You are on page 1of 5

Bill Gates

(William Henry Gates


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).

You might also like