III) Empresario Estadounidense (Seattle, Washington, 1955 - ). Bill Gates naci en una familia acomodada que le proporcion una educacin en centros de elite como la Escuela de Lakeside (1967-73) y la Universidad de Harvard (1973-77). Siempre en colaboracin con su amigo Paul Allen, se introdujo en el mundo de la informtica formando un pequeo equipo dedicado a la realizacin de programas que vendan a empresas o Administraciones pblicas.
(William Henry Gates
III) American businessman (Seattle, Washington, 1955 -). Bill Gates was born into a wealthy family that provided an education in elite centers like Lakeside School (1967-73) and Harvard University (1973-1977). Always in collaboration with his friend Paul Allen, was introduced to the world of computers forming a small team dedicated to the implementation of programs that sold to companies or public administrations.
Ayer, 4 de abril, se cumplieron 35 aos desde que Bill
Gates y Paul Allen fundaron la empresa de software Microsoft. Para conmemorar este aniversario, rescatamos una completa biografa publicada en MUY Historia de Bill Gates, de quien la revista Fortune dijo: "Se le puede amar u odiar, pero no se le puede ignorar.
Yesterday, April 4, marked the 35 years since Bill Gates
and Paul Allen founded Microsoft enterprise software. To commemorate this anniversary, we rescued a complete biography on VERY History of Bill Gates, who told Fortune magazine: "You can love or hate, but you can not ignore."
La polica del estado de Nuevo Mxico detuvo el 13 de
diciembre de 1977 a un joven rubio que conduca sin licencia. Lo llev a la comisara y le hizo varias fotos de frente y de perfil. El joven de 22 aos, que usaba gafas enormes, sonri mientras sostena su nmero de ficha policial: 105.519. Le pareca divertido todo aquello.
State police stopped the New Mexico December 13,
1977 to a blond young man driving without a license. She took him to the police station and made several photos of front and profile. The 22-year-old wearing huge glasses, smiled as he held his police record number: 105,519. Everything seemed funny.
No era la primera vez que este chico daba un disgusto a
sus padres. Dos aos antes, en 1975, el chaval haba dejado la universidad, pero no cualquier universidad sino Harvard, la fbrica de talentos mundiales. La verdad es que no era muy aplicado. "Durante mi primer ao, institu una poltica deliberada de saltarme la mayora de las clases para despus estudiar febrilmente al final del curso", confesara muchos aos despus en un libro de recuerdos. Y qu haca durante su tiempo libre? "Llen mis horas de ocio con una buena cantidad de pquer".
It was not the first time this guy was a disappointment to
his parents. Two years earlier, in 1975, the boy had left the university, but not just any college, but Harvard, global talent factory. The truth is that it was not applied. "During my first year, I instituted a deliberate policy of skipping most classes after studying feverishly at the end of the course," confessed many years later in a scrapbook. And what was he doing during your free time? "I filled my spare time with a lot of poker."
Tahr, travieso, vago... ni los policas del estado de
Nuevo Mxico ni los profesores de Harvard podan imaginar que aquel chico se convertira en la mayor fortuna del universo 20 aos despus. Segn la ltima clasificacin de la revista Forbes, su riqueza alcanza los 56.000 millones de dlares (unos 41.670 millones de euros). Su ocupacin: hacer programas de ordenador. Empresa: Microsoft. Plantilla: 76.000 personas, en 102 pases. Edad: 51 aos. Su nombre: William Gates III, ms conocido como Bill Gates. Y, ahora, la pregunta del milln: cmo lleg tan lejos aquel gafotas que jugaba al pquer en la universidad? Bill Gates es el segundo de los tres hijos que tuvo el matrimonio formado por William Gates y Mary Maxwell. Naci el 28 de octubre de 1955 en Seattle, en la costa oeste de EE UU. La suya no era una familia pobre, desde luego. El padre de Bill era un destacado abogado y la madre, una ejecutiva de alto copete del First Interstate Bank, uno de los mayores del pas. Viniendo de una saga con tanto dinero, no tuvo problemas para entrar a los 13 aos en Lakeside School, la escuela ms prestigiosa y cara de Seattle, donde descubri muy pronto su pasin por los ordenadores gracias al Club de Madres. Y es que tras una rifa benfica, este grupo de mujeres hizo algo que aos despus agradecera la humanidad entera: comprar un ordenador para el colegio. Bill Gates y su amigo Paul Allen programaban juegos sencillos sentados frente a aquel enorme, pesado y lento aparato hasta que ste degluta los resultados, que luego aparecan en una gran impresora. "Entonces, nos lanzbamos sobre ella para echar un vistazo y ver quin haba ganado", confiesa Gates en su autobiografa. Una maniobra que tardaba 30 segundos! Aquel trasto, llamado PDP- 8, fabricado por Digital Equipment, costaba 18.000 dlares (unos 13.400 euros). Ocupaba el tamao de un pequeo armario de metro y medio de altura, pero sirvi para que un joven de 13 aos soase con que algn da millones de individuos podran tener sus propias computadoras. "Estoy seguro de que una de las razones por las que estaba tan decidido a ayudar a que se desarrollara el ordenador personal era porque quera tener uno para m", ha dicho varias veces.
