Farewell, Bill Gates

Some events touch particular people in peculiar ways. To most of the world, Bill Gates’s retirement means little more than any other billionaire’s retirement. “Why wouldn’t he?” you might ask.

On August 24, 1995, I stood on my front porch in South St. Louis waiting in the warm humidity for the UPS man to deliver my Day One copy of Windows ‘95. What a day. After signing for the box, I raced up to the second floor office and inserted the CD-ROM. Upgrading began.

Windows ‘95 so surpassed the Windows for Workgroups I’d been running as to make the a change difference in kind. This new operating system gave new life to an industry already deeply under my skin.

Perhaps that’s why Gates’s retirement makes me feel really old.

The Wall Street Journal (paid membership required . . . and recommended) article puts some things into perspective. “the move signals a historic changing of the guard at the software giant.” Continuing, the Journal article summarizes the Gates anomaly:

Mr. Gates, a college dropout, and high school chum Paul Allen were among the first entrepreneurs to see the possibilities of software as a business. Over the years, the company they founded swelled into a technology titan, whose products became synonymous with personal computers. Its profits and market power also became overpowering, factors that helped prompt long-running antitrust investigations in the United States and other countries.

Before I turned to technology for a living, I aspired to be an entrepreneur. I founded Right Press, Inc. in 1993, thanks, in part, to a personal gift from Bill Gates. I sent a letter to Redmond telling the company that I wanted to start a publishing company but couldn’t afford the software. About a month later, I received a letter signed by Gates and informing me that a copy of each Microsoft product was on its way via UPS. My loyalty never wavered.

Now that my career has reached the point where I do more general business management and software engineering, my appreciation for Gates’s genius only grows. So many technologists fail the Peter Principle as the cross over to management. Gates, more than any geek of his era, exemplified the businessman technologist, building the world’s most powerful software company while keeping his fingers on the design keyboard. He is the godfather of all software architects–a new role patterned exclusively off of Bill Gates.

I can’t imagine that he needs my encouragement to enjoy his retirement. With $50 or so billion, I could probably enjoy a good kick to the groin. So I will leave him simply with my thanks. His work put a good roof over my kids’ heads, good food on our table, and nice car in the garage. Bill Gates is an American hero.

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June 15, 2006 · Filed Under Uncategorized

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