Microsoft corporation, a global pacesetter in software production and development, celebrated her golden jubilee on April 4, 2025. The company started on April 4, 1975, with Bill Gates and Paul Allen as founders. However, Bill Gates’ name became synonymous with Microsoft because of his enduring leadership and high stakes in the company. Despite the biases and conspiracy theories around his personality, wealth, philanthropy, scientific predictions, and technological clairvoyance, Gates is unarguably miles ahead of his contemporaries.
Both Gates and Allen were childhood friends from Lakeside School, a private preparatory school, where their fascination for computers conjoined them. They set out to provide the needed software for the earliest personal computer (PC), Altair 8800. The two guys had their opportunist costs. Allen left his work as a programmer in Boston, while Gates dropped out of Harvard, and concentrated on developing the new company. To that end, they relocated to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where MITS, the maker of Altair 1800, was originally based.
Microsoft built the BASIC interpreter for the Altair 1800 which enabled smart brains with digital savviness to create the software and set in motion the revolution of personal computers (PCs). By the late 1978, the sales by Microsoft reached over US$1 million. Progressively, the IBM’s first PC which made a debut in 1981 received Microsoft’s license for its MS-DOS operating system. Other computer companies followed suit. However, by 1983, when Allen was diagnosed of Hodgkin’s lymphoma, he left the company and did not return after a successful treatment; he chose to focus on other endeavours.
In 1985, a new operating system, Windows, that had “a graphical user interface that included drop-down menus, scroll bars and other features” was released. By 1986, Microsoft’s headquarters was relocated to Redmond, Washington. The same year, Microsoft issued its first initial public offering (IPO) and US$61 million was raised. Consequently, Gates became the youngest billionaire in the world in 1987 at the age of 31 as he retained 45% stake in the company. Within some years, Gates’ stake accumulated a market value of US$350 million. And, as “there is never an incentive to stay in debt”, he paid off his US$150,000 mortgage.
Due to the volume of sales, Microsoft immediately acquired the worldwide status as the biggest PCs software company by the end of 1980s. And in 1995, ‘Windows 95’ software was produced to meet the growing demand for PCs at homes and offices. By then, Gates had become 39 years and his personal wealth ballooned to US$12.9 billion. The company also introduced its web browser, Internet Explorer, with the coming on board of Internet. Over time, Microsoft added multiple products and services to its brand, such as PowerPoint, Excel, Word, Bing, Microsoft Edge, Microsoft Teams, LinkedIn, OneDrive, Xbox, Outlook, Gaming, Microsoft Azure, Microsoft 365, Windows Server, Computer Hardware, etc.
In 1994, Gates’ father helped him to establish a foundation in his (father’s) name, but when Gates stepped down from Microsoft’s board in 2000, he established the Bill & Melinda Foundation to drive his vision of giving back to the society. He cut down his shares in Microsoft to about 1.3% and diversified into other portfolio investments. Thus, his networth as of August 2024 was US$159 billion, just as Microsoft’s speed and scale netted the company a market value of over US$3 trillion.
Apart from Microsoft turning 50 this year, for Gates, the anniversary touched other milestones. His father who persuaded him into philanthropism would have been 100 years old. The Gates Foundation which had given out over US$100 billion with the help of Warren Buffet, clocked 25 years. Coincidentally, Gates will turn 70 by October. In savouring these great strides, Gates had declared that he intends to give away 99% of his wealth between 2025 and 2045 totaling more than US$200 billion.
Be that as it may, Microsoft and Gates have not escaped the hard knocks of people and power. In 1998, the United States State Department in collaboration with the 20 state attorneys general indicted Microsoft for breaching antitrust laws in the software industry. The company’s domineering influence would drive out competitors. And in 2001, it was forced to go into settlement after government had imposed some asphyxiating sanctions on its unacceptable corporate operations. Microsoft also suffers from image crisis as it has been labeled the most hated among 22 tech companies globally, according to a survey of over a million tweets. In the US alone, Microsoft is disliked more than Facebook, Google, and Amazon. Even the recent shutting down of Skype for Microsoft Teams, after Skype had lost the market share to Zoom, showed that Microsoft “lost focus on the basic values that made the product so popular in the first place…” Besides, the sacking of two software engineers who, during the anniversary event, protested the use of Microsoft’s AI by Israel in the war against the Palestine, may create credibility issues for the company in the Muslim world.
On the other hand, Gates has been accused of using his Foundation to gain access and ingratiate himself to world leaders for business deals. It is also alleged that he maintains big stakes in companies that manufacture products which his Foundation uses for its global philanthropy. Vaccine production is a glaring example. Thus, instead of becoming poorer, it is assumed that he is growing richer through worldwide patronage. During COVID-19, he was accused of using the vaccines to implant microchips inside people’s body, just as his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, a known pedophile, dented his reputation. Also, his climate-related projects continue to raise suspicion and alienate him from public goodwill.
Although the strides of Microsoft and Bill Gates represent the power of vision and effervescence of ideas, they should work on their public perceptions. According to an African proverb, “Stealing the village drum may be easy, but finding a place to beat it peacefully is the problem.” A string of negative stereotyping could lead to a harsh judgment of history which tokenism of benevolence can hardly erase. May competition remain the stuff of global business.