steve. " Microsoft Seeks Path Beyond Gates’s Legacy ." New York Times 27 6 2008, n. pag. Web. 6 Feb. 2014. .
Microsoft By the Numbers . 2013 . Chart. Microsoft Web. 11 Feb 2014. .
" #1 Bill Gates ." Forbes . Forbes.com LLC™ , n.d. Web. 10 Feb 2014. .

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