Bill Gate

Family and Early Childhood

On October 28, 1955, shortly after 9:00 p.m., William Henry Gates III was born. He was born into a family with a rich history in business, politics, and community service. His great-grandfather had been a state legislator and mayor, his grandfather was the vice president of a national bank, and his father was a prominent lawyer. [Wallace, 1992, p. 8-9] Early on in life, it was apparent that Bill Gates inherited the ambition, intelligence, and competitive spirit that had helped his progenitors rise to the top in their chosen professions. In elementary school he quickly surpassed all of his peer's abilities in nearly all subjects, especially math and science. His parents recognized his intelligence and decided to enroll him in Lakeside, a private school known for its intense academic environment. This decision had far reaching effects on Bill Gates's life. For at Lakeside, Bill Gates was first introduced to computers.

First computing Experience

In the Spring of 1968, the Lakeside prep school decided that it should acquaint the student body with the world of computers [Teamgates.com, 9/29/96]. Computers were still too large and costly for the school to purchase its own. Instead, the school had a fund raiser and bought computer time on a DEC PDP-10 owned by General Electric. A few thousand dollars were raised which the school figured would buy more than enough time to last into the next school year. However, Lakeside had drastically underestimated the allure this machine would have for a hand full of young students.

Bill Gates, Paul Allen, and a few other Lakeside students (many of whom were the first programmers hired at Microsoft) immediately became inseparable from the computer. They would stay in the computer room all day and night, writing programs, reading computer literature and anything else they could to learn about computing. Soon Gates and the others started running into problems with the faculty. Their homework was being turned in late (if at all), they were skipping classes to be in the computer room and worst of all, they had used up all of the schools computer time in just a few weeks. [Wallace, 1992, p. 24]

In the fall of 1968, Computer Center Corporation opened for business in Seattle. It was offering computing time at good rates, and one of the chief programmers working for the corporation had a child attending Lakeside. A deal was struck between Lakeside Prep School and the Computer Center Corporation that allowed the school to continue providing it's students with computer time. [Wallace, 1992, p. 27] Gates and his comrades immediately began exploring the contents of this new machine. It was not long before the young hackers started causing problems. They caused the system to crash several times and broke the computers security system. They even altered the files that recorded the amount of computer time they were using. They were caught and the Computer Center Corporation banned them from the system for several weeks.

Bill Gates, Paul Allen and, two other hackers from Lakeside formed the Lakeside Programmers Group in late 1968. They were determined to find a way to apply their computer skills in the real world. The first opportunity to do this was a direct result of their mischievous activity with the school's computer time. The Computer Center Corporation's business was beginning to suffer due to the systems weak security and the frequency that it crashed. Impressed with Gates and the other Lakeside computer addicts' previous assaults on their computer, the Computer Center Corporation decided to hire the students to find bugs and expose weaknesses in the computer system. In return for the Lakeside Programming Group's help, the Computer Center Corporation would give them unlimited computer time [Wallace, 1992, p. 27]. The boys could not refuse. Gates is quoted as saying "It was when we got free time at C-cubed (Computer Center Corporation) that we really got into computers. I mean, then I became hardcore. It was day and night" [Wallace, 1992, p. 30]. Although the group was hired just to find bugs, they also read any computer related material that the day shift had left behind. The young hackers would even pick employees for new information. It was here that Gates and Allen really began to develop the talents that would lead to the formation of Microsoft seven years later.

Roots of Business Career

Computer Center Corporation began to experience financial problems late in 1969. The company finally went out of business in March of 1970. The Lakeside Programmers Group had to find a new way to get computer time. Eventually they found a few computers on the University of Washington's campus where Allen's dad worked. The Lakeside Programmers Group began searching for new chances to apply their computer skills. Their first opportunity came early the next year when Information Sciences Inc. hired them to program a payroll program. Once again the group was given free computer time and for the first time, a source of income. ISI had agreed to give them royalties whenever it made money from any of the groups programs. As a result of the business deal signed with Information Sciences Inc., the group also had to become a legal business [Wallace, 1992, p. 42-43]. Gates and Allen's next project involved starting another company entirely on their own, Traf-O-Data. They produced a small computer which was used to help measure traffic flow. From the project they grossed around $20,000. The Traf-O-Data company lasted until Gates left for college. During Bill Gates' junior year at Lakeside, the administration offered him a job computerizing the school's scheduling system. Gates asked Allen to help with the project. He agreed and the following summer, they wrote the program. In his senior year, Gates and Allen continued looking for opportunities to use their skills and make some money. It was not long until they found this opportunity. The defense contractor TRW was having trouble with a bug infested computer similar to the one at Computer Center Corporation. TRW had learned of the experience the two had working on the Computer Center Corporation's system and offered Gates and Allen jobs. However thing would be different at TRW they would not be finding the bugs they would be in charge of fixing them. "It was at TRW that Gates began to develop as a serious programer," and it was there that Allen and Gates first started talking seriously about forming their own software company [Wallace, 1992, p. 49-51].

