William “Bill” Gates, born in Seattle on October 28th 1955, is a software programmer, entrepreneur, and a dedicated philanthropist. He is the owner of multiple billion dollar companies, including the two most notable: the biggest computer software company in the world, Microsoft, and the largest private charity foundation in the world, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Gates is one of the most accomplished person of the 21st century; he should be remembered by generations to come for his revolutionary development of the computer software and his passionate philanthropic efforts in improving the lives of the poorest. Gates revolutionized how people communicate through his mega technology company, Microsoft. With his exceptional business …show more content…
His most disruptive operating system, Windows 95 released in 1995, made computers useable for the average person. In his article, Windows 95 Was The Most Important Operating System Of All Time, Matt Hickey suggested, “[Windows 95] made the idea of a computer in every home practical and gave the World Wide Web the democratized platform it needed to exist. For better or worse, Windows 95 pave the way for the information age for most people, and out of its popularity grew things like digital music downloads, photo sharing, even personal email, all things that most people before it had never given a thought to” (Hickey). The Windows operating system transformed every industry in the world; it became a platform to springboard every kind of human development. Scientists leveraged the computer power to study and cure diseases, businesses accelerated the ecommerce industry, currently worth trillions of dollars, and the average person was able to access the world’s knowledge in front of …show more content…
The Bill and Melinda Foundation (BMGF), founded by Bill and his wife, Melinda Gates, focuses on multiple global development projects aimed at improving the lives of the poorest. In an interview with Charlie Rose on CBSNews, Bill Gates described why he is focused on using his wealth to give back. Gates explained, “Whenever you see a mother bringing a sick child into a facility, it's easy to relate to, ‘What if that was my child?’ You realize, how crazy it is that with the world being rich enough to afford all sorts of frivolous things, that those basic things still aren't being provided” (CBSNews). Instead of using the money that he has earned by building his software empire on himself or his family, Gates chose to give a majority of his earnings (he has pledged to give 95% of his fortune by the time he dies) on saving humanity. After already conquering his first passion of computers, Gates decided to dedicate his time and resources on a bigger mission: uplifting the poor. As stated by the official BMGF website, the total grant payments since inception of the charity (through Q4 of 2015) is 36.7 billion dollars (gatesfoundation.org). A big portion of the grant is being used to develop and provide vaccines to the poor areas around the world. This has effectively saved millions of children from dying from preventable causes. Gates placed saving