Bill Gates Essays - Nerd Culture, Altair, Bill Gates, Traf-O-Data

Bill Gates Essays - Nerd Culture, Altair, Bill Gates, Traf-O-Data Bill Gates Introduction "Bill Gates and his empire command fear, respect and curiosity in the world he helped create. Microsoft dominates the software world like no other company in a major consumer industry" (Electric 1). Exactly how did Bill Gates and his partner Paul Allen get their company to such a tremendous height? The history of Microsoft is a very fascinating past full of enterprise and excitement. The Dawning of a great company Bill Gates and Paul Allen are the co-founders of Microsoft. The start of their great success started in high school on a computer terminal. All their free time and money was spent working on that terminal. The development that really inaugurated everything, in the business sense was when they found an article in 1971, in a business magazine about Intel's 4004 chip (Billionaires 70). Soon they both talked about the chip and decided that the microprocessor can only get enhanced. Later in the year Intel came out with a newer chip called the 8008. Bill and Paul the n went out and bought their own 8008 for $360 (Billionaires 70). They thought plan in which Gates and Allen would use this chip to make a computer to do traffic - volume - count analysis. Gates and Allen then set up their first "company" called Traf-O-Data (Billionaires 70). "In 1973 the duo landed their first authentic jobs, helping TRW in Vancouver, Washington, to use minicomputers for the management and distribution of power from hydroelectric dams" (Billionaires 70). Gates' parents wanted him to go to Harvard instead of going into business with Allen. Inevitably, Gates convinced his friend to move to Boston so they could work together, and Allen could get a job programming. It was a magazine article that would ultimately change their lives. A cover story in Popular Electronics describing the MITS Altair 8800. "World's First Minicomputer Kit to Rival Commercial Models" (Billionaires 71). When Bill and Paul designed the Traf-O-Data machine they wrote a version of BASIC that they m ight be able to adapt to the Altair. By April Gates and Allen had finished the language and convinced MITS to sell it (Billionaires 71). Allen was offered a job by MITS and both of them went to work in a small office for MITS. "Soon after, Microsoft was born" (Billionaires 71). The Birth of Microsoft In the beginning the management skills of Paul Allen and Bill Gates was somewhat loose. Both men took part every single decision that had to be made (Billionaires 71). They were both very cautious entrepreneurs. If there was any difference in their roles in the company, Allen was the one always pushing for new technology, and Gates was more interested in doing negotiations, contracts, and business deals (Billionaires 71). They acquired knowledge as their company slowly grew. Microsoft's basic business scheme was to charge a price so low that computer makers could not do it for less internally (Billionaires 72). Texas Instruments gave Microsoft one of their largest contracts where Texas Instruments bid $99,000 providing programming languages for a home computer TI was going to produce. Allen and Gates picked that price because they did not want to go into six figures (Billionaires 72). They later found out that TI would have paid much more. When Microsoft started selling to Japanese companies they were so overpromised that it was ridiculous Sometimes the business would get a little frightening. In their very first talk to MITS they set it up so the MITS would sell BASIC to their customers. MITS decided later not to sell it because there were so many pirated copies of BASIC floating around that they did not see why they should charge their customers for it. This seemed to Microsoft that MITS was prompted piracy. Gates and Allen eventually went into arbitration to determine if MITS was complying with the contract (Billionaires 72). While they were in arbitration, they were running out of money because MITS was withholding their payments trying to starve Microsoft to death. The arbitrator took nine months to come to a decision. When it was all over MITS was "ripped apart" (Billionaires 72). That case really scared Allen and Gates. They were worried that they were going

Turkey in the European Union

Turkey in the European Union The country of Turkey is typically considered to straddle both Europe and Asia. Turkey occupies all of the Anatolian Peninsula (also known as Asia Minor) and a small part of southeastern Europe. In October 2005 negotiations began between Turkey (population 70 million) and the European Union (EU) for Turkey to be considered as a possible member of the EU in the future. Location While most of Turkey lies geographically in Asia (the peninsula is Asian), far western Turkey lies in Europe. Turkeys largest city of Istanbul (known as Constantinople until 1930), with a population of over 9 million is located on both the east and west sides of the Bosporus strait so it straddles both what are traditionally considered Europe and Asia. However, Turkeys capital city of Ankara is fully outside of Europe and on the Asian continent. While the European Union is working with Turkey to help it move toward being able to become a member of the European Union, there are some who are concerned about Turkeys potential membership. Those opposed to Turkish membership in the EU point to several issues. Issues First, they state that Turkeys culture and values are different from those of the European Union as a whole. They point out that Turkeys 99.8% Muslim population is too different from Christian-based Europe. However, the EU makes the case that the EU is not a religion-based organization, Turkey is a secular (a non-religion-based government) state, and that 12 million Muslims currently live throughout the European Union. Nonetheless, the EU acknowledges that Turkey needs to Substantially improve respect for the rights of non-Muslim religious communities to meet European standards. Secondly, naysayers point out that since Turkey is mostly not in Europe (neither population-wise nor geographically), it should not become part of the European Union. The EU responds that, The EU is based more on values and political will than on rivers and mountains, and acknowledges that, Geographers and historians have never agreed on the physical or natural borders of Europe. Too true! A third reason Turkey might have problems is its non-recognition of Cyprus, a full-fledged member of the European Union. Turkey will have to acknowledge Cyprus to be considered a contender for membership. Additionally, many are concerned about the rights of Kurds in Turkey. The Kurdish people have limited human rights and there are accounts of genocidal activities that need to stop for Turkey to be considered for European Union membership. Finally, some are concerned that Turkeys large population would alter the balance of power in the European Union. After all, Germanys population (the largest country in the EU) is only at 82 million and declining. Turkey would be the second largest country (and perhaps eventually the largest with its much higher growth rate) in the EU and would have considerable influence in the European Union. This influence would be especially profound in the population-based European Parliament. The low per-capita income of the Turkish population is also of concern since the economy of Turkey as a new EU member might have a negative effect on the EU as a whole. Turkey is receiving considerable assistance from its European neighbors as well as from the EU. The EU has allocated billions and is expected to allocate billions of euros in funding for projects to help invest in a stronger Turkey that may one day become a member of the European Union. I was particularly moved by this EU statement on why Turkey should be part of the European Union of the future, Europe needs a stable, democratic and more prosperous Turkey which adopts our values, our rule of law, and our common policies. The accession perspective has already driven forward bold and significant reforms. If the rule of law and human rights are guaranteed throughout the country, Turkey can join the EU and thus become an even stronger bridge between civilizations as it is already today. That sounds like worthwhile goal to me.