Subject: Bill Gates "Unofficial" FAQ
Date: 18 Apr 1997 01:59:36 GMT
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Subject: Bill Gates "Unofficial" FAQ

Archive-name: personalities/bill-gates-faq
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URL: http://www.tiac.net/users/billg40/main/faq.htm



The Bill Gates "Unofficial" FAQ
===============================

Welcome to the Bill Gates FAQ. I compiled this FAQ based on
e-mail I received at my site and Ill keep it updated. Please
let me know if you have any suggestions for improvements or
additional questions. Or corrections -- well, Im pretty busy
running Microsoft, so I dont have time to check everything
OK?!

Thanks! Bill G.


1.  Wow!!! Is this really you Bill Gates??
Yeah, right.

2.  How much money do you make, Bill?
In 1996, I made about $550K in salary and bonus, which doesnt even
make me Microsofts highest paid employee! On the other hand, the
bulk of my net worth is a result of my significant stock holding in
Microsoft, which is currently worth in excess of $20 billion. (Of 
course,
thats just on paper, and the stock may go down as well as up.
Right.) I also have miscellaneous investments in other companies,
assorted cars, possessions (including the $30m da Vinci Codex) and
real estate (including my famous $50m house-in-progress). I guess
you could say Im comfortably well-off.

3.  What is the Bill Gates e-mail address at Microsoft?
Thats billg@microsoft.com or askbill@microsoft.com -- but you need
to be an optimist! Include your name, address and a request for a
picture, and you might just get a signed photo of yours truly! Cool!

4.  Brother, can you spare a dime? Will you give me... [lots of
money / some money / any money -- you wont miss it / a computer
/ a loan / financial help to start a business / a gift / money
for school / a donation to a particular charity]?
This should really be question #1, but I dont want to encourage you.
Due to the incredible volume of these kinds of requests, the chances
of success are about the same as winning the lottery. But, hey,
someones got to win the lottery, right? In general, my policy is to
limit my charitable works to official Microsoft initiatives such as
matching funding for Microsoft employee donations to the United Way,
and certain high-profile programs such as Libraries Online. In
addition, all royalties from my book, The Road Ahead, go to the
National Foundation for the Improvement of Education (NFIE) in
Washington, DC, and my father is running a charitable foundation with
about $200m of my money. Ive already given $34 million to the
University of Washington, $15 million for a new computer center at
Harvard, and $6 million to Stanford. Its probably true to say that
every year I give away more money than most people earn in a
lifetime! You stand the best chance if youre a library or school,
OK? In about ten years time, I plan to focus on giving most of my
money away, so perhaps youll stand an even better chance then! I
plan to go from worlds richest man to worlds largest philanthropist!

5.  Are you married? What is your wifes name? Do you ever wonder
if she REALLY loves you? 
My wife is Melinda (nee French) who was a Product Manager at
Microsoft.  (Who says office romances dont work?) We were married on
January 1, 1994 in Hawaii and the Best Man (and I use that strictly
in its ceremonial sense!) was Steve Ballmer. Our first child,
Jennifer Katherine, was born on April 26, 1996. Ha, ha! Of course
she loves me! Doesnt everyone?

6.  What do your parents do? Do you have any brothers and sisters?
My father, William Gates Sr., is a prominent Seattle attorney, now
semi-retired. My mom, Mary, died in 1994. She served on the Board of
Directors of several organizations, including the United Way, and, in
honor of her contribution to Seattle, the avenue leading to my
fathers neighborhood was named after her. Supercool, huh? I have
two sisters. Kirsti is one year older than me and Libby is nine years
younger. Libby has two kids. So now Im Uncle Bill!

7.  How old are you? When were you born? What star sign are you?
I was born on October 28, 1955 so Ive just turned 41 1/4. Ha, ha!
Im a typical, competitive Scorpio.

8.  Where did you go to high school? What school? What college
did you go to?
I went to Lakeside, a private school in Seattle. I then went to
Harvard, but dropped out to pursue a career in software... with a
little company called Microsoft. Heard of it? (I dont recommend
that you do the same: you should complete your education!)

9.  How did you get into computers? How old were you when
you started programming?
Lakeside was one of the first schools to get a computer (actually an
ASR-33 teletype) in 1968. So thats when I started learning about
computers and programming. That was eighth grade, so about 13...

