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Note: Bill Gates’ mom was a high rank executive at HP or something similar, forgot the details.

by sogen 4y ago

UncleOxidant 4y ago
The Gates' definitely had money. His dad was a lawyer and founded a law firm. Definitely helped.
- gnicholas 4y ago
  According to Wikipedia, he joined an existing law firm, and his name was added to the firm's name. [1] That firm later merged with other firms, and continues to bear its name even decades after his retirement. I imagine he/they made a good deal of money on their client Microsoft, especially during their antitrust trial! 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preston_Gates_%26_Ellis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preston_Gates_%26_Ellis
gowld 4y ago
It's a beautiful story of nepotism and rent-seeking. Bill got the job from a powerful friend of his mother, bought someone else's work outright, customized it, and licensed it to IBM on incredibly Gates-friendly terms (pay per-unit, non-exclusive license). https://www.nytimes.com/1994/06/11/obituaries/mary-gates-64-helped-her-son-start-microsoft.html https://www.nytimes.com/1994/06/11/obituaries/mary-gates-64-... https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/05/how-bill-gates-mother-influenced-the-success-of-microsoft.html https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/05/how-bill-gates-mother-influe... > Mary was a respected businesswoman with many responsibilities, including her membership on the board of nonprofit organization United Way of King County. There, she met the late John Opel, then-chairman of IBM, who also was a member of the United Way board. > IBM's talks with Digital Research started to flounder, and when assessing options, Opel remembered Microsoft as the company "run by Bill Gates, Mary Gates' son," according to The Seattle Times. > When Microsoft won the job, it didn't actually have an operating system of its own. So in 1981, the company bought QDOS, an operating system created by hardware company Seattle Computer Products, and with it developed MS-DOS, the Microsoft Disk Operating System. Microsoft licensed its MS-DOS to IBM to use as the operating system for its personal computer. (In addition to Microsoft, IBM also contracted Digital Research and SofTech Microsystems to use their operating systems for IBM's personal computer.)

Note: Bill Gates’ mom was a high rank executive at HP or something similar, forgot the details.

by sogen 4y ago

Note: Bill Gates’ mom was a high rank executive at HP or something similar, forgot the details.

UncleOxidant 4y ago

The Gates' definitely had money. His dad was a lawyer and founded a law firm. Definitely helped.

gnicholas 4y ago
According to Wikipedia, he joined an existing law firm, and his name was added to the firm's name. [1] That firm later merged with other firms, and continues to bear its name even decades after his retirement. I imagine he/they made a good deal of money on their client Microsoft, especially during their antitrust trial! 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preston_Gates_%26_Ellis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preston_Gates_%26_Ellis

gowld 4y ago

It's a beautiful story of nepotism and rent-seeking. Bill got the job from a powerful friend of his mother, bought someone else's work outright, customized it, and licensed it to IBM on incredibly Gates-friendly terms (pay per-unit, non-exclusive license). https://www.nytimes.com/1994/06/11/obituaries/mary-gates-64-helped-her-son-start-microsoft.html https://www.nytimes.com/1994/06/11/obituaries/mary-gates-64-... https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/05/how-bill-gates-mother-influenced-the-success-of-microsoft.html https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/05/how-bill-gates-mother-influe... > Mary was a respected businesswoman with many responsibilities, including her membership on the board of nonprofit organization United Way of King County. There, she met the late John Opel, then-chairman of IBM, who also was a member of the United Way board. > IBM's talks with Digital Research started to flounder, and when assessing options, Opel remembered Microsoft as the company "run by Bill Gates, Mary Gates' son," according to The Seattle Times. > When Microsoft won the job, it didn't actually have an operating system of its own. So in 1981, the company bought QDOS, an operating system created by hardware company Seattle Computer Products, and with it developed MS-DOS, the Microsoft Disk Operating System. Microsoft licensed its MS-DOS to IBM to use as the operating system for its personal computer. (In addition to Microsoft, IBM also contracted Digital Research and SofTech Microsystems to use their operating systems for IBM's personal computer.)