Gambler, wicked, lazy cops ... or the state of New
Mexico and Harvard professors could imagine that this boy would become the richest man in the world 20 years later. According to the latest ranking of Forbes magazine, wealth reached 56,000 million dollars (about 41,670 million euros). His occupation: making computer programs. Company: Microsoft. Employees: 76,000 people in 102 countries. Age: 51 years. Your name: William Gates III, better known as Bill Gates. And now the big question: how did this bespectacled so far playing poker in college? Bill Gates is the second of three sons by the marriage of William and Mary Maxwell Gates. He was born on October 28, 1955 in Seattle, on the west coast of the USA. His was not a poor family, of course. Bill's father was a prominent lawyer and mother, a high-end executive of First Interstate Bank, one of the largest in the country. Coming from a saga with much money, had no problem getting in at 13 Lakeside School, the most prestigious and expensive school in Seattle, where soon discovered his passion for computers through the Mothers Club. And so, after a charity raffle, this group of women did something that years later would appreciate humanity: buying a computer for college. Bill Gates and his friend Paul Allen programmed simple games sitting in front of that huge, heavy and slow device until you swallowed it results, then appeared in a printer. "So we were launching on it to take a look and see who had won," says Gates in his autobiography. A maneuver that took 30 seconds! That gizmo called PDP-8, manufactured by Digital Equipment, cost $ 18,000 (about 13,400 euros). Occupied the size of a small closet five feet tall, but it served a 13-year old were dreaming that one day millions of individuals may have their own computers. "I'm sure that one of the reasons I was so determined to help develop the personal computer was because I wanted to have one for me," he said several times.
Esa visin comenz a hacerse realidad en 1975. Un da,
deambulando por las calles cerca de la universidad, Gates y Allen se fijaron en otro modelo: la revista Popular Electronics mostraba una pequea computadora para ensamblar en casa por 397 dlares (unos 296 euros). Llamarlo computadora era demasiado porque era una caja de luces sin teclado y sin pantalla. Su nombre era Altair, y lo ms importante de todo es que llevaba en el corazn un innovador chip 8080 de Intel. Gates y Allen quedaron paralizados. O se daban prisa, o alguien se les iba a adelantar creando el software para ese chip. Paul Allen consigui el manual del 8080 y con Gates se dedic a escribir un programa Basic modificado. "Paul y yo no dormimos mucho y perdimos la nocin de la noche y el da", confesara Gates aos despus. "Pero a las cinco semanas, tenamos escrito nuestro Basic y haba nacido la primera compaa de software para microcomputadoras. En su da la denominamos MicroSoft". Fue entonces cuando Bill Gates decidi abandonar la universidad. Tena 19 aos. Bill Gates fue un hombre orquesta en los tres primeros aos de existencia de Microsoft. Era agente comercial, llevaba las finanzas y el marketing, y mejoraba su propio programa. Estaba naciendo la industria del ordenador personal y las empresas informticas acudan a Microsoft con toda clase de proyectos. El volumen de trabajo era tan desmesurado que Gates recurri a un viejo compaero de la universidad llamado Steve Ballmer para que se ocupara de dirigir la compaa, ya que Gates no quera dedicar ms de un 10% de su esfuerzo mental a los negocios. Ballmer acept con la condicin de que le diera manga ancha para contratar personal. Gracias a ello, las ventas de Microsoft crecieron incluso ms rpido de lo que esperaban.
That vision began to take shape in 1975 One day,
wandering the streets near the university, Gates and Allen were fixed in another model. Magazine Popular Electronics showed a small computer to assemble at home for $ 397 (about 296 euros) . Calling computer was too because it was a light box without keyboard or screen. His name was Altair, and most important of all is wearing in the heart of an innovative Intel 8080 chip. Gates and Allen were paralyzed. Or were hurrying, or someone they were going to forward creating the software for that chip. Paul Allen won the 8080 manual and Gates went on to write a modified Basic program. "Paul and I did not sleep much and lost track of night and day," Gates confessed years later. "But at five weeks, we had written our Basic and was born the first microcomputer software company. At the time the call Micro-Soft". Bill Gates was when he decided to leave college. He was 19. Bill Gates was a one man band in the first three years of existence of Microsoft. Was commercial agent wore finance and marketing, and improved their own program. He was born the personal computer industry and computer companies came to Microsoft with all kinds of projects. The workload was so excessive that Gates turned to an old college roommate Steve Ballmer called for to deal to run the company, as Gates did not want to spend more than 10% of your mental effort to business. Ballmer agreed on condition that gave him leeway to hire staff. As a result, Microsoft's sales grew even faster than they expected.