In the fall of 1973, Bill Gates left home for Harvard University [Teamgates.com, 9/29/96]. He had no idea what he wanted to study, so he enrolled as prelaw. Gates took the standard freshman courses with the exception of signing up for one of Harvard's toughest math courses. He did well but just as in high school, his heart was not in his studies. After locating the school's computer center, he lost himself in the world of computers once again. Gates would spend many long nights in front of the school's computer and the next days asleep in class. Paul Allen and Gates remained in close contact even with Bill away at school. They would often discuss ideas for future projects and the possibility of one day starting a business. At the end of Gates's first year at Harvard, the two decided that Allen should move closer to him so that they may be able to follow up on some of their ideas. That summer they both got jobs working for Honeywell [Wallace, 1992, p. 59]. As the summer dragged on, Allen began to push Bill harder with the idea that they should open a software company. Gates was still not sure enough to drop out of school. The following year, however, that would all change.

The Birth of Microsoft

In December of 1974, Allen was on his way to visit Gates when along the way he stopped to browse the current magazines. What he saw changed his and Bill Gates's lives forever. On the cover of Popular Electronics was a picture of the Altair 8080 and the headline "World's First Microcomputer Kit to Rival Commercial Models." He bought the issue and rushed over to Gates's dorm room. They both recognized this as their big opportunity. The two knew that the home computer market was about to explode and that someone would need to make software for the new machines. Within a few days, Gates had called MITS (Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems), the makers of the Altair. He told the company that he and Allen had developed a BASIC that could be used on the Altair [Teamgates.com, 9/29/96]. This was a lie. They had not even written a line of code. They had neither an Altair nor the chip that ran the computer. The MITS company did not know this and was very interested in seeing their BASIC. So, Gates and Allen began working feverishly on the BASIC they had promised. The code for the program was left mostly up to Bill Gates while Paul Allen began working on a way to simulate the Altair with the schools PDP-10. Eight weeks later, the two felt their program was ready. Allen was to fly to MITS and show off their creation. The day after Allen arrived at MITS, it was time to test their BASIC. Entering the program into the company's Altair was the first time Allen had ever touched one. If the Altair simulation he designed or any of Gates's code was faulty, the demonstration would most likely have ended in failure. This was not the case, and the program worked perfectly the first time [Wallace, 1992, p. 80]. MITS arranged a deal with Gates and Allen to buy the rights to their BASIC.[Teamgates.com, 9/29/96] Gates was convinced that the software market had been born. Within a year, Bill Gates had dropped out of Harvard and Microsoft was formed.

by John Mirick

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How to Start Video Blogging?

A video blog, sometimes shortened to vlog is a blog that comprises video. Regular entries are typically presented in reverse chronological order and often combine embedded video or a video link with supporting text, images, and other metadata.

Vlogs also often take advantage of web syndication to allow for the distribution of video over the Internet using either the RSS or Atom syndication formats, for automatic aggregation and playback on mobile devices and personal computers. See video podcast. Though many vlogs are collaborative efforts, the majority of vlogs and vlog entries are authored by individuals.
A videoblog requires larger disk spaces on websites, a faster server, and a whole new set of programs to support it. Videoblogs can be fed through RSS. This is technology of syndicating your website to other RSS aggregators.



Videoblogging works with people on the internet expressing their selves. Now if you put this on a business prospective, you are up to a lot of benefits. Think of it as a powerful tool in making showing your prospective customers your line of products or your services. It’s just like showing a commercial all for free. And if you videoblog through RSS, then most probably you are getting your target market.

People like to see what they are going to buy. Some would like to see proof and be sure that they are getting their money’s worth before shelving their dimes on it. All of us know the influence of a thirty second commercial. The effect of videoblogging is similar to that. You show your product, people watch it. If they like it, they buy it. If you present it good enough, they’ll buy the product even if they don’t need it.

Now on the web, things are pretty much static, unlike in television in which all are moving. If you post something that is mobile, it would most likely catch attention. Now imaging your product parading in all it’s royalty through videoblog. You’ll get phone call orders in no time.

If your business is just starting up, you can create a videoblog right at your own home. All you need is your web camera, microphone, video software, and lights. For as long as you know how to use your camera, then you can create a videoblog.

