The Chief Software Architect

The Chief Software Architect

Short Answer Questions

1 Who is Paul Allen? How did he contribute to Microsoft?

Paul Allen is a senior to Bill Gates at Lakeside School. He is equally interested in computers like Bill Gates. The two boys used to spend most of their time at school's computer. Paul and Gates went into business in 1970. They developed 'Traf-o-data', a computer program that monitored traffic patterns in Seattle.

In 1975, Gates and Paul Allen formed a partnership and named it Microsoft. Microsoft wrote software in different formats for other computer companies, and at the end of 1978, they moved the company to Seattle and it grossed $ 2.5 million.

2 At what age did Gates start showing interest in Computer Programming? How do you think this helped in his success?

Gates was enrolled into Seattle's Lakeside School at 13. The school has bought a teletype terminal for students to use. Bill Gates became entranced with what a computer could do and spent much of his free time working on the terminal. He wrote a tic-tac-toe program in BASIC computer language that allowed users to play against the computer.

This access to computer and interest in it helped him in his success. If he had no access to it, may be, he wouldn't have been this successful.

3 Write a paragraph about Gate's family.

Gates' was an upper middle class family. His father, William H. Gates, Sr., was a lawyer. His mother, Mary, was a teacher for a brief period of time. Later, she devoted her time to helping raise the children and working on civic affairs and with charities. She also served on several corporate boards. Gates had a very close relationship with his mother.

Their family atmosphere was warm and close, and all three children were encouraged to be competitive and strive for excellence.

4 How did Gate's mother support him?

Gates' mother, Mary, would often take him along on her volunteer work in schools and community organizations. Gates wanted to start his own company at 15, but his parents wanted him to finish his school and then pursue law as his career.

Mary was highly respected and well connected with her membership on several corporate boards including IBM. She helped Gates by meeting him with the CEO of IBM. This is the base for Microsoft's expanded business.

5 What was the achievement Gates used to boast about?

Gates graduated from Lakeside in 1973. He scored 1590 out of 1600 in SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test). It's a feat of intellectual achievement that he used to boast when introducing himself to new people.

6 What was the program which Gates developed along with his friend? How did he market it?

Gates and Allen contacted MITS saying that they were working on a BASIC software program that would run the Altair computer. Roberta asked the boys for a demonstration. Gates and Allen spent next two months writing the software at Harvard's computer lab. The software worked well with the Altair computer. The BASIC software program netted the company a fee and royalties. But Gates found that only 10 percent of the actual users have paid for it. He brought in the license for software. 

7 How did Bill and Allen coin the term 'Microsoft'?

Bill and Allen formed a partnership they called Micro-soft, a blend of 'micro-computer' and 'software'. They dropped the hyphen in less than a year and from then it became 'Microsoft'.

8 What did Gates feel about the free distribution of his software and what did he write in the open letter?

Microsoft's BASIC software became popular with computer hobbyists who obtained pre-market copies and were reproducing and distributing them for free. Only about 10 percent of the people using BASIC in the Altair computer have paid for it. Gates saw the free distribution of the software as stealing, especially when it involved software to be sold. 

In February 1976, Gates wrote an open letter to computer hobbyists saying that continued distribution and use of software without paying for it would 'prevent good software from being written'. He said that it would discourage developers from investing time and money into creating quality software.

9 Why did Bill and Allen sue a case against the new owner of MITS?

Ed Roberts, the owner and President of MITS (Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems), had sold it to another computer company. Now, Bill and Allen had to sue the new owner of MITS to retain the software rights they had developed for Altair.

10 How did the relationship between Microsoft and IBM begin?

The computer industry began to grow with companies like Apple, Intel and IBM developing hardware components. Bill's mother Mary was highly respected and well connected with her membership on several corporate boards including IBM. It was through Mary, Bill Gates met the CEO of IBM. In 1980, IBM was looking for software that would operate their upcoming PC and approached Microsoft.

