Bill Gates (1955-…)

Bill Gates  is a cofounder and the chairman and chief software architect of Microsoft Corporation. From 1975 until 2000, he also served as Microsoft’s chief executive officer. Microsoft is the world’s largest developer and publisher of software programs for personal computers. William Henry Gates was born in Seattle. He set up his first software company at age 15 with a schoolmate named Paul Allen. In 1975, he and Allen began to design programs for personal computers, which had just entered the marketplace. The two founded Microsoft that year. In 1980, International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) chose Microsoft to develop the operating system for its first personal computer, the PC. An operating system is a special type of program that contains instructions for the operation of the computer. Gates devised the Microsoft Disk Operating System (MS-DOS) for IBM. Millions of copies of MS-DOS were sold for use in IBM and IBM-compatible PC’s. Microsoft continued to grow under Gates’s guidance. In 1985, the company introduced the first of a series of PC programs called Windows. These programs enable users to perform multiple tasks through “windows” on the computer screen and to issue commands by pointing at onscreen symbols rather than by typing instructions. Microsoft has sold millions of copies of Windows.

Microsoft Corporation is the world’s largest developer and publisher of software programs for personal computers. In addition, Microsoft operates online services and a cable-television news channel. The company also produces software for the operation of electronic devices other than computers.

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. They were soon writing programs for other manufacturers’ computers. In 1980, International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) chose Microsoft to develop the operating system for its first personal computer, the PC. An operating system is software that contains instructions for all of a computer’s functions. Millions of copies of the Microsoft Disk Operating System (MS-DOS) were sold for use in IBM computers and IBM-compatible PC’s.

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-screen symbols and clicking a mouse rather than by typing instructions. The program also enables people to perform multiple tasks, each in a different “window” on the computer screen. Microsoft has sold millions of copies of Windows. The company also produces other software products for business and consumer use. These products include Excel, a spreadsheet program; FoxPro, a database-management program; and Word, a word-processing program.

In 1998, the United States Department of Justice, along with 20 state attorneys general and the corporation counsel for the District of Columbia, filed an antitrust suit against Microsoft. Later that year, one of the states, South Carolina, withdrew from the suit. The lawsuit charged that the company used unfair practices to destroy its competitors. Following a 1999 trial, a federal district court judge, Thomas Penfield Jackson, found that the Microsoft Corporation is a monopoly that has harmed competitors and consumers. He appointed a judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals to help the company and the government negotiate a settlement. In April 2000, settlement talks broke down, and Jackson found Microsoft guilty of violating U.S. antitrust laws. In June 2000, Jackson ordered the corporation to be split into two different companies–one that would produce only operating systems and another that would produce and manage other products and services. Microsoft officials appealed the order.

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