Bill Gates

Dillon Brown
Professor Hershenberg
3 December 2012
Government DC
Bill Gates Bill Gates is an extraordinary man in the world of technology, as everybody knows from making the groundbreaking software “Microsoft”, to working to make better and more powerful computers for today’s world. However, the impact has had effects far more than just the technological world. With his charity work and strong beliefs, he has shown to be a well known advocate for making the world a better place. So this is why he is my active political figure that I hope to somewhat follow in his morals. Bill Gates wasn’t always known as Bill Gates, He was actually born by the name William Henry Gates III on October 28 of 1955. He was born in Seattle Washington as the middle of three children. His two other siblings were his sisters. There was Kristianne, who was older than Gates, and Libby who was the youngest. His father of course was William Henry Gates Sr. and his mother was Mary Maxwell, who later became Mary Gates when the two got married. “The Gates family atmosphere was warm and close, and all three children were encouraged to be competitive and strive for excellence. Bill showed early signs of competitiveness when he coordinated family athletic games at their summer house on Puget Sound” 1. Bill Gates was especially close to his mother more than his father. Although both of his parents were often away working, his mother actually quit her job to be a stay at home mom after Gates father started making more income. While he was young, Gates did a ton of reading in his spare time. He enjoyed taking in knowledge so he knew more about the world around him. He would even take it so far as to read the encyclopedia among other books. His parents thought Bill seemed to be missing something in his life around the age of 11 and 12. Even though he was doing fantastic in school, he seemed bored at home more than anything. “When Bill turned 13 they enrolled him in Seattle's Lakeside School, an exclusive preparatory school. He blossomed in nearly all his subjects, excelling in math and science, but also doing very well in drama and English.”1 It was here at the Lakeside School where Gates blossomed. This is where he started to show interest in computers. The school provided the students with a computer club for extracurricular purposes. He immediately fell in love with the machine. So much in fact that he even created a program that allowed people to play tic-tac-toe against a computer. It was also at this lakeside school where Gates met his longtime friend and partner Paul Allen. With the two both going to the same school and having an extreme interest in computers, it wasn’t surprising that the two became best friends, the spent a lot of time together in the labs helping to better understand the computer. But of course like all friendships, they argued about some points, even getting to the point where they would be kicked out of the computer labs due to the heated arguments. At age 15 Gates underwent his first major breakthrough with his friend Paul Allen. The two created a program by the name of “Traf-o-Data”. This program itself was made to monitor the traffic patterns throughout the Seattle area. The two ended up making roughly twenty-thousand dollars off of the operation which inspired Gate to want to start his own business with Paul. However, his efforts were delayed by his parents who wanted him to of course finish school first and hopefully go off to college to study and become a lawyer. So it was then that he went on to finish his schooling scoring an outstanding 1590 out of 1600 on the SAT. Bill Gates went off to attend Harvard to try and pursue a law career like his parents had hoped. However, Gates noticed that his interests were far more focused on computers rather than law, so he went on to try and pursue a career of computer technology instead. After drifting apart for a while Bill Gates and Paul Allen came back together to work on a software program to run a newly built computer being manufactured in Albuquerque, New Mexico called the Altair micro-computer. The creators agreed to give Gates and Allen a chance to show what they can do. Considering they didn’t not have that model of computer for their own at the time, it made the creation of the program that much difficult. The first attempt of the new software tuned out to be a great success. After this feat, Gates left Harvard to continue making progress with Allen. It was then that the two officially came together in order to stat their new company Micro-soft. This was a company that the two started making money instantly off of. They were making software, de-bug programs, as well as programs for all computers coming out across the nation at the time. Having only started the company in 1975, by 1978 the company had produced more than 2.5 million dollars. The most amazing part about it is that Bill Gates was only 23 years old when he accomplished this feat.
Thanks to his mother Gates was able to met with the CEO of IBM industries. They were looking for a software that they could use for their new personal computer or PC rather. “Legend has it that at the first meeting with Bill Gates someone at IBM mistook him for an office assistant and asked him to serve coffee. Gates did look very young, but he quickly impressed IBM, convincing them that he and his company could meet their needs”.2 After meeting Gates agreed to Create this software, selling it to IBM for 50,000 dollars. Gates made a smart move with this because he did not sell the license of the product to the company allowing him to be able to sell it to other companies in the future if necessary for better pay.