Invest in a good web camera. The higher its resolution is the better the output. And you like to present your goods in the optimum way so get the best one possible. Make a short story, or just capture your goods in one go. Just make sure you are getting the best profile for each. Get those creativity juices flowing.

Lights are important in a production. Make sure you illuminate entirely the area you are going to use to create videoblog. The brighter the area, the crispier the images will be. You can also use lighting effects for added appeal to the presentation.

Should you require sounds for your videoblog, you need a microphone. Record you voice as a voice over for promoting the product and its benefit to consumers. Sounds are as important as videos on a videoblog. It is advisable to make your sound effects as enticing as the video.

Your video editing software can be any program. You need this to finalize your work. You can add sounds, delete some bad angles, or insert some still pictures in there too. Some programs are user-friendly and can be used even with zero knowledge on video editing. Even simple video editing programs should do the trick. Select your background carefully too. The light affects the presentation so make sure that the background and the light complements each other.

Videoblogging is a great tool but it also has it downside. It may slow down the computer so other may steer clear of it. Download time may also be time consuming especially if customer is still on a dial- up connection.

But don’t let those stop you. Let videoblogging be an alternative for you, though it is best to still keep the text and pictures present in your presentation to accommodate all possible viewers of your site.

Nowadays, the more creative you are in presenting your product to the market, they more you are likely to succeed. Videoblogging offers an interactive way of selling. You involve the customers. You instill in them the advantage of your goods. And at times, those are enough to make a sale.

by: Kanicen Nichathavan

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What Is RSS?

RSS is technology - a simple software program - that allows you to access web and blog content automatically. The acronym's most popular translation is "Really Simple Syndication. Once your browser or computer has an RSS reader on board, you can subscribe to any number of RSS "feeds." A feed is simply a way in which a reader may subscribe to website content - most commonly blogs or news sites. A news site, for example, may list their latest headlines or entire articles in their feed every time a new article is published. A blog would publish this feed as a series of recent posts.

Feeds are published by millions of publishers, from small individuals to large organizations like Newsweek. The value of a feed is that it brings the most current site content to you in a format that is easily scanned; further, you are spared the task of visiting each source site each day. This is typically done through the use of what is called an 'aggregator' or 'feed reader'.

Feed readers or RSS readers, are software programs that run on your computer (or PDA or phone); let you easily subscribe to feeds, and allow you to read through them efficiently. Some are relatively simple, showing the headline and summary. The fancier ones often work with (or in) your browser to make viewing the material look much like the source page. Once you have a reader on your computer, subscribing to a feed with is an easy click or drag from your browser. Sites that provide RSS feeds will usually have a button for that purpose.

There are several RSS feed formats as well as one with an entirely different methodology called Atom. Atom has become popular with some bloggers and blogging tools. Some aggregators can read both. The other acronyms you will see in "feedspeak" are XML, which stands for 'extensible markup language' and is the code standard for these simple text feeds. An 'OPML" file is a format for indexing hierarchical feed lists. If you dive into this web habit in a big way, your aggregator or reader may keep your subscription list in an OPML file.

An RSS feed is a great method for staying abreast of issues and topics that interest you. There are a number of feed "libraries," so to speak, from which you can learn what's out there in your areas of interest. Google has a built-in reader that makes the subscription process easy, as does Yahoo. Firefox has a downloadable extension for the purpose of aggregating RSS feeds, as well as a default ability to save RSS feeds as "live bookmarks" that update via the RSS feed. You can download a number of stand alone readers and aggregators; you can find them through a simple web search.

The whole RSS "movement" is a step towards utilizing the Internet more efficiently. The trick is to avoid overloading your email inbox with daily reports that you end up ignoring most of the time. For that purpose, there are sites like Feedster that will search millions of RSS feeds for articles that are relevant to your interests. Like any search tool, however, these services are hit and miss. They are still working off keywords and sometimes what they find is relevant, sometimes not. But if you want daily news broken into categories, it's great technology once you learn how to make it work for you.

by: Madison Lockwood

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RSA Attack Efficiency Improves

August 2006 saw the disclosure of a fairly interesting attack against the RSA encryption algorithm (most famously being used in SSL - protecting online transactions). While it didn't target the actual algorithm, which still has not been broken, it is a so-called side channel attack, targeting the peculiarities associated with implementing the algorithm on various computing hardware.

The team behind the initial disclosure have recently submitted a modified approach to the attack, resulting in almost-astronomical improvements in attack efficiency.

