Saturday, June 28, 2008

The Sultan of Software retires


Arguably the best businessman of our century, Bill Gates, retired from the day-to-today operations of the company he co-founded - Microsoft. Over a span of 33 years, this man has transformed an era. He has been 'The Hero' for millions of people worldwide !

When I look at his career overall, The way he built his whole empire, the chances that he took, the various battle that he played with the industry giants of that time such as IBM...It is just so mesmerizing and inspiring! I know, many people would say that Bill Gates was very lucky in a way to get to a position that he is today. I agree. Yes, Luck has played a very vital role in his initial career. But the important thing is He knows that! He knows he was lucky enough at the start of Microsoft. If we look at the industry scenario at the start of 1970s, PC wasn't a big market at that time. But Bill(along with few others like Steve Jobs) had a vision that PC is going to be THE market in the future. As Steve Jobs mentioned at the historic D5 meet, "Bill was the first person at that time who knew, it was Software that was going to be the next big thing" !

I would like to mention the history for the laymen about how Microsoft emerged as THE big company. During the late 70s, IBM was the Industry giant and they were mainly into the mainframes. But with the emergence of companies like Apple, Xerox, Digital Research etc in the PC market, IBM decided to capture this market as well! So they decided to make IBM PC. The way IBM worked, It would take at least 3 years for a new product to be launched. But with the rapid demand for the PCs... IBM decided to make an assembled PC in order to launch its PC within a year. So they decided to buy various parts from various vendors and assembled them. The only chip that was IBM's in that PC was ROM-BIOS, a chip that maintains what all parts are connected and how all are connected and how they would work together. They wanted OS for this machines. Now at that time, CP/M was the widely used OS, created by Gary Kildall of Digital Research Inc. IBM's discussion with Gary went poorly, so IBM turned their head to Bill Gates.(What a waste of opportunity Gary!) Now comes the interesting part! Microsoft was not into OS at that point of time. They didn't have their own OS. But, there was an OS similar to CP/M(In fact, a copy of CP/M literally) created by Tim Patterson called QDOS(Quick and Dirty OS !) Bill Gates bought it ! Microsoft delivered it to IBM as PC-DOS. Gates insisted that IBM let Microsoft keep the copyright on the operating system, because he believed that other hardware vendors would clone IBM's system (Wow, What a masterpiece of vision !)They did(thanks to the reverse engineering!), and the sales of MS-DOS made Microsoft a major player in the industry.

So it was just a share of luck that Bill needed and he just cashed onto that! The triumph was so huge that IBM had to fall down(due to their bad management mostly) and Microsoft emerged as the software giant in 80s and 90s and Bill Gates as the Sultan of the Software! He was good enough to notice the importance of GUI when he
started making Windows @ Microsoft. Though, It is mostly copied from Macintosh !(Mind you, The original GUI was a creation of Xerox PARC which Steve Jobs saw. and hence Macintosh itself is not original!)

He faced a lot of criticism and allegations about trying to create a monopoly in the business. The antitrust lawsuit that was filed against Microsoft, was I think one of the saddest phases in Gates's career. Gates is a kind of person who wants to win all the time, for him Winning is really really important. Later on, he started philanthropic work. Though Software still remains his first love, he has stepped down to devote full time for society and his philanthropy. I wish him all the best with his future and he will remain a HERO for many geeks worldwide, at least me!

I am giving some links really useful and one must have a look at them, trust me!
Bill Gates and Steve Jobs Together - Historic discussion at D5
The Bill Gates story - aired on the Biography Channel
Triumph of the Nerds
The Pirates of the silicon valley
Fortune - Slideshow of Some rare photos

19 comments:

Unknown said...

Good article....and links too.

Deepak Salunke said...

Thanks Adhiraj ! See those movies/documentaries whenever u get time. They are simply awesome! U can get it from me if u want !

逆円助 said...

