Management and Change, Bill Gates

Management and Change, Bill Gates

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 int...

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...e would be very

different. The leading companies, the successful companies of this

next era, will be the ones that embrace this digital revolution and

build what I call a digital nervous system.) (According to the

Interviewed on March 11, 1999 in Yokohama, Japan.)

From this interview, I could find out that he is going to make his

business even better. Making the products to suit people, to make

people comfortable, to make people interested, are the aim. Hence, I

forecast that his product and his business will be even more

successful.

Reference:

http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blbillgates.htm

http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aa080499.htm

http://www.computerhope.com/history/windows.htm

http://www.mccombs.utexas.edu/kman/microsoft.htm

http://www.microsoft.com

Business at the Speed of Thought¨