Everyone has heard of Bill Gates. O

Everyone has heard of Bill Gates. One of the richest and most successful people in the world. Microsoft, the business he started with a friend in 1975, has become the world's largest computer software company, and Gates was the world's youngest billionaire at the age of 31.

His full name is William Henry Gates III, and he was born on 28th October, 1955, in Seattle, USA. At school, Bill soon showed that he was very intelligent, and especially good at Math and Science. His parents decided to send him to Lakeside, the private school where he first use computers. 13-year-old Bill Gates and his schoolfriend Paul Allen were soon spending all their time writing programs and learning about computers instead of doing their schoolwork! .

After finishing school in 1973, Bill went to Harvard, America's most famous university. The next year, he and Pull Allen wrote an operating program for the Altair, one of the world's first microcomputer. The two friends started Microsoft in 1975, and Gates left Harvard. Before long, Microsoft was a major business success. Since then, company has continued to grow, producing most of the world's leading PC software. One reason for his success is that Gates has always been very ambitious and hardworking. This has not left him much time for a normal personal life, but in 1994 he married Melinda French, a Microsoft employee, and in 1995 he wrote a best-selling book, The Road Ahead.

Bill has mixed feeling about spending so much time running Microsoft. "There are a lot of experiences I haven't had but I do like my job", he says. When he does find time to relax, he likes puzzles, golf and reading about science. For such a rich person, his life is simple, and he spends little on himself and his family. When it comes to helping others, though, Gates is very generous. He has already given huge amounts of money to charity, and says that he plans to give almost all of his wealth when he retires.