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It's a good read. I often wonder what would have become of him had his parents not had the forethought to send him to Lakeside School; his family wasn't rich l

It's a good read. I often wonder what would have become of him had his parents not had the forethought to send him to Lakeside School; his family wasn't rich like Bill Gates' family; I imagine, with money, Gates would have done well whether or not he had gone to that school, but if Allen hadn't, and therefore hadn't met Gates, where would have gone? It makes me think long and hard about my children's education. They'll get a fantastic education regardless of what school they go to, since we'll learn at home, but just how important is the networking? Does that itself supercede the education? I guess biographies always make you ask yourself these what if questions, and often apply them to yourself.

adventured 8y ago
It's an interesting thought experiment with Allen, because he provided the unrelenting prompting to start Microsoft. As you know from the book (and Gates has confirmed this numerous times), he urged Gates repeatedly that they should start a company focused on software to capitalize on the burgeoning personal computing era. Finally convincing him when the famous January 1975 issue of Popular Electronics came out with the Altair 8800 on the cover. Allen very plausibly was even more of an entrepreneur personality type than Gates was. It seems likely that Allen may well have pursued founding his own company in the absence of Gates. From a very young age, Allen apparently had a strong penchant for science and technology. Striking out on your own, then as now, is maybe the best way to leap forward with new technology, versus laboring in the corner of a stuffy, conservative corporate behemoth like Honeywell (where Allen worked) or IBM. Lakeside at a minimum very likely accelerated by several years his introduction to computer programming, due to the resources the school had. Then on top of that, he had a small group of friends to pursue those adventures with thanks to Lakeside, and they all had access to the same tech. The amplification value of all of that, has to be considerable.
- PostOnce 8y ago
  But as he also admits in the book, he would pursue anything and everything, but Bill Gates would temper his expectations and help direct energy in a productive direction; so, it's possible--or even likely, I think--that Paul Allen would have started one of the many, many computer companies that didn't succeed. i.e. a PC manufacturer with a million competitors. Of course, it's also possible he would have been wildly successful as an early entrant. Who can say?

adventured 8y ago

It's an interesting thought experiment with Allen, because he provided the unrelenting prompting to start Microsoft. As you know from the book (and Gates has confirmed this numerous times), he urged Gates repeatedly that they should start a company focused on software to capitalize on the burgeoning personal computing era. Finally convincing him when the famous January 1975 issue of Popular Electronics came out with the Altair 8800 on the cover. Allen very plausibly was even more of an entrepreneur personality type than Gates was. It seems likely that Allen may well have pursued founding his own company in the absence of Gates. From a very young age, Allen apparently had a strong penchant for science and technology. Striking out on your own, then as now, is maybe the best way to leap forward with new technology, versus laboring in the corner of a stuffy, conservative corporate behemoth like Honeywell (where Allen worked) or IBM. Lakeside at a minimum very likely accelerated by several years his introduction to computer programming, due to the resources the school had. Then on top of that, he had a small group of friends to pursue those adventures with thanks to Lakeside, and they all had access to the same tech. The amplification value of all of that, has to be considerable.

PostOnce 8y ago
But as he also admits in the book, he would pursue anything and everything, but Bill Gates would temper his expectations and help direct energy in a productive direction; so, it's possible--or even likely, I think--that Paul Allen would have started one of the many, many computer companies that didn't succeed. i.e. a PC manufacturer with a million competitors. Of course, it's also possible he would have been wildly successful as an early entrant. Who can say?