Vision without Action, is merely a dream.
Action without Vision, is just passing time.
But, Action & Vision together can change the world.
– JRD Tata.
These words of JRD Tata, sum up pretty well, what Bill Gates saw & did. He had a vision, he acted upon it. He changed the world.
There are very few moments like these, I remember it was around 6 years ago, when sitting for a mock interview I was asked by a really cute teacher of mine, who do I idolize? The answer was simple then as it is now. Bill Gates & my dad. Today, one of them steps down from daily activities at a firm that has changed the entire landscape of human interaction. His vision 3 decades ago, has made the world we live in today. There are certain events that have shaped our world, the way we live, the way we work. Bill Gates’ vision and the incorporation of Microsoft was one such moment that goes down in history as a ‘Defining Moment’. Today, there is a vast majority of people who despise Microsoft for what it does, but little do they ever realize is that if it weren’t for his action & vision the computer would not have made in-roads to the lives of the common man in a way as big as due to Microsoft & Bill Gates.
A computer on every desk. Period. A known objective of Bill Gates and boy did he not achieve it! Moments like these are nostalgic, I remember the first days of my interaction & my falling in love with technology. My uncle was the first in the family to own a computer, I was desperate to get to sit on his computer. When guys are desperate for a girl I am desperate for Windows 7 & Direct X 11. Paratroopers, Prince, the DOS games that I used to get hooked to. Then came Windows 95 into my life, the 16 bit colored icons, was a pleasure to look at, my friends looked at the girls sitting on the other side of the classroom, while I was fidgeting away with the mouse and the PC.
When I was around 11, I got my first PC, Windows 95 & Roadrash FTW!! Bliss, staring at the screen as if Jennifer Aniston stood nude. My world had changed, I got a passion, my passion. Computing became my world, talking about anything related to computing became the reason for me to talk. I started collecting softwares as a stamp collector collected stamps. MS Office, especially Power Point became my new play toy, spending hours making just anything, the animations just excited me beyond words. Making the clip-art of a plane fly from left to right on a mouse click made me go from the left of my chair to the right. Showing this to my dad and he praising only motivated me to find more stuff and I kept on diving further into this world, the Matrix as we call it. The virtual world.
Today, over the years when I look back at those times, I can find only one factor that made it possible, it was Windows & MS Office. I am considered as some one who loves Microsoft, rightly so. I do. It gave me my passion. And today I would like to thank the person whose vision & action made this possible. The man who realized before all else the power of software. The original g33k God. There are many who had the vision and many who acted, but none did the 2 together. The g33k God did it.
William Henry Gates III
I salute you sir, for you have not only created a company that delivers products that people use, you have changed the way people live by making use of your products.
From one to genius to another – You rock dude!
Having said this, another proverb that comes to mind:
It ain’t over, till it’s over. – Rocky Balboa.
You can take Bill Gates out of Microsoft, but you can never take Microsoft out of Bill Gates. I feel optimistic, now that he is not going to be busy with the day-to-day affairs at Microsoft, the chances of such emails are more. All the best for the next phase of your life, sir. Thank you once again for what you given me & the rest of the world.
For those interested, here are a few links that you might want to read:
Gates 2.0 – A Seattle Pi Special.