Swami Bengaluru - Bill quits MS, opens gates for charity

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Bill quits MS, opens gates for charity

Written by amith
27 June 2008
Sensing the start of a personal computer revolution, Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard University in 1975 to start Microsoft Corp and pursue a vision of a computer on every desk and in every home. Three decades later, Gates is set to step down on Friday from what is now the world’s largest software company to work full-time at the charitable organisation — the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, built by his vast fortune.The 52-year-old, whose boyish looks seem at odds with his graying hair, will leave behind a life’s work developing software to devote energy to finding new vaccines or to micro-finance projects in the developing world. As Microsoft’s biggest shareholder, Gates will remain chairman and work on special technology projects. His 8.7 per cent stake in Microsoft is worth about $23 billion. Gates first programmed a computer at 13, creating a class scheduling system for his Seattle high school. As he gained experience, he realised the potential that software held to change how humans worked, played and communicated. “When I was 19, I caught sight of the future and based my career on what I saw. I turned out to have been right," Gates wrote in his 1995 book The Road Ahead. Gates realised at an early stage of the PC revolution that software would be more important than hardware. ! User reviews There are no user reviews for this item. To write a review please register or login.