William H. Gates

Bill Gates beat the odds by creating one of the biggest and most successful monopolies in software business. Today he is one of the richest men on the face of Earth. He devotes most of his time to his company leaving little time and energy to his family, his Porches, and his huge house. Even though Gates is constantly having trouble with the law over the size of his company, he shows no signs of slowing down, or losing grip over the industry. In my eyes he is the epitome of a powerful man and a personal hero!

Bill Gates’ story is not that of a poor boy that made it big, however, Microsoft has a history of a company that virtually mushroomed over a tiny period of time. William Henry Gates II was born in 1955 to a wealthy, well-connected Seattle family. His father was a lawyer and encouraged his son to pursue a similar career. Gates, however, had other things on his mind.

At school, Bill got his first glimpse of a computer and was hooked from that point on. Within a week his knowledge surpassed that of his teacher. During that time he met Paul Allen, who became his best friend. Together they created a company called Traf-O-Data. The only product they were able to come up with was a program that would calculate traffic in the city. It was largely unsuccessful. A more successful creation of Gates’ was the new school schedule that put him in the class with campus’ prettiest girls.

After graduation Bill Gates enrolled to Harvard, where he found himself extremely bored, and would satisfy his interests with drinking, poker and playing on his computer. After his first year he left Harvard to pursue opportunities in computer programming business. At the age of 19, in 1975, Bill Gates teamed up with Paul Allen to create Microsoft. Within a few years Microsoft has made a name for itself. In recognizing and seizing an opportunity, Gates and Allen were quick to agree to any offer, even if they could not deliver at the time. A great deal of their products were created past the due date, and in many cases they even had to buy and modify some of their software from rival companies.

Microsoft’s two most lucrative programs (Word and Excel), and two operating systems (Windows and MS-DOS) were never created within the borders of the company. MS-DOS was a modified version of an operating system called Q-DOS bought from Seattle Computer Products, and Windows, Word and Excel were originally designed for Macintosh. After the launch of Windows 3.0 Microsoft was able to ensure that IBM PC’s came only with Microsoft operating systems. Therefore he was able to expand his niche in the market and ensure that the customer had no choice but to buy Microsoft’s product. Bill Gates was able to establish a unique market-strength for his company that allowed it to expand greatly. It has now grown into the largest company to ever exist. Microsoft currently employs thirty thousand people and the company is doubling every eighteen months.

Despite the popular thought that Gates is a technological geek, he excels more in business. He proved that after his triumph over the “Internet problem” which Gates sees as his biggest mistake. Gates did not get in to Internet business early enough. He failed to realize how fast it would grow and how significant it would become. When the first web site appeared in 1993, followed shortly by Netscape’s Internet browser, Gates had Internet as his fifth or sixth priority. He failed to grasp the share of the market Internet was eventually to occupy and made an error in calculating the speed at which it would spread. In order to fix that problem, Bill Gates had to make several radical changes. By 1999, he saw the Internet as more than just a priority. Gates was able to get in on the Internet market by first creating Internet Explorer, and then giving it away for free, which made it more appealing since Netscape was still charging a hefty price for their Internet browser. Had Netscape abolished their prices or at least lowered them, Gates’ Explorer wouldn’t have had a chance, however, prices remained the same and Gates was able to pull off an upset. Through sheer business and marketing decisions, Gates was able to get a share of an already expanding “Internet industry”.

One of the things most vehemently advocated by Gates is complete control of the market. Today Microsoft dominates ninety percent of the operating system market for PC’s, and is determined to conquer the rest of it. His power has grown so much that many began questioning and protesting his policies. Many believe that Microsoft has too much control over software industry and that same control prevents important advances and “traps users into costly upgrades to a system that was inherently old-fashioned”. His ambitions and power became so widespread that various lawsuits were filed against him, claiming that his company resembled a monopoly that became a strain on other small companies, as well as, the whole industry in general. Here again, Bill Gates, using his great business management skills was able to bounce back. He realized the principle embraced by Alfred P. Sloan (past owner of General Motors) when he divided his company into separate sections each one of which was able to operate on its own. This way Gates was not only able to end the lawsuits, but also turned his company into a more efficient machine. The decision making process that used to take days in the “old” Microsoft now takes hours or even minutes. A person was appointed to each section that has almost complete executive decision making powers, which decreased bureaucracy in the company, and increased its efficiency.

In high school, Gates once told one of his teachers that he would become a millionaire by the age of 30. This was one of a few times he underestimated himself; Bill Gates became a billionaire by the age of 31. Microsoft shows no signs of slowing down. New advances are being made every day, and Gates is quick to make the most out of every opportunity. Gates had already once claimed the spot as the richest man on Earth and he will do anything to reclaim it over. He still devotes most of his time to his creation; however, Gates now arrived at a point when he is able to let go off it a bit. He tries to devote as much time as possible to his wife and daughter, his house, and his hobbies. Although not having a typical melancholic story of a poor boy with a successful carrier, Bill Gates is one of the most successful and ambitious people America has ever seen, his contributions to this country and to software industry are greatly valued and Gates himself could be easily considered a hero.