William (Bill) H. Gates is chairman and chief software architect of Microsoft Corporation. Microsoft employs more than 39,000 people in 60 countries.
Born on October 28, 1955, Gates and his two sisters grew up in attorney. Their late mother, Mary Gates, was a schoolteacher, University of Washington regent and chairwoman of United Way International.
At school Gates discovered his interest in software and began programming computers at age 13.
In 1973, Gates entered Harvard University. While at Harvard, Gates developed a version of the programming language BASIC for the first microcomputer.
In his junior year, Gates left Harvard to devote his energies to Microsoft, a company he had begun in 1975 with his childhood friend Paul Allen.
Guided by a belief that the computer would be a valuable tool on every office desktop and in every home, they began developing software for personal computers. Gates' foresight and his vision for personal computing have been central to the success of Microsoft and the software industry
