What would Bill Gates be without that Computer and Magazine?

-
While reading the book, 'The Psychology of Money', I came across these two lines:
"Bill Gates went to one of the only high schools in the world that had a computer"
"During one of their late-night sessions, Allen recalled Gates showing him a Fortune magazine."

And this got me thinking: Would Bill Gates be "Bill Gates" if he had not got access to THAT computer at Lakeside?

Would Microsoft have been born if two kids (Bill & Paul) did not have access and end up reading THAT Fortune magazine?

Ofcourse, Bill Gates himself answered the question in a way. "If there had been no Lakeside, there would have been no Microsoft", he told the school's graduating class in 2005.

Me

Then I started to think: As a kid, even I had early access to a computer when in the year 1995, my elder brother got home a 386 computer! I would randomly play around with some games and some design tools. Pretty sure this helped me later in life and planted the right seeds for my growth in the technology field!

Others

Got me thinking more...

What if we donated more such "resources" to schools and to those who cannot afford them?

What if we gave such resources to the kids in our immediate neighbourhood?

Can we create more such serendipitous moments for the next generation, that can give rise to a new Bill Gates or a new Microsoft? #OneInAMillion

What do you think? Do you have such a story when you look at your own past? Let me know in the comments or via email!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

CTO by chance! Short story of Amazon CTO Werner Vogels

-
Image
I was recently listening to a podcast which featured Amazon's CTO Werner Vogels . "Sometimes you have gifts that you don't know about untill you start doing them" Did you know: He studied radiology and worked at hospitals He was an Academic and had been a research scientist at the Cornell University In 2004, Amazon (the book company!) invited him to give a talk about some material he was working on and Werner seemed skeptical about visiting a "book" company After joining Amazon, in 6 months he became the CTO because the existing "Tech guy" at the company really wanted to be a developer! #DiverseBackground
Read more

Overcoming challenges : If she can do it, why can't we?

-
Image
Yesterday, I was listening to a podcast episode Think Bigger & Innovate from ' The Psychology Podcast ' featuring "some" Columbia business professor. Half way through the episode I learn that the guest professor is a blind person! She is Dr Sheena Iyengar! According to Wikipedia, " As a child, she was diagnosed with a rare form of retinitis pigmentosa, an inherited disease of retinal degeneration. By the age of nine, she could no longer read . By the age of sixteen, she was completely blind, although able to perceive light.  She remains blind as an adult. In 1992, she graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a B.S. in economics from the Wharton School and a B.A. in psychology from the College of Arts and Sciences. She then earned her Ph.D . in Social Psychology from Stanford University in 1997 " If she can do it, why can't we? #Inspiration #Resilence #NeverGiveUp #WhatsYourExcuse
Read more

Chance meeting with Viswanathan Anand and the pivotal moment in my career!

-
Image
In my previous post I wrote about how the Apps got me a job in Motorola . Now work on the Motorola MOTOACTV smart watch was going on well. On the personal front, I had also released 3 Android chess apps on the Play Store (no iOS apps yet, since this was still a side hustle using tech skills which I knew). Meeting Anand The year was 2012, and a team from Motorola with me as the captain, decided to participate in a Corporate Chess tournament in the month of July. The event consisted of team matches as well as an individual tournament. The highlight of the event was also a chance to play a game with none other than the then world champion Viswanathan Anand, provided one finishes in the top 10. There was also an option for a dinner with him (paid entry!). Although the team did not fare well, in the individual event I finished 4th, which meant I was eligible to play Anand! What a moment it was for me, not only to personally see the world chess champion face to face but try my chess skills a
Read more