In basic terms, the attacks rely upon a phenomenon known as 'Branch Prediction Analysis', where a program / attacker is able to predict what other software is doing as it passes through the CPU of a system.

In the first iteration of the described attack, the method required snooping on what was happening with the CPU for a relatively long period (or number of cycles), and certain software that implemented SSL protection (OpenSSL) quickly introduced patches to protect against this listening attack.

While many hardware manufacturers and Operating System developers have introduced defensive mechanisms to try and prevent this sort of attack taking place, it has been discovered that Pentium-IV (PIV) chips with Hyper-Threading enabled still have two caches that are not adequately protected. The new iteration of the attack, using a technique dubbed 'Simple Branch Prediction Analysis' (SBPA) targets both of these caches and can extract almost the complete secret SSL key in just one cycle. Running as an unprivileged user, this method can also target and extract data from any other software processes running on the system (SSL is an example in this case).

The technical black magic of how a branch predictor attack works can be explained as follows. Although modern CPUs are very quick, they still can't process absolutely every bit of information that they need to without a queue building up. This queue of instructions / data waiting for processing sits in a cache next to the CPU and they are executed in order of priority / time spent in the queue (various tuning settings come into play). By attempting to monopolise the CPU's attention, and filling the cache, the miniscule timing differences between when instructions from the same process are executed can give hints about what other instructions and data are moving through the CPU. Being able to interpret what this data is exactly, is key to branch prediction.

Mitigating the issue is the requirement to be running secure and insecure processes on the same processor at the same time, and for the attacker being able to run their process as a local user. Due the spying process capturing almost 100% CPU continuously while it is running, normal system monitoring software should be alerting administrators to something out of the ordinary running on the system.

What real-world threat exists for this relatively esoteric attack? Shared-server installations. It would be possible for a lesser-privileged account holder on a shared server to run the spying process while other account holders are negotiating SSL connections. A well timed attack will allow them to run their spying process once (and thus minimise the attention drawn to it), and then be able to effectively intercept SSL communications directed at the target.

by: Carl Jongsma

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Protect Your System With Rollback Rx

Whether you are a home user or IT professional, Rollback Rx provides you with an essential system restore utility, giving you the flexibility to do a PC restore in the event of a system crash or any other serious program error. You can rollback to the point you want, choosing from the numerous snapshots of your entire system. The flexibility of Rollback Rx must be experienced to appreciate it.

Rollback Rx system restore software has powerful capabilities with which fixing computer problems becomes a tension-free process with the least downtime imaginable and without depending on expensive technical support.

Configure According To Convenience

You can configure Rollback Rx to take a new snapshot before you set up a new program. By scheduling it to take an event-based snapshot, defining executables, you can have Rollback Rx take a new snapshot before the defined new program is launched. Defrag your drives before you install Rollback Rx in your system. Rollback Rx has a snapshot defragmenter built into it that you can use to defrag your system too. It works very fast. Though, when you want to defrag your drives with a third party tool, remove Rollback Rx from your system, defrag your drives and then re-install Rollback Rx for optimum performance.

Rollback Rx is a very useful tool to use in patch management, making the process effective. You can take a pre-patch snapshot of your system and if the patch happens to fail, you can always rollback the system to the pre-patch snapshot instantly, allowing you to quickly fix computer problems.

Is Rollback Rx Similar To Windows System Restore?

As far as restoring system configuration to an earlier point in time is concerned, Rollback Rx and Windows System restore are similar. But Windows system restore stops at protecting system files. It does not protect data, programs and user settings. Rollback Rx protection is complete – which means it protects everything on your hard drive including each and every file you were working on right up to the moment your computer problem occurred. If Windows does not start up, system restore cannot work.

But with Rollback Rx, even if Windows fails to start, you need not worry. Your computer settings can be restored and within a reboot cycle, you can have your system operational, because Rollback Rx installs below the Windows operating system, so that it can fix computer problems even when there is a complete crash. Also, Windows system restore occupies 5-15% space on your hard disk for every snapshot it takes. Rollback Rx only uses 0.07% space for a snapshot. It also does not run in the background, conserving free space, which you can use for other things.



by: Jacob Henderson

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Picture Perfect System Restore – Rollback Rx

Picture perfect: that is how the Rollback Rx snapshot based system restore software works. Recovering lost data can be quite a hassle and cost you dearly in terms of time as well as money. But with RollBack Rx system restore software anyone can repair computer issues. The rollback abilities of Rollback Rx are versatile. They let the user create a snapshot of the whole system so that you can roll back to a specific snapshot of your choice.

