BILL GATES 1955 ENTREPRENEUR AND COMPUTER ENGINEER GATES BILL 1955 TECHNOLOGY TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY BILL GATES WAS BORN IN SEATTLE WASHINGTON IN 1955 HE LEARNED TO PROGRAM COMPUTERS AT AGE 13 ONLY A FEW YEARS LATER HE HAD BECOME SO SKILLED THAT HE DEVELOPED A PROGRAM TO CONTROL TRAFFIC PATTERNS IN SEATTLE IN 1973 HE ENTERED HARVARD UNIVERSITY WHERE HE ADAPTED THE PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE BASIC FOR USE ON MICROCOMPUTERS THE NEW VERSION OF BASIC BECAME AN INDUSTRY STANDARD FOR SIX YEARS GATES LEFT HARVARD IN 1975 TO BUILD THE MICROSOFT CORPORATION WITH PAUL ALLEN GATES DEVELOPED DOS AN OPERATING SYSTEM FOR COMPUTERS WHICH WAS ADOPTED BY IBM FOR ITS LINE OF COMPUTERS BY 1983 GATES HAD LICENSED DOS TO MORE THAN 100 MERCHANTS HE BECAME A BILLIONAIRE BY 1986 AND IS ONE OF THE WEALTHIEST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD MICROSOFT BECAME THE WORLD'S LARGEST SUPPLIER OF SOFTWARE FOR THE PERSONAL COMPUTER THE COMPANY EMPLOYS MORE THAN 27000 IN 60 COUNTRIES IN THE LATE 1990S THE U.S JUSTICE DEPARTMENT FILED SUIT AGAINST MICROSOFT FOR ANTITRUST VIOLATIONS GATES ALSO FUNDS A VARIETY OF PHILANTHROPIC EFFORTS IN THE AREAS OF PUBLIC HEALTH AND EDUCATION
