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Tag Tag Microsoft
Our hiring was always focused on people right out of school. We had a few key hires like Charles Simonyi who came in with experience. But most of our developers, we decided that we wanted them to come with clear minds, not polluted by some other approach, to learn the way that we liked to develop software, and to put the kind of energy into it that we thought was key.
Bill Gates Smithsonian Interview: Bill Gates · 1993

Quotes

“A PC on every desk and in every home.”

Bill Gates · Smithsonian Interview: Bill Gates, 1993 · Primary source

“The Internet is a tidal wave. It changes the rules. It is an incredible opportunity as well as incredible challenge.”

Bill Gates · The Internet Tidal Wave, 1995 · Primary source

“I want every product plan to try and go overboard on Internet features.”

Bill Gates · The Internet Tidal Wave, 1995 · Primary source

Authors

American Entrepreneur and Philanthropist · 1955
Bill Gates

Co-founder of Microsoft who helped shape personal computing and later became a major global philanthropist.

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Works

Bill Gates, David Allison (interviewer) · 1993
Smithsonian Interview: Bill Gates

An oral history interview tracing Gates’s early computing experiences, Microsoft’s development, the personal computer industry and his expectations for computing’s future.

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Bill Gates, David Rensin (interviewer) · 1994
Playboy Interview: Bill Gates

A wide-ranging interview on Microsoft, software competition, emerging digital networks, management, personal wealth, and Gates’s expectations for the information age.

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Bill Gates · 2025
Source Code

A memoir of Gates's childhood, education, early fascination with computers, partnership with Paul Allen, and the beginnings of Microsoft.

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Bill Gates · 1976
An Open Letter to Hobbyists

An open letter arguing that unauthorised software copying undermines payment for developers and discourages investment in software for computer hobbyists.

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Bill Gates · 1995
The Internet Tidal Wave

An internal Microsoft memo arguing that the rapidly expanding Internet required major changes to the company’s products, services, and competitive strategy.

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Related Tags

Recruitment 2 Software development 3 Organisational culture 5 Graduate hiring 1 Personal computing 7 Technology adoption 3 Computing access 1 Long-term vision 1 Internet 4 Technological disruption 1 Strategic change 1 Digital transformation 4 Internet strategy 2 Product development 3 Feature integration 1 Strategic prioritisation 1 Altair BASIC 2 Software copying 1 Homebrew Computer Club 1 Commercial software 2 IBM PC 2 Windows 1 Information highway 2 Software industry 2 Business strategy 1 Netscape 1 Web browsers 1 Early computing 1 Paul Allen 1 Lakeside School 1 Harvard University 9 Gates Foundation 1 Giving Pledge 1