さあ、今夏も新たな出会いを経験してみませんか?当サイトは円助交際の逆、つまり女性が男性を円助する『逆円助交際』を提供します。逆円交際を未経験の方でも気軽に遊べる大人のマッチングシステムです。年齢上限・容姿・経験一切問いません。男性の方は無料で登録して頂けます。貴方も新たな出会いを経験してみませんか

精神年齢 said...

みんなの精神年齢を測定できる、メンタル年齢チェッカーで秘められた年齢がズバリわかっちゃう!かわいいあの子も実は精神年齢オバサンということも…合コンや話のネタに一度チャレンジしてみよう

メル友募集 said...

最近仕事ばかりで毎日退屈してます。そろそろ恋人欲しいです☆もう夏だし海とか行きたいな♪ k.c.0720@docomo.ne.jp 連絡待ってるよ☆

家出 said...

最近TVや雑誌で紹介されている家出掲示板では、全国各地のネットカフェ等を泊り歩いている家出娘のメッセージが多数書き込みされています。彼女たちはお金がないので掲示板で知り合った男性の家にでもすぐに泊まりに行くようです。あなたも書き込みに返事を返してみませんか

動物占い said...

あなたの性格を、動物に例えて占っちゃいます。もしかしたらこんな動物かも!?動物占いをうまく使って、楽しい人間関係を築いてください

家出 said...

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セレブラブ said...

セレブ女性との割り切りお付き合いで大金を稼いでみませんか?女性に癒しと快楽、男性に謝礼とお互い満たしあえる当サイト、セレブラブはあなたの登録をお待ちしております。

夏フェス!! said...

夏フェス一緒に行ってくれる人募集!!夏の思い出一緒につくろぉ☆ megumi-0830@docomo.ne.jp 連絡してね♪

無料ゲーム said...

あなたのゲーマー度を無料ゲーム感覚で測定します。15個の質問に答えるだけの簡単測定で一度遊んでみませんか?ゲームが得意な人もそうでない人もぜひどうぞ。

素人 said...

Hな女性たちは素人ホストを自宅やホテルに呼び、ひとときの癒しを求めていらっしゃいます。当サイトでは男性ホスト様の人員が不足しており、一日3~4人の女性の相手をするホストもおられます。興味を持たれた方は当サイトにぜひお越しください

出会い系 said...

実は出会い系には…関係者用入り口があるのを知っていますか?広告主やスポンサー用に用意されたIDではサクラや業者が立ち入ることが出来ないようになっているのです。当サイトでは極秘に入手した関係者用URLが公開されています

逆援助 said...

男性はお金、女性は快楽を得る逆援助に興味はありませんか?お金を払っても性的欲求を満たしたいセレブ達との割り切り1日のお付き合いで当サイトでは大金を得ることができます。無料登録なのでアルバイト感覚でOK、詳しくはTOPページでどうぞ。

友達募集 said...

ホムペ完成記念!私の事みんなに知ってもらいたくて頑張りましたぁ。色々とご感想をお待ちしているので思った事を意見してください。メアドはほむぺにのせてありますぅ!★ fan.jna@docomo.ne.jp

家出 said...

夏休みで気軽に家出する女子○生が急増しています。しかし家出したはいいものの泊る所やお金が無い彼女たちは、掲示板などで泊めてくれる男性を探す子も多いようです。当掲示板にも夏休みに入ってから通常の3倍以上のメッセージが寄せられています

人妻 said...

今最もアツイバイトは人妻とのセフレ契約です。当サイトではお金を払ってでもセフレがほしい人妻が集まり、男性会員様との逆援生活を待っています。当サイトで欲求不満の女性との出会いをしてみませんか

素人 said...

素人ホストでは、男性のテクニック次第で女性会員様から高額な謝礼がもらえます。欲求不満な人妻や、男性と出会いが無い女性達が当サイトで男性を求めていらっしゃいます。興味のある方はTOPページからどうぞ

友達募集中 said...

少し魅惑な自分をネットだから公開してみました。普段言えない事など、思い切って告白しているプロフなので興味ある方はぜひ除いてみてください連絡待ってまぁす。 hinyaaaaa@docomo.ne.jp