Sin embargo, todava no se haba cruzado lo que Gates
denominaba el "umbral de aceptacin", esa frontera en la que un producto salta a las grandes masas, como sucedi con la televisin en los aos cincuenta. Y fue en 1980 cuando se presentaron en las oficinas de Microsoft en Seattle dos emisarios de IBM que les hicieron un encargo histrico: escribir el software para un ordenador personal que se estaba cociendo en sus laboratorios. Gates acept el reto. Su equipo trabaj frenticamente para crear ese lenguaje que se llam MS-DOS (Microsoft Disk Operating System). En agosto de 1981, IBM present su PC (Personal Computer) con un nuevo chip de Intel ms potente, el 8088, y con tres programas para hacerlo funcionar: uno era de Digital Research; otro, el Pascal, desarrollado por la Universidad de California- San Diego (UCSD); y, por ltimo, el MS-DOS de Microsoft, del que no se saba nada. Quin sera el ganador? Bill Gates se haba fijado en la pelea entre los vdeos Betamax de Sony y VHS de JVC durante los aos setenta, y se dio cuenta de que el xito de VHS se deba a que JVC permiti a otros fabricantes de vdeo usar su patente con un coste muy bajo. Microsoft hizo lo mismo. Permiti a otras firmas fabricar programas basados en MS-DOS. Y adems, se asegur de que MS-DOS fuera el ms barato de los tres programas que competan por la tarta de los PC: 60 dlares (unos 45 euros), es decir, mucho menos que los 175 dlares (alrededor de 130 euros) de Digital Research, y los 450 dlares (335 euros) del Pascal. Asimismo, IBM no tena la exclusiva del programa sino que Microsoft la ceda a otras empresas de ordenadores, los famosos clnicos del PC que empezaron a crecer como hongos.
However, I still had not crossed what Gates called the
"acceptance threshold" that border on a product rises to the masses, as with television in the fifties. It was in 1980 when two emissaries IBM made a historic request them were presented at the offices of Microsoft in Seattle: write software for a personal computer that was brewing in their labs. Gates accepted the challenge. His team worked frantically to create a language that was called MS-DOS (Microsoft Disk Operating System). In August 1981, IBM introduced its PC (Personal Computer) with a new more powerful Intel chip, the 8088, and three programs to make it work: one was from Digital Research; other, Pascal, developed by the University of California-San Diego (UCSD); and finally, the Microsoft MS-DOS, which nothing was known. Who would win? Bill Gates had noticed the bout between Betamax and VHS videos of Sony JVC during the seventies, and realized that the success of VHS was because JVC allowed other manufacturers to use its patent video with a cost very low. Microsoft did the same. Allowed other firms to manufacture MS-DOS-based programs. And also made sure that MS-DOS was the cheapest of the three programs that competed for the pie of the PC: $ 60 (about 45 euros), ie, much less than $ 175 (about 130 euros) Digital Research, and $ 450 (335 euros) of Pascal. Also, IBM was not exclusive but Microsoft program yielded to the other computer companies, celebrities clones of the PC began to grow like mushrooms.
En poco tiempo, Microsoft se convirti en el estndar de
la industria y Gates consigui salir en la portada de Time por primera vez (saldra seis veces ms) como el hombre que haba hecho magia con chips -su amigo Paul Allen ya estaba aquejado de un cncer y no poda llevar el mando de la empresa?. "En realidad, todo el xito de Gates se bas en aquel contrato con IBM", dice Brian Subirana, profesor de Sistemas de Informacin de la escuela de negocios IESE (Universidad de Navarra). Pero el programa de Microsoft era an muy tosco de manejar; casi para especialistas. Otro joven, Steve Jobs, que tambin haba abandonado la universidad, agregara un ratn para pinchar y mover las cosas con ms simpata en sus ordenadores Apple. La pantalla se llenaba de figuras e iconos que representaban objetos naturales como papeleras o carpetas. Gates visit a Jobs y, fruto de su colaboracin, nacieron los programas Microsoft Word y Excell, dos productos sin los que hoy no se podra vivir en el mundo de la informtica. Pero Apple no quera que su sistema fuera compatible con ningn otro, de modo que Gates se llev su invento y lo adapt a los PC. Y hara algo ms, construir un nuevo programa informtico que converta la pantalla en una forma ms divertida de manejar el ordenador, a travs de un ratn y unas ventanitas. Lo llam Windows (ventanas, en ingles).
Soon, Microsoft became the industry standard and
Gates got out on the cover of Time for the first time (would six times) as the man who had done magic with his friend Paul-chips Allen was already afflicted with a cancer and could not take control of the company's. "Actually, the whole success of Gates was based on that contract with IBM," says Brian Subirana, professor of Information Systems at IESE Business School (University of Navarra). But the program Microsoft was still very rough handling; almost to specialists. Another young man, Steve Jobs, who had dropped out of college, would add a mouse to click and move things more sympathy in their Apple computers. The screen was filled with figures and icons representing natural objects such as bins or folders. Jobs and Gates visited the fruit of their collaboration were born Excell and Microsoft Word programs, two products which today could not live in the world of computing. But Apple did not want his system is compatible with any other, so that Gates took his invention and adapted for the PC. And do something more, to build a new computer program that made the screen in a more fun way to use the computer through a mouse and windows. He called Windows (windows, in English).