Bill Gates
Co-founder of Microsoft
Corp.
Founded: 1975
Founded: 1975
"Ultimately, the PC will be a window to
everything people are interested in-and everything we need to know."-Bill
Gates
Some see him as an innovative visionary who
sparked a computer revolution. Others see him as a modern-day robber baron
whose predatory practices have stifled competition in the software industry.
Regardless of what his supporters and detractors may think, few can argue
that Bill Gates is one of, if not the most
successful entrepreneur of the 20th century. In
just 25 years, he built a two-man operation into a multibillion-dollar colossus
and made himself the richest man in the world somewhere along the way. Yet
he accomplished this feat not by inventing new technology, but by taking
existing technology, adapting it to a specific market, and then dominating that
market through innovative promotion and cunning business savvy.
Gates' first exposure to computers came while
he was attending the prestigious Lakeside School in Seattle. A local company
offered the use of its computer to the school through a Teletype link, and
young Gates became entranced by the possibilities of the primitive machine.
Along with fellow student Paul Allen, he began ditching class to work in the
school's computer room. Their work would soon pay off. When Gates was 15, he and Allen went into business
together. The two teens netted $20,000 with Traf-O-Data, a program they
developed to measure traffic flow in the Seattle area.
Despite his love and
obvious aptitude for computer programming, and perhaps because of his father's
influence, Gates entered Harvard in the fall of 1973. By his own admission,
he was there in body but not in spirit, preferring to spend his time playing
poker and video games rather than attending class.
All that changed in December 1974, when Allen
showed Gates a magazine article about the world's first microcomputer, the
Altair 8800. Seeing an opportunity, Gates and Allen called the manufacturer, MITS,
in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and told the president they had written a version
of the popular computer language BASIC for the Altair. When he said he'd like
to see it, Gates and Allen, who actually hadn't written anything, starting
working day and night in Harvard's computer lab. Because they did not have an
Altair to work on, they were forced to simulate it on other computers. When
Allen flew to Albuquerque to test the program on the Altair, neither he nor
Gates was sure it would run. But run it did. Gates dropped out of Harvard and
moved with Allen to Albuquerque, where they officially established Microsoft. MITS collapsed shortly thereafter, but Gates and
Allen were already writing software for other computer start-ups including
Commodore, Apple and Tandy Corp.
The duo moved the company to Seattle in 1979,
and that's when Microsoft hit the big time. When Gates learned IBM was having trouble obtaining an operating system for
its new PC, he bought an existing operating system from a small Seattle company
for $50,000, developed it into MS-DOS (Microsoft Disk Operating System), then
licensed it to IBM. The genius of the IBM deal, masterminded by Gates, was that
while IBM got MS-DOS, Microsoft retained the right to license it to other
computer makers.
Much as Gates had anticipated, after the
first IBM PCs were released, cloners such as Compaq began producing compatible
PCs, and the market was soon flooded with clones. Like IBM, rather than produce
their own operating systems, the cloners decided it was cheaper to purchase
MS-DOS off the shelf. As a result, MS-DOS became the standard operating system
for the industry, and Microsoft's sales soared from $7 million in 1980 to $16
million in 1981.
Microsoft expanded into
applications software and continued to grow unchecked until 1984, when Apple
introduced the first Macintosh computer. The Macintosh's sleek graphical user
interface (GUI) was far easier to use than MS-DOS and threatened to make the
Microsoft program obsolete. In response to this threat, Gates announced that
Microsoft was developing its own GUI-based operating system called Windows.
Gates then took Microsoft public in 1986 to generate capital. The IPO was a
roaring success, making Gates one of the wealthiest people in the country
overnight.
When Windows was finally released in 1985, it
wasn't exactly the breakthrough Gates had predicted. Critics claimed it was
slow and cumbersome. Apple wasn't exactly pleased either. They saw Windows as a
rip-off of the Macintosh operating system and sued. The case would drag on
until the mid-1990s, when the courts finally decided that Apple's suit had no
merit.
Meanwhile, Gates worked on improving Windows.
Subsequent versions of the program ran faster and froze less frequently.
Third-party programmers began developing Windows-based programs, and Microsoft's
own applications became hot sellers. By 1993, Windows was selling at a rate of
1 million copies per month and was estimated to be running on nearly 85 percent
of the world's computers.
Microsoft solidified its industry dominance
in the mid-1990s by combining Windows with its other applications into
"suites" and persuading leading computer makers to preload their
software on every computer they sold. The strategy worked so well that by 1999
Microsoft was posting sales of $19.7 billion, and Gates' personal wealth had
grown to a phenomenal $90 billion.
But with success has come scrutiny.
Microsoft's competitors have complained that the company uses its operating
system monopoly to retard the development of new technology -- a claim Gates
soundly refutes. Nevertheless, the U.S. Justice Department filed an antitrust
lawsuit against the company in 1998 over its practice of bundling software with
Windows.
In November 1999, a U.S. District Court ruled
that Microsoft indeed had a monopoly in the market for desktop-computer
operating systems. The court also found that Microsoft engaged in tactics aimed
at snuffing out any innovation that threatened its dominance of the
multibillion-dollar computer industry. A court settlement was approved in
2002 with Microsoft consenting to curb some of its
objectionable practices. Microsoft has since been the focus
of antitrust actions from the European Commission and private
litigants.
Attempting to explain his tremendous success,
industry experts have pointed out that there are really two Bill Gateses. One
is a consummate computer geek who can "hack code" with the best of
them. The other is a hard-driven businessman who, unlike most of his fellow Silicon Valley superstars, took readily to commerce and
has an innate instinct for the marketplace. This combination enabled Gates to
see what his competitors could not. While they were focusing on selling
software, Gates was focusing on setting standards, first with MS-DOS and later
with Windows. The standards he helped set shaped the modern computer industry
and will continue to influence its growth well into the next century.
As a child, Bill Gates' two favorite games
were "Risk" (where the object is world domination) and
"Monopoly."
Microsoft's Other Billionaire Bill Gates has
become the singular face of Microsoft, but the company wouldn't be what it is
today without Paul Allen. It was Allen who primarily wrote Microsoft's first
program, and according to Microsoft veterans, he championed the company's
biggest successes, including MS-DOS, Windows and Microsoft Word. But Allen
reached a turning point in 1983, when he was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease.
Forced to rethink his priorities, Allen resigned from his
day-to-day duties at Microsoft and resolved to spend more time enjoying the
luxuries his great wealth could afford. He pursued the good life for two or
three years, during which time the cancer went into remission. Rather than
return to Microsoft, however, he plunged into another start-up, founding
Asymetrix in 1985, and has since gone on to become one of the country's most
successful high-tech venture capitalists.
1.
What
tenses are used in the article? (show the proof)
Answer: The article use Simple Past Tense
Proof = When Gates was 15, he and Allen went
into business together. The two teens netted $20,000 with Traf-O-Data, a
program they developed to measure traffic flow in the Seattle area.
2.
Restate
one sentence in the article into gerund / to + infinitive
Answer: Like IBM, rather than produce their own operating
systems, the cloners decided it was cheaper to purchase MS-DOS off the shelf
Like IBM, rather than produce their own operating systems, the cloners decided it was cheaper purchasing MS-DOS off the shelf.
Like IBM, rather than produce their own operating systems, the cloners decided it was cheaper purchasing MS-DOS off the shelf.
3.
Show a
use of personal pronouns or possessive pronouns or reflexive pronouns in the
article.
Answer: In just 25 years, he built a two-man
operation into a multibillion-dollar colossus and made himself the richest man in the world
somewhere along the way.
sumber : https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/197526
