William Henry Gates III was born in Seattle, Washington on October 28, 1955. There he grew up with two sisters and his parents, Mary and Bill Jr. His father is a Seattle attorney and his late mother was a schoolteacher. Gates attended a well-known private school in Seattle called Lakeside. There, he discovered his interest in software and began programming computers at the tender age of thirteen. While attending Lakeside, he met his future business partner, Paul Allen. After graduating from Lakeside, both Gates and Allen decided to continue their education at the prestigious Harvard University.
             Gates entered Harvard as a freshman in 1973. At the age of nineteen in 1975, he founded the Microsoft Corporation, a computer software firm, with Allen. Microsoft is now the largest computer based company in the world. In their junior year, they dropped out of Harvard in 1977 to devote all of their attention to Microsoft, full time. Gates' premium goal he had in mind was his belief that the computer would be a valuable tool on every office desktop and in every home. Under Gates' influence as chairman, Microsoft has grown to become known to make their personal computers more cost-effective and more enjoyable for people to use; not to mention the continuous advancements and improvements in software technology. In December of 2003, Gates told Fortune Magazine, "People are using our software every day, and they know that in terms of security and simplicity, we can do better. The fact that they expect more from us- that's a good thing. I love that framework. They expect a lot; we have to do a lot."
             Due to all of his hard, devoted work, Bill Gates is now the wealthiest man in the world. He could buy out an entire years' production of his 99 nearest competitors, burn it, and still be worth more money then Hugh Hefner and Michael Jordan. He is now worth about 41,000,000,000 dollars. Gates said, &qu...