Before you read
1. Are computers very important to you?
2. What do you use computers for?
3. Who do you thing has been the most important person in the history of computers?
In 1975 Bill Gates was a student at Harvard, one of the top universities in the United states. At that time computers were large, expensive and difficult to use. Not many people had one at home. But Gates realised that computers would become smaller, cheaper and simpler in the future. He also realised that people would need sofeware for their computers. Gates formed a company and later dropped out of Harvard so he could develop the new software. Today Gates is the richest man in the world. He has a fortune of US 54 billion and his company, Microsoft, employs over 88000 people in ninety-nine countries.