The man who could buy anything

Bill Gates is the richest private citizen in the world. There is nothing he cannot afford. Every morning, when his alarm clock goes off, the software tycoon is $20 million richer, that when he went to bed. His wealth is based on his company, Microsoft. He has a personal fortune which is more than the annual economic output of over a hundred countries.

He is not shy about spending it. He has built a mansion that he’s packed with high-tech gadgetry and TV monitors, some taking up an entire all. Visitors are given a smart card encoded with their personal preferences, so that as they go from room to room, their favorite pictures will appear on the screens, and the music they like will play.

This cold-blooded approach to human relations also seems to find its place with his love life. When he went out with his ex-girlfriend, Ann Winblad, who is now a very successful business woman, the couple conducted much of their relationship by going on virtual dates. Each would drive alone to the same movie at the same time in different towns, and then talk afterwards on their mobiles, discussing the movie.

The reason why Microsoft has been so successful is because Gates saw that his fortune lay in software, not hardware. He became millionaire at 31, and since then Microsoft has created Windows, which is a system that is run with a mouse click.

Now the multi-billionire, whose software is used in 2/3 of the world’s computers, is developing HPC, or hand held personal computer. His prediction is that soon there will be a PC in everyone’s pocket.