27 ژوئن, 2008 - Published 12:04 GMT

Gates steps down

As a teenager Bill Gates had a vision of a personal computer on every desk in every home. He says he caught sight of the future and based his career on what he saw. The son of a successful lawyer from Seattle, Gates programmed his first computer at the age of 13. During his two years at Harvard University he spent much of his time finessing his programming skills, as well as enjoying the occasional all night poker session.

He eventually dropped out of college and moved to Albuquerque, in New Mexico, where he set up Microsoft with his childhood friend, Paul Allen. Their big break came in 1980 when Microsoft signed an agreement with IBM to build the operating system that became known as MS-DOS. Microsoft went public in 1986 and within a year Bill Gates, at 31, had become the youngest self-made billionaire.

Now 52, he still has boyish looks, but he's no longer the world's richest man. He's been overtaken by the investor Warren Buffett and the Mexican telecom tycoon Carlos Slim.

But Gates' fortune is at the root of his decision to leave his day job and concentrate on his charitable organisation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He'll remain as Microsoft's chairman and work on special technology projects, but according to Gates, great wealth brings great responsibility and his future work will include finding new vaccines and financing projects in the developing world.

Peter Bowes, BBC News, Los Angeles

caught sight of the future
آینده نگر بود، می توانست پیش بینی کند که آینده چگونه خواهد بود

finessing
در اینجا: پیشرفت کردن و مهارت بیشتر پیدا کردن از طریق یادگیری تکنیک های جدید و بهتر

poker
یک نوع بازی ورق

dropped out of
ترک تحصیل کرد، دانشگاه را رها کرد

set up
تاسیس کرد، بنا نهاد

big break
موفقیت خیلی بزرگ

Microsoft went public
در اینجا: تولیدات مایکروسافت به فروش گذاشته شد

telecom tycoon
کسی که از طریق فعالیت در صنعت مخابرات و ارتباطات راه دور، قدرت و ثروت زیادی به دست آورده، غول صنعت مخابرات

at the root of
دلیل اصلی برای....

great wealth brings great responsibility
ثروت زیاد باعث مسئولیت زیاد می شود