William Henry Gates III: In The Beginning

On October 28, 1955, shortly after 9:00 p.m., William Henry Gates III was born. He was born into a family with a rich history in business, politics, and community service. His great-grandfather had been a state legislator and mayor, his grandfather was the vice president of a national bank, and his father was a prominent lawyer. [Wallace, 1992, p. 8-9] Early on in life, it was apparent that Bill Gates inherited the ambition, intelligence, and competitive spirit that had helped his progenitors rise to the top in their chosen professions. In elementary school he quickly surpassed all of his peer's abilities in nearly all subjects, especially math and science. His parents recognized his intelligence and decided to enroll him in Lakeside, a private school known for its intense academic environment. This decision had far reaching effects on Bill Gates's life. For at Lakeside, Bill Gates was first introduced to computers.
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In December of 1974, Allen was on his way to visit Gates when along the way he stopped to browse the current magazines. What he saw 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 over to Gates's dorm room. They both recognized this as their big opportunity. The two 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]. This was a lie. They had not even written a line of code. They had neither an Altair nor the chip that ran the computer. The MITS company did not know this and was very interested in seeing their BASIC. So, Gates and Allen began working feverishly on the BASIC they had promised. The code for the program was left mostly up to Bill Gates while Paul Allen began working on a way to simulate the Altair with the schools PDP-10. Eight weeks later, the two felt their program was ready. Allen was to fly to MITS and show off their creation. The day after Allen arrived at MITS, it was time to test their BASIC. Entering the program into the company's Altair was the first time Allen had ever touched one. If the Altair simulation he designed or any of Gates's code was faulty, the demonstration would most likely have ended in failure. This was not the case, and the program worked perfectly the first time [Wallace, 1992, p. 80]. MITS arranged a deal with Gates and Allen to buy the rights to their BASIC.[Teamgates.com, 9/29/96] Gates was convinced that the software market had been born. Within a year, Bill Gates had dropped out of Harvard and Microsoft was formed.


Source: http://ei.cs.vt.edu/~history/Gates.Mirick.html


Commentary: Remember the old phrase, "It takes money to make money?" William "Bill" Gates is a great tribute to this phrase, as well as a model of business ethics for us to think about. Bill Gates was born into a wealthy family, so his early education advancement was far easier than other students with the same aptitude potential as him. Because he was able to go to a private education center for better learning as a young man, this created the possibility for him that set his lifelong path into motion. He first found interest in computers at his private school, was able to excel and enter Harvard; both schools required a higher cost which the Gates family could easily afford. But what if Bill Gates was unable to afford better learning centers from a young age to young adult? Would Microsoft have ever been founded? Even so, does there lie a possibility another young man with as much, if not more, aptitude than Bill went under the radar because his family couldn't afford the same schools as Gates? We may never know, but in considering the alternatives, a good financial start clearly helped Gates get a step ahead. This is the very financial dispersion in our country that allows us to prosper, as Gates did as an individual, and as America has because of his individual accomplishments.