“Between 1978 and 1981, Microsoft's growth exploded, and staff increased from 25 to 128. Revenue also shot up from $4 million to $16 million. In mid-1981 Gates and Allen incorporated Microsoft, and Gates was appointed president and chairman of the board. Allen was named executive vice-president.”3 By the time 1983 came around the Microsoft company had started selling software to Japan, which made them a Global wide company. Roughly 30% of all computers were run by Microsoft’s software. Around this same time Paul Allen was diagnosed with cancer and was forced to resign from the company.
Microsoft then did a lot of collaboration work with Macintosh systems in order t come up with even better software. Once Gates found out of a way to make software more of a simple visual setup rather than a code, he jumped on the approach and made the famous windows software in 1985, thus shaping and innovating the technological industry forever.
Aside from his professional life, Bill Gates had an exciting personal life. In 1989, a woman by the name of Melinda French joined the Microsoft team and ever since then had been attached to Gates. They actually eloped in Hawaii January 1 of 1994. Not too long after this excited moment in his life was when his mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. His mother being the most important figure in his life, Gates was crushed when his mother passed. However, he overcame this traumatic time and decided to travel with his wife around the world until 1996 when they had their first child Jennifer. It was then that the family decided to settle down and bout a lake house out in Washington to live out the rest of their days.
As an American business man Bill Gates has never been one to shy away for organizations. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is one of the most well-known organizations today through their effort to help others throughout the nation. The reality is if most people these days were as wealthy as Mr. Gates the money would only go towards themselves to be spent on personal items such as expensive cars, homes and other unnecessary items. I for one would follow in Bill Gates footsteps and give to any and all charities. Because I know that some people, a lot of people actually are not that fortunate, therefore everyone can use a little bit of help. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is ranked as the second most generous philanthropists in America. This shows how Gates cares for the small organizations and refuses to be selfish with the money he has earned over the years. The way that Gates has chosen to spend his money is in such a generous and selfless way that we don’t see much of these days. This is one of the reasons why I chose him to be my political figure because he is someone that knows what he wants out of life, and although he has the money to buy out a state, he doesn’t. Just small little things like this make bill Gates an even better man in my eyes.
Bill Gates was also an extremely smart individual from day one that was always looking for new exciting things to build or to create. For example while attending Lakeside school Bill Gates wrote his first computer program it was an implementation of tic-tac-toe that allowed users to play games against the computer. This is relatable to me I am currently working on a program within my Architecture program that will help with establishing each individuals portfolio so that it can be stored and shared within that program. Just like Bill Gates I find extreme enjoyment in being creative and innovative. Im always looking for ways to better what I’ve done in the past, or make something brand new and amazing whether it be a material thing or just my own personal goals ive set for myself. The creative minds we both share s another reason why I chose Bill Gates for my figure.
Bill Gates is also a strong advocate for getting a better education system. Education is what runs the country. People with a good education, such as Bill Gates, end up shaping the world for the better just like he did with his Microsoft innovations. I am a strong believer in a better education. Growing up the some of the neighborhoods that I did, not all schools are stable and easy going like they should be. I believe it is important to invest money in schools so that each and every child has the opportunity to get the best possible education. If this can be done then America and its future generations will be better benefitted, Which in turn just generally makes the world a better place. Another controversial topic that Bill Gates and I strongly believe in is world health. More money is invested in world health from the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation than any other issue. Usually those living in America assume that there is always going to be food to eat and shelter to hide under, when in actuality it is very common for people to live in poverty. Bill Gates understands this, which is why he spends so much time, effort and money trying to help out world health. To even lessen the amount of poverty seen throughout the world is a huge step in making the world better. Which is why its so important to me. I was lucky enough to be born into a family that was able to care and provide for me. I do realize that there are quite a lot of people, even entire families that don’t know where there next meal is coming from, or if the water they drink will be fresh. It’s absolutley nerve raking thinking about it. So I truly believe that my efforts that I can make to help world health will make a difference because it is one more person along will Bill Gates trying to change the world for the better.
I often find myself idolizing Bill Gates. Normally one would think a superhero, or maybe a famous athlete to be a role model or someone to look up to. However, after studying Bill Gates and what he has accomplished and what he stands for, I believe there is no one better suited for a role model than Bill Gates. I will strive to help the causes that he fights for such as education, world health, the low and middle class, and the economy, while also supporting charities that also fight for these causes. Although I will try my best to do everything I possibly can, I do understand that I cannot go about it alone.
I believe that Bill Gates directly relates to me and who I want to be through is creative mind, his passion to shape the world, and his will power to not let his power through his wealth overwhelm him.