10.  How did you invent DOS?
DOS is one of Microsofts key products, but I didnt invent it. It
was developed by Tim Paterson for Seattle Computer Products and was
known as Q-DOS (Quick n Dirty Operating System). IBM was licensing
BASIC from me for the (about to be launched) IBM PC, and they were
hoping to get CP/M 86 from Digital Research. CP/M 86 was late, plus
DR wasn't cooperative, so IBM asked me if I knew of an alternative.
So I did a deal with Seattle Computer Products to buy Q-DOS. I then
licensed the product to IBM and the rest, as they say, is history.
(It was the best $75,000 I ever spent! I hear Tim's still got that
Toyota he bought with the proceeds!)

11.  Do you have a nickname?
Yes, all my friends and family call me Trey. From William Gates III,
OK? It was my grandmothers great idea... In the industry, Im
sometimes known as the "Gator". Cant imagine why.

12.  What e-mail address should I use to get technical information
about Microsoft products?
You should go to the Microsoft.* news groups devoted to Microsoft
and Microsoft products. Post your message in the appropriate
newsgroup and you should get an answer pretty quickly. Alternatively,
you could try e-mail to support@microsoft.com.

13.  Do you think that the Internet will become such a powerful
medium that the desktop applications market will eventually
be phased out?
No. There will always be a market for Microsoft Office.

14.  I know you made a new book, where can I get it? Can I get
a list of your books?
Get down to Barnes & Noble, or surf over to Amazon.com Books, to
check out "The Road Ahead" by me (and Nathan Myhrvold and Peter
Rinearson). Not by me, but largely about me, are: "Gates: How
Microsofts Mogul Reinvented an Industry -- and Made Himself the
Richest Man in America" by Stephen Manes and Paul Andrews;
"Hard Drive: Bill Gates and the Making of the Microsoft Empire" by
James Wallace and Jim Erickson; "The Microsoft Way: The Real Story
of How the Company Outsmarts Its Competition" by Randall E. Stross.
Not by me, and only slightly about me (and hence much less
interesting) are: "I Sing the Body Electronic : A Year With Microsoft
on the Multimedia Frontier" by Fred Moody; and "Microserfs"
by Douglas Coupland. Not by me and not even remotely about me, but
still worth reading is: "The Double Helix : A Personal Account of
the Discovery of the Structure of DNA" by James D. Watson. Cool!

15.  Where can we get more information about you?
The best place is the Internet, and youre right here. Check out
the following sites...

Microsoft. This is a way cool corporate site. Awesome, in fact.
http://www.microsoft.com (home page)
http://www.microsoft.com/corpinfo/staff/billg.htm (my official bio)
http://www.microsoft.com/corpinfo/column.htm (my NY Times columns)

The Secret Diary of Bill Gates. Yeahhh! My other (personal) site.
Humor, insight, entertainment...
http://www.tiac.net/users/billg40/billgates.htm

The supercool "Unofficial" Bill Gates site. More about me!
http://www.zpub.com/un/bill/

The supercool Bill Gates Personal Wealth Clock.
Ticking its way to $30 billion...
http://www.webho.com/WealthClock

MSNBC. The only news youll need...
http://www.msnbc.com

MSN. The coolest on-line service ever (perfect for disgruntled
AOLers). Humor, insight, entertainment... Into orbit!
http://www.msn.com

Corbis. Wow! Such great graphics! World-famous art!
Who came up with this cool idea? (I did. Yeaaahhhh!)
http://www.corbis.com

The Road Ahead. What a great book. What a great
author. Boy, Im so smart!
http://www.roadahead.com

Amazon.com Books. The Worlds biggest bookstore.
And they stock The Road Ahead. Way cool!
http://www.amazon.com

Walls 97. Its the house that Bill built! Not
just cool... 50 million dollars of cool!
http://www.morsepr.com/mmdocs/more-walls.html

Team Gates. These guys love me!
http://www.teamgates.com

List of Bill Gates links. Too much about me!
http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~atm/scott.list/075.htm


=========================================
Bill Gates FAQ (c) Bill G. 1997.

Check out "The Secret Diary of Bill Gates, Aged 41 1/4" at:
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It's a PARODY! None of it is true!

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