11 What were the two views about displacement of Netscape Navigator?

The Netscape's Navigator is a web browser which was widely used earlier. Microsoft has included internet explorer in Windows for free. With that, Netscape became less important.

Another view is that, Windows is an improved browser which has more features than Netscape. So, it easily out shined Netscape.

Long Answer Questions

1 Write about the childhood of Bill Gates.

Bill Gates was born into an upper middle-class family. His father, William H. Gates, Sr., was a lawyer. His mother, Mary, was a teacher for a brief period of time. Later, she devoted her time to helping raise the children and working on civic affairs and with charities. She also served on several corporate boards. Gates had a very close relationship with his mother. He had an elder an a younger sister.

Their family atmosphere was warm and close, and all three children were encouraged to be competitive and strive for excellence. They used to conduct games at their summer house. There was a rule that the winner will be gifted and the losers will have to pay the penalty. This instilled in them a spirit to always win. Gates relished in playing board games and excelled in monopoly.

Bill was a voracious reader as a child. He used to spend several hours on reference books such as the encyclopedia. Around the age of 11, his parents started worrying about him. He used to do well in school but seemed to be bored and withdrawn. His parents worried that he might become a loner and hence enrolled him to Seattle's Lakeside School. There, he blossomed in nearly all subjects. He excelled in math and science. He used to do very well in drama and English.

The school bought a teletype terminal for students to use. Gates was fascinated by this first type of computer. He was amazed at what a computer can do. He met Paul Allen, who is three years senior to him. Both boys used to spend most of their time on this computer.

Gates wrote a tic-tac-toe program in BASIC computer language which allowed users to play against computer. Later, at 15, he along with Paul Allen developed 'Traf-o-data'. It's a computer program that helps traffic police to monitor the traffic. They netted $20,000 for their efforts.

Gates and Allen wanted to start their own company, but Gates parents wanted him to finish his education first. They wanted him to become a lawyer.

Gates wrote the SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test) and scored 1590 out of 1600. He used to boast about it for several years, when he introduced himself to new people.

2 Describe how Gates worked for the development of Microsoft.

Gates was a genius in software development. He is also good at business operations. He led the company as its spokesperson. He personally reviewed every line of code the company shipped, often rewriting code when he saw it necessary.

The computer industry began to grow with companies like Apple, Intel and IBM developing hardware and components. Gates promoted Microsoft well. He met the CEO of IBM with the help of his mother. The IBM approached him for software that would operate their upcoming personal computers. Gates convinced them that he and his company could meet their needs. But Microsoft hadn't developed software that would be compatible with the IBM computers. Gates bought the software form another programmer and sold it to the IBM. When IBM wanted to buy the source code, Gates refused. Instead, he proposed that IBM pay a licensing fee for copies of the software sold with their computers. This allowed Microsoft to license the software they called MS-DOS.

Microsoft also released software called Softcard which allowed Microsoft BASIC to operate on Apple II machines.

Microsoft's growth exploded and staff increased from 25 to 128. Revenue shot up from $4 million to $16 million. Gates and Allen incorporated Microsoft and Gates was appointed President and chairman of the board. Microsoft went global with offices in Great Britain and Japan, and with 30 percent of the world's computers running on its software.

The partnership with IBM ended in 1991 and Microsoft focused its platform on Windows and the NT kernel. Windows became the favoured PC platform. Microsoft's Internet Explorer web browser was also a huge hit in later years. Gates has aggressively broadened the company's range of products. Once it has reached the leading position, he defended it.

In 2000, Gates promoted his long term friend and Microsoft executive Steve Ballmer to the role of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and took on the role 'Chief Software Architect'. He devoted much of his time for philanthropy, giving away a huge portion of his earnings through the Bill-Melinda charitable foundation. In 2014, Satya Nadella was made the CEO and Gates continues as the Chief Software Architect