Our friend Bill Gates

ideias // blog // 5 JAN 2023 // Our friend Bill Gates

William Henry Gates III, Bill Gates to his friends, was born to the world 67 years ago in Seattle, Washington. Son of a prestigious lawyer and a university professor and bank manager, he had his education at Harvard University, however he did not finish it to focus attention on the company that made him famous, Microsoft.

A visionary from an early age, at the age of 16 he was already developing software for pinball machines! He met Paul Allen and they created the company Traf-o-Data. They developed software that, through magnetic tapes, recorded traffic information. They didn't have a big hit when customers found out how old they were!

The rise took place with the creation of Microsoft together with Paul Allen, initially developing an interpreter for the BASIC language that was sold with one of the first PCs to be sold in the USA, the Altair 8800. in software development, including MS-DOS, Windows, Office Applications, Games, etc.

Until 2008, Bill Gates held the position of Director of Microsoft. From that time on, he and his wife left to dedicate themselves to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, a philanthropic institution created in 2000. Being one of the richest and most influential people in the world, through the foundation he funded various research projects such as research on AIDS , Cancer, Alzheimer's, but also the commitment to sustainable energy and food, vaccination, agriculture, etc.

In an article recently published on his blog, he noted that "I'm going to become a grandfather next year", something that according to him will bring another dimension to his work as it renews his inspiration to help everyone's children and grandchildren to survive and thrive.

In a world of enormous inequalities, we all have the opportunity to do something to reduce them. "Success is a long-term perspective, but it starts with the actions we take now." I hope we all had a moment of inspiration, if only by following the example of our friend Bill and in our own way we could have the opportunity, with small actions, to improve the lives of others.