User Benefits of the Rollback Rx

Educational institutions usually restore their IT systems back to the start of the previous semester. With Rollback Rx, they can achieve this in just about three mouse clicks. They don’t have to use ghost, imaging or mirroring software, resulting in substantial savings in cost.

In the corporate scenario, users set their Rollback Rx to take snapshots at specific intervals. Suppose the system crashes, they can roll back to the last snapshot. Before you install software in the beta version, Roll back can help in testing, recovering or uninstalling applications.

Domestic users can play it safe by taking a snapshot of the system before they try out new software. In spite of uninstalling certain software, remnants of this software are often left behind in the system and registry. This makes the system slower. Rollback Rx does a clean uninstall of unwanted programs.

Sometimes operating system critical updates are such huge files that you are forced to leave the system on overnight, unprotected. Rollback Rx makes the process simple by maintaining these updates. The networking ability of Rollback Rx lets administrators use an Internet based console to configure Rollback Rx installations.

Thus, Rollback Rx can be used to fix computer problems. The pc restore facility is invaluable and deployment can be a large network in an organization or a personal computer used by an individual. Rollback Rx gives your system that extra security to keep away hackers and viruses, which are the two things that commonly put fear in a user. Rollback Rx can recover data even after you format your system. It uses a subsystem and kernel system to protect the PC.

Remote Control

Support through remote control is not an easy process. But with Rollback Rx, it can be. All that needs to be done by the user who is traveling is to reboot and then hit a designated key to do a pc restore to a state where it can function fully. No need to go through the tedious process to bringing back and sending bulky systems. So no more time wasted through lengthy sessions instructing the user to do the right thing!

by: Jacob Henderson

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Ecommerce Shopping Carts

Shopping carts are more commonly used as a way to display physical products, products like televisions, groceries, electronic equipment, clothes, and memorabilia, etc, not digital products. Shopping carts make it easy to cross-sell and up-sell your customers once they arrive at your store. Shopping carts typically handle the shipping and handling calculation, taxes and credit card processing. A good shopping cart handles all of these efficiently and securely.

Dynamic Operation
A good shopping cart program also creates dynamic order forms on the fly as the order takes place. The shopping cart should be totally dynamic; meaning it only executes code and retrieves products, images, and product descriptions from your database when your customers request it. During the checkout process it should also calculate shipping/handling and taxes for you.

Real-Time Credit Card Processing

Powerful CGI, PHP, CFM, ASP, etc, scripting, processes commands for you on secure servers when your customers place their orders. Don't get this confused with credit card processing. That’s mean passing of your customers' order information from a secure form, to your merchant or payment processor, using one of the scripting languages above. Your payment processor or merchant, like PayPal, 2CheckOut, or Authorize.Net will then process the credit card. If you don't currently have a merchant or payment processor, and you are going to be selling online, then you need one.

Usability

You can choose what options you want your customer to see. For instance, you can choose to display a search form on your shopping cart. A search form allows your customers to search your store for items by keyword or product name, etc. You can choose to display options like color, size and quantity, and even adjust the price based on the customer's selection. These are called options. Your shopping cart should also allow you to upload images of your products as well.

Stand-Alone –Vs.- Hosted Shopping Carts

You can purchase standalone shopping cart software or services. The stand alone software, of course, requires skill and expertise to install it on your web host or on your own server. Some of the shopping cart services, although it may not seem like it at first, limit you as to what you can and cannot do. These services are most commonly offered by web hosts as a way to entice you to host your site with them. When using these types of services, remember, you're locked into using that web host when you opt to use their shopping cart service. Your business is not portable and becomes a part of that web host. Make sure there is a simple export process that allows you to easily download your website and shopping cart if you no longer wish to use their services. The best option is to use a shopping cart that runs from your own website, independent of your web host. Both Prowebware and stand-alone shopping cart applications run from your website, giving you both control and flexib!
ility.

Choosing a shopping cart boils down to 4 things:

1 Your Budget

2 Your Skill-level - Do you have the expertise to edit & install scripts on your server?

3 Desired Functionality - Want a professional results oriented system or a display case?

4 Time - Have time to take away from your business to shape and mold a new program?

Whatever you decide, your cart should also permit you to follow-up with your customers automatically and even instantly auto-subscribe them to your mailing list.

To implement most out-of-the-box applications, you will need to know how to edit PHP, HTML, or ASP code and how to set up a MySQL database on your server for dynamic operation. Then, with some, all you need to know is how to copy/paste some simple code to your existing web pages or the template you're using. The system should also include some type of easy help or instructions, like an HTML file or contextual help menus that walk you through setting up your new cart.

by: Glenn Roy Ormond

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