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- @
- Founding
- Microsoft in
- 1975, Bill Gates
- and his partner,
- Paul Allen,
- declared their
- aim as "a
- personal
- computer on
- every desk and in
- every home". At
- that time, it
- seemed a wildly
- optimistic target
- #
- Microsoft took off
- in 1980 when
- Gates persuaded
- computer giant
- IBM to use his
- MS-DOS software
- as the operating system
- on its computers.
- MS-DOS quickly
- became the most
- widely used - and
- the most widely
- imitated -
- software package
- in the world
- #
- Thanks to the
- PC revolution,
- there has been a
- change in the
- image of the
- typical American
- entrepreneur. He
- no longer has to
- be the ruthless
- capitalist of old;
- he can be a
- shy and gauche
- type like Gates
- #
- Nerd or not, in
- the eyes of many
- women Gates'
- vast wealth made
- him a very
- eligible bachelor.
- Their hopes were
- dashed when he
- announced he
- was marrying an
- employee of
- Microsoft
- #
- Gates says he'll
- retire when he is
- in his fifties and
- donate most of
- his wealth to
- charity and
- scientific
- research. His
- rivals probably
- wish he would
- retire sooner
- @
- Bill Gates'
- domination of the
- software industry
- was sealed with
- the launch of
- Windows 3.0 in
- 1990. Seventy
- million copies
- have now been
- sold, making
- it the most
- widely used soft-
- ware for PCs
- #
- Microsoft
- updated its
- products with
- the launch of
- Windows 95.
- The upgraded
- new software
- looks set to
- confirm Gates'
- domination of
- the software
- market
- #
- Microsoft is
- planning its part
- in the next stage
- of the electronics
- revolution - the
- convergence of
- computer, comm-
- unications and
- entertainment
- technologies into
- one digital stream
- #
- Microsoft has been
- the subject of
- complaints from
- rivals who say its
- business practices
- have led to the
- creation of an
- unfair monopoly
- #
- To Gates, the
- possibilities of
- the PC are
- limited only by
- the imagination
- of those who
- create them. He
- can seen the
- future - and it
- is digital
- @
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