Who is Bill Gates?

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D2Cat

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Bill 65 and Melinda (French) Gates 56 did not have a prenuptial agreement.
In 1991 Bill Gates wealth surpassed 101 billion.
They began dating in 1987 and Married Jan. 1 1994 = (34 years as a couple)
3 children Jennifer, Rory and Phoebe.

Melinda graduated valedictorian from a Catholic high school in Dallas
and computer engineering and economics degrees from Duke University.
Bill is a college dropout.
In 2014 Bill stated, "The morals system of religion are super important.
Our children attended the Catholic church Melinda goes to and I participate in.
Science has filled in some of the realm that religion used to fill in, but the mystery and beauty of the world is overwhelmingly amazing and there's no scientific explanation of how it came about. I think it makes sense to believe in God."
 
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JimmyJazz

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I consider Bill a highly intelligent bullshit artist that reads and recommends a lot of books for starters. Every time my windows based work computer glitches I curse the day he was born. I must admit the world is no doubt a better place due to the developments of Mr. Softee . (Microsoft Stock symbol;MSFT) He designed, built and installed the plumbing that built the modern digitized world we inhabit. The US economy increasingly lubricated by technology is the envy of most of the world. It's unique. The book Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell has a section devoted to the people who developed some fantastic businesses around the same time and place. Gates , Jobs, Ellison... Worth reading in my opinion.
 
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JimmyJazz said:
I consider Bill a highly intelligent bullshit artist that reads and recommends a lot of books for starters. Every time my windows based work computer glitches I curse the day he was born. I must admit the world is no doubt a better place due to the developments of Mr. Softee . (Microsoft Stock symbol;MSFT) He designed, built and installed the plumbing that built the modern digitized world we inhabit. The US economy increasingly lubricated by technology is the envy of most of the world. It's unique. The book Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell has a section devoted to the people who developed some fantastic businesses around the same time and place. Gates , Jobs, Ellison... Worth reading in my opinion.
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Agree “Outliers” is worth the time to read.

Not disagreeing with the rest of the post, just a hearty upvote for “Outliers”.
 
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Roadworthy

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Bill got a start by buying an operating system from Seattle Computer (Q DOS) which he renamed DOS (Disc Operating System) and sold to IBM for their new Personal Computer. I suspect his father (a lawyer) helped with the contracts. Windows was originally a program to run under DOS, in fact you can still find it there. IBM came up with OS/2 as a graphic platform (arguably better than Windows 95) but Windows 95 was introduced with such hoopla that OS/2 never stood a chance. That was probably where Bill got a lock on being Master of the Universe.
 
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jabloomf1230

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I put Gates in the same bin as Kanye West, the Kardashians, Ophrah Winfrey, Dr. Oz and all those other celebrities that talk about stuff that they know nothing about. The cult of personality worshipping has just gotten the whole country in trouble. It was okay when it was just kids idolizing pop music stars, movie actors and sports heroes. But when those same famous people (plus Gates and the usual corporate suspects) started blithering about this and that, you just knew it was all going to end badly. Social media has just amplified the crap slinging.
 
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xrocketengineer

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Roadworthy said:
Bill got a start by buying an operating system from Seattle Computer (Q DOS) which he renamed DOS (Disc Operating System) and sold to IBM for their new Personal Computer. I suspect his father (a lawyer) helped with the contracts. Windows was originally a program to run under DOS, in fact you can still find it there. IBM came up with OS/2 as a graphic platform (arguably better than Windows 95) but Windows 95 was introduced with such hoopla that OS/2 never stood a chance. That was probably where Bill got a lock on being Master of the Universe.
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He did not sell the operating system to IBM. He sold "licenses" to IBM and no ownership. IBM could not change the operating system, improve it, nor sell it, if not covered by the license agreement That is where the lawyer part came in handy and made him the fortune.
 
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NHSleddog

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xrocketengineer said:
He did not sell the operating system to IBM. He sold "licenses" to IBM and no ownership. IBM could not change the operating system, improve it, nor sell it, if not covered by the license agreement That is where the lawyer part came in handy and made him the fortune.
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The licenses to IBM were nice but that is not where the windfall came in.

He was contracted by IBM. He did not go to them and sell a finished product. The one item above all else was the provision in the contract that allowed MS to sell DOS to anyone else. At the time IBM was the only game in town it would run on so they didn't care. With the introduction of the PC architecture MS sold literally tens of millions of copies around the world. That fueled the funding/marketing for WIN.
 
hagrid

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I thought he invented the modern radiator hose and fan belt.
 
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skeets

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Well who ever he is, he has more money than all of us
 
ctfjr

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The guy (and his wife) have established a philanthropic organization that gives away millions every day. They personally have given away over a billion of their own money. They have pledged (and gotten other ultra rich) to pledge giving away the bulk of their estates to charities upon their deaths.
Say what you want, it's not a bad legacy.
I remember the days of DOS and CPM. He was clever enough to make the deal with IBM that sealed CPM's fate and guaranteed his future.
 
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D2Cat said:
I guess you could say that, Skeets, however does it buy happiness?
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No, but it buys jet skis... Have you ever seen somebody on a jet ski frowning?
 
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D2Cat

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When money is irrelevant you can rent an island for 132K a night for you and your kids privacy!

ZeroHedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero
www.zerohedge.com www.zerohedge.com
 
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