Page 39 - Quantum Times 2020 Summer Edition
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QUANTUM TIMES
13, they enrolled him at Seattle's exclusive the people using the BASIC program had
21
preparatory Lakeside School. He excelled in actually paid for it.
every subject, including Drama. In 1976, Gates thought of an idea to write
At the time, a computer company in Seattle an open letter to all the computer hobbyists
offered computer time for students, and Gates that if they continued to share and use the
was really into the things that the computers program without paying, it would stop them
could do. He spent most of his free time from making good programs. Although the
working on the terminal and also wrote the tic hobbyist did not like the letter, Gates stuck
tac toe program with basic computer script with his belief and would use the threat of
that allows computer users to play. innovation as a defense when faced with
Meeting and partnering with Paul Allen, who charges of unfair business practices.
was two years senior in high school, Gates Although the company started small
soon became best friends with Allen because and shaky, by 1979 Microsoft had made
of their common enthusiasm for computers. about 2.5 million. Gates placed himself as
They spent a huge amount of time on the head of the company at the age of 23
computer programming. They once had their because of his passion in software and his
computer privilege revoked for using software keen business sense. He led the company to
glitches to get free computer time from the a whole lot of success. This led him to
company provided computer. After their become one of the richest men on Earth.
probation, they were allowed back in the
computer lab when they offered to debug the
program.
When Gates turned 16, Allen and him went
into business, they developed a “Traf-o-Data.''
After college, they decided to open up a
company in 1975, Gates and Allen formed
Microsoft, a mix of micro computer and
software. Things were not going as planned at
first. Even though their BASIC computer
program had netted some money for them, it
was far from enough to manage the company.
Gates later found out that only about 10% of
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