Thanks Bill!
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As most of you know, yesterday, Friday, June 27, 2008, was the last day Bill Gates worked, officially, at Microsoft Corporation. From today forward, he will only assume the role of Chairman of the Board at Microsoft and will no longer officially partake in software development projects at the firm. Since the early 1970s, Bill Gates has revolutionized the world with software technology, and indirectly has started a whole new sector of the economy and thanks to Bill Gates, since my college days, I have always enjoyed gainful employment in the software development sector, primarily as a Technical Writer and Trainer.
While Bill Gates did not develop the original code that eventually became Microsoft DOS (Disk Operating System) that eventually came to power the very first personal computers at International Business Machines (IBM), he did succeed in revamping the code and copyrighting it so that Microsoft could control its official use and unfoldment. So, from this angle Bill Gates was far smarter than Steve Jobs, who also is a brilliant computer scientist, but who offered his Apple computers and software for a far more expensive price that the average person could not afford. So, the personal computer won over the Apple in the most critical stage of the emerging software industry and marketplace.
Bill Gates, now, will work closely with his wife Melinda and associates at the Gates Foundation where he will focus on charitable projects that will hopefully make a difference in our afflicted world. Bill Gates was asked in an interview by ABC News if he was born to be a philanthropist and that software was just the vehicle to get him there. He said “No! I’m just a software developer.” So, there you have it, a man of true dedication to his professional field of interest, but who knows that his right arm, Steve Ballmer, current CEO of Microsoft, will be able to fare better in this stage of the firm.
The following list contains “milestones” of Bill Gates and his journey with Microsoft, since the 1970s:
1980: Microsoft develops first operating system for IBM.
1981: IBM rolls out first personal computers to run MS-DOS.
1983: The first release of Microsoft Word (word processing software).
1985: The first release of Microsoft Windows (to run on top of MS-DOS).
1986: Microsoft Corporation stock goes public.
1989: The first release of Microsoft Office Suite.
1991: The Federal Trade Commission begins its investigation into alleged MS antitrust activity.
1994: Bill and Melinda Gates are married.
1995: The release of Microsoft Windows 95.
1995: The release of Internet Explorer 2.0 - taking on Netscape Navigator for Internet browsing.
1997, 1998: U.S. Justice Department prosecutes Microsoft for antitrust activity.
2000: Bill Gates steps aside as Chief Executive Officer at Microsoft, passes job to Steve Ballmer.
2001: Microsoft and U.S. Government antitrust case finally settled.
2001: Microsoft releases Windows XP operating system.
2005: Microsoft releases its XBox gaming system.
2006: Microsoft unveils its Zune music player.
2007: Microsoft tries to buy Yahoo for $44.6 billion, but does not succeed.
2008: Bill Gates retires from activities at Microsoft, only now serving as board chairman.
7 Comments
June 29th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
I think Bill was one of the visionaries of the time, but there was a lot of overlap with other leaders at the time. You didn’t mention Xerox PARC or the Alto computer that helped to inspire Gates. Nor that important GUI features in Windows were licensed from Apple. Where Microsoft was shrewd was in their business sense to market an Operating System and open up the hardware market to develop solutions for it. Gates alone really is responsible for making computers affordable to the world!
June 30th, 2008 at 4:22 am
@Douglas: Yes,indeed, you are right! Thanks for adding your comments to this article. As I mentioned, I’m grateful not only to Bill Gates, but all other great founding minds of the software technology movement because these individuals have paved the basic way for the rest of us and set the basic compass for the unfoldment of all technical possibilities, in general. All The Best, Keith
June 30th, 2008 at 7:04 am
I think when u say ” Bill Gtaes ” it’s enough , nothing to add!
July 1st, 2008 at 2:53 pm
Thanks, Nesrine, for your comment! Glad you enjoyed the blog post.
We all will surely miss Bill!
July 3rd, 2008 at 2:55 am
Yes indeed ,paraphrasing is the first step to blogging or assembly commitment ,then the problem of personality is to be inherited or made up :nevertheless ,one will catch the essential faster and express it in not more than one or few words for everyone to understand what someone else said within the confusion of his or her attempt to singularity and style .So far ,I can’t even dream of paraphrasing code .
Mister Gates has succeeded in proving that ,virtual reality is more exiting and opened vistas on too many worlds and fantasy for a single person :he has given us fire and we should use it wisely .The access to self improvement ,learning and culture ,besides sheer commercial venture and homework ,so to say is a quantum leap into democracy . And how to break through virtual means to physical reality is ,finally a child ,a magician dream ,or the logical human ambition .This is my point of view .
Thank you Bill Gates ,I would have never posted this comment without you and met Keith Johnson
July 3rd, 2008 at 4:17 am
@Vincent: Thank you very much Vincent for your great comment. Like you, I feel fortunate to be part of this Information Technology revolution, allowing us to express ourselves in new ways.
August 1st, 2008 at 6:21 am
[…] in the emerging industry of software engineering and development. Thanks Bill. Good luckhttp://greatdocuments.net/thanks-bill/ThinkFast: June 24, 2008ThinkFast: June 24, 2008 Filed Under: ThinkFast By Think Progress at 9:00 am […]
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