William H. (Bill) Gates was born in Seattle, Washington in 1955. At 19 years of age Gates founded (1974) the Microsoft Corporation with Paul Allen. Since 1980, when Microsoft purchased the rights to an existing computer operating system and adapted it for the International Business Machines Corporation's new Personal Computer, Gates has built the company into one of the world's largest producers of microcomputer software.

Posted by Contact on Monday September 21, 1998.