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02.
TIMELINE
- William
(Bill) H. Gates is chairman and chief
software architect of Microsoft
Corporation, the worldwide leader in
software, services and Internet
technologies for personal and business
computing. Microsoft had revenues of
US$36.84 billion for the fiscal year
ending June 2004, and employs more than
55,000 people in 85 countries and
regions. • 1955 - Born on Oct. 28, 1955,
Gates grew up in Seattle with his two
sisters. Their father, William H. Gates
II, is a Seattle attorney. Their late
mother, Mary Gates, was a schoolteacher,
University of Washington regent, and
chairwoman of United Way
International.
-----Gates
attended public elementary school and the
private Lakeside School. There, he
discovered his interest in software and
began programming computers at age 13 • 1973 - In 1973, Gates
entered Harvard University as a freshman,
where he lived down the hall from Steve
Ballmer, now Microsoft's chief executive
officer. While at Harvard, Gates developed
a version of the programming language
BASIC for the first microcomputer - the
MITS Altair.
-----Top
row: Steve Wood (left), Bob Wallace, Jim
Lane. Middle row: Bob O'Rear, Bob
Greenberg, Marc McDonald, Gordon Letwin.
Bottom row: Bill Gates, Andrea Lewis,
Marla Wood, Paul Allen. December 7,
1978 • 1975 - Microsoft co-founded.
In his junior year, Gates left Harvard
to devote his energies to Microsoft, a
company he had begun in 1975 with his
childhood friend Paul Allen. Guided by a
belief that the computer would be a
valuable tool on every office desktop and
in every home, they began developing
software for personal computers. Gates'
foresight and his vision for personal
computing have been central to the success
of Microsoft and the software
industry. • 1992 -
China.
Microsoft opened its first offices in
China in 1992. •
1994 - Gates was married on Jan. 1, 1994,
to Melinda French Gates. They have
three children. Gates is an avid reader,
and enjoys playing golf and bridge. • 1995 - The Road Ahead,
published in 1995, held the No. 1 spot on
the New York Times' bestseller list for
seven weeks. • 1995 -
China.
Opened in 1995, the Microsoft China
R&D Center in Beijing employs more
than 150 employees; it is one of the
largest foreign-owned software R&D
centers in China. The Microsoft Global
Technical Support Center in Shanghai
employs over 400 persons to support
customers worldwide. •
1998 -
China.
The MSR Asia research facility opened
in Beijing in 1998, and now employs about
120 full-time research staff and over 200
visiting scientists and students from
China and around the world. •
1999 -
China.
In 1999, they helped start the IT
Training for Laid-off Workers program.
After finding initial success through an
early trial program in Dalian, the program
has since expanded to three other cities -
Guangzhou, Chengdu, and Shanghai in
cooperation with local governments. In
just over two years, the programs have
trained over 600 unemployed workers, and
nearly 80 percent have since found new
positions in the IT industry. •
1999 - In 1999, Gates wrote Business @
the Speed of Thought, a book that shows
how computer technology can solve business
problems in fundamentally new ways. The
book was published in 25 languages and is
available in more than 60 countries.
Business @ the Speed of Thought has
received wide critical acclaim, and was
listed on the best-seller lists of the New
York Times, USA Today, the Wall Street
Journal and Amazon.com. Gates' previous
book, The Road Ahead, published in 1995,
held the No. 1 spot on the New York Times'
bestseller list for seven weeks. •
2001 -
October 2: Microsoft ships Windows XP;
the company says it will start selling its
next operating systems, code-named
Longhorn, in
2003•
2002 - April : The
company pushes back the Longhorn launch to
"beyond
2003." •
2003 - BEIJING,
Feb. 28, 2003. Bill Gates met Chinese
President Jiang Zemin today concluded a
two-day visit to China during which
Microsoft, and agencies of the Chinese
government and local Beijing municipal
government also signed a Memorandum of
Understanding in which the two
organizations agreed to work with local
software companies for the development and
servicing of these e-government solutions
and training of software professionals.
MORE
STORY •
2004 - SHANGHAI,
Sept 4 (Reuters) -
A
charitable body set up by Microsoft Corp.
founder Bill Gates has won approval to
invest $100 million in China's main stock
and debt markets, regulators said on
Saturday. MORE
STORY •
2004-
December: Microsoft says Longhorn
won't be ready until late 2004 or early
2005. •
2004 -
August: Microsoft said it would shiip
Longhorn in the second half of
2006.• •
2004 -Philanthropy
is also important to Gates. He and his
wife, Melinda, have endowed a foundation
with more than $27 billion (as of March
2004) to support philanthropic initiatives
in the areas of global health and
learning, with the hope that in the 21st
century, advances in these critical areas
will be available for all people. The Bill
and Melinda Gates Foundation has committed
more than $3.2 billion to organizations
working in global health; more than $2
billion to improve learning opportunities,
including the Gates Library Initiative to
bring computers, Internet Access and
training to public libraries in low-income
communities in the United States and
Canada; more than $477 million to
community projects in the Pacific
Northwest; and more than $488 million to
special projects and annual giving
campaigns. •
2005 - April: Mr. Gates shows off
Longhorn at a conference, focusing on the
look and usability of the
interface. •
2005 - July: "Windows Vista" name
unveiled; Microsoft ships a beta
version to 500,000.
customers. •
2006: March Microsoft delays consumer
shipments of Vista until January 2007,
says a buiness version will be ready in
November
2006. •
2005 - William
H. Gates, Chairman and Chief Software
Architect - Microsoft
Corporation
•
•
William (Bill) H. Gates is chairman and
chief software architect of Microsoft
Corporation, the worldwide leader in
software, services and solutions that help
people and businesses realize their full
potential. Microsoft had revenues of
US$39.79 billion for the fiscal year
ending June 2005, and employs more than
61,000 people in 102 countries and
regions. The
company is committed to a long-term view,
reflected in its investment of
approximately $6.2 billion on research and
development in the 2005 fiscal
year. Center
Page / 2003 •
2003 - BEIJING,
Feb. 28, 2003. Bill Gates met Chinese
President Jiang Zemin announced the
Chinese government's participation in
Microsoft's Government Security Program,
which provides national governments with
access to Windows source code and
technical information they need to be
confident in the security of the Windows
platform.
-- CLICK FOR MORE
STORY
•03./
2004 -
Bill
Gates' charity wins $100 million
China 2004
- Beijing. Bill
Gates, chairman of Microsoft Corp.,
addresses the opening ceremony of China
International Service Industries
Convention & Expo in the Great Hall of
the People in Beijing June 30, 2004.
(Xinhua Photo).
