38 Classic Love Quotes by Famous People

Classic Love Quotes by Famous People - The Best Classic things ever said about Love by famous people.

The iPhone Shaped Steve Jobs Memorial (11 pics)

The iPhone Shaped Steve Jobs Life So in Death it Shapes His Memorial - In the Russian city St. Petersburg a memorial to Steve Jobs was erected in the form of an iPhone 5. The memorial displays key moments in his past with photos and videos that can be viewed by the public.

Definitive List of Celebrity Deformities (31 pics)

Definitive List of Celebrity Deformities - We bet every one of you reading this has one weird thing about your body you'd change if you could -- maybe you have an eye  that's slightly lower than the other, or a nasty little scar on your lower back where your tail used to be. We all want to be perfect. But not so fast. As a whole bunch of famous celebrities can tell you, a horrible deformity and/or physical mutilation can be the difference between failure and stardom.

Japanese Banyan Tree House Restaurant (6 pics)

Japanese Banyan Tree House Restaurant — Just north of the Okinawa airport on highway 58, the restaurant sits perfectly on top of a massive Gajumaru tree’s huge branches about 20 ft above the ground and looking out over the ocean. The restaurant has a reputation of being quiet and elegant, while serving some of the best Japanese, Thai, Korean, Chinese and Indian food in all of Okinawa.

The Naha Harbor Diner in Okinawa, Japan lies at the very top of a huge Gajumaru tree about 20 feet above the ground. Sadly, that is not a real Gajumaru tree, its actually concrete. On the big banyan tree, fresh seafood dining with food was born in Okinawa. Naha Harbor Diner is known for being romantic, and quiet. You can experience all sorts of Asian and Indian food from the chefs. A recent diner actually said it was very cheap. A group of 5 people at for around $70 USD.

Origins of 17 Famous Brands Names

There are many companies / brands / products whose names were derived from strange circumstances/things/happenings.

Mercedes
This was actually the financier's daughter's name.

Founder - Sabeer Bhatia

Sabeer Bhatia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sabeer Bhatia is a co-founder of Hotmail and an entrepreneur.

Biography -

Sabeer Bhatia was born in Chandigarh, India in 1968. His father, Baldev Bhatia, started as an officer in the Indian Army and later joined the Indian Ministry of Defence, while his mother, Daman Bhatia, was a senior official at the Central Bank of India. Bhatia was schooled at the St. Joseph's Boys' High School in Bangalore. He started his undergraduate education at the Birla Institute of Technology & Science, BITS, Pilani and transferred to Caltech after two years at BITS. After graduating from Caltech, Sabeer went to Stanford to pursue his MS in Electrical Engineering. At Stanford, he worked on Ultra Low Power VLSI Design.

At Stanford, he was inspired by entrepreneurs such as Steve Jobs and Scott McNealy eventually deciding to become one himself. Instead of pursuing a PhD after his Masters, he decided to join Apple.

Founder of Hotmail -

After a brief stint at Apple, Sabeer joined a startup company called Firepower Systems Inc, where he spent two years. At this point, Sabeer started working on new ideas for the Internet and he teamed up with Jack Smith, a colleague from Apple Computer, Inc.

The two came up with the concept of a web-based database entitled Javasoft. While pursuing this idea, they subsequently realised the potential of a web-based e-mail system and thus decided to create one called HoTMaiL (the uppercase letters spelling out HTML - the language used to write the base of a webpage).In order to attract attention, the e-mail service was provided for free and revenue was obtained through the advertising on the website. Draper Fisher Ventures invested $300,000 on the project and the service was launched on July 4, 1996.

In less than six months, the website attracted over 1 million subscribers. As the interest in the web-based email provider increased, Microsoft eventually took notice and on December 30, 1997, Hotmail was sold to Microsoft for a reported sum of $400 million.

Other Ventures -

After selling Hotmail, Bhatia worked at Microsoft for about a year and in April 1999, he left the company to start another website, Arzoo Inc, which was shut down when the dot-com bubble burst. In 2006, he relaunched Arzoo as a travel portal.

He started (alongside co-founders Shiraz Kanga and Viraf Zack) BlogEverywhere, a website attempting to capitalise on the emerging blogosphere.

In November of 2007, he released an online office alternative to Microsoft Office, called Live Documents.[2] This application allows users to use their documents both offline and online, edit, collaborate and share documents in real-time with others, and sync documents between various computers and users. Users can also download their Microsoft Office plug-in, which allows them to get the best of offline and online offices suites, along with full compatibility for all office document formats.

He also pushed for a project enabling access to the internet through cable television in Indian homes. However, due to bureaucratic problems it is very unlikely that this will reach completion. Future plans of his include the development of a new city in India by the name of Nanocity. The aim of Nanocity is to replicate the vibrance and eco-system of innovation found in the Silicon Valley.

Awards -

"Entrepreneur of the Year," Awarded by the venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson (1997) Named to the "Elite 100," Upside magazine's list of top trendsetters in the New EconomyRecipient of the "TR100" award, presented by MIT to 100 young innovators who are expected to have the greatest impact on technology in the next few years Selected by the San Jose Mercury News and POV magazine as one of the ten most successful entrepreneurs of (1998) Named by TIME as one of the "People to Watch" in International Business (2002).

JRD Tata

J. R. D. Tata
From Wikipedia (Sep 10, 2007)

Born : July 29, 1904(1904-07-29)
Place : Paris, France
Died : November 29, 1993 (aged 89)
Place : Geneva, Switzerland
Occupation : Industrialist
Spouse : Thelma Vicaji

Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata (July 29, 1904–November 29, 1993) was a pioneer aviator and important businessman of India. He was one of the few people who were awarded Bharat Ratna during their life time. He was a member of the Parsi-Zoroastrian community of India.

Early life -

Born in Paris on July 29, 1904, Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata was the second child of Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata and his French wife Suzanne Briere . Established in 1859, the Tata Group was already India's biggest business conglomerate when Tata became its fourth chairman in 1938. He was then just 34 years old.

Under his leadership, the Tata assets climbed from Rs 62 crore (Rs 620 million) in 1939 to over Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion) in 1990.

In 1939 the group included fourteen companies with sales of Rs 280 crore (Rs 2.80 billion); in 1993, the year of his death, sales were Rs 15,000 crore (Rs 150 billion) contributed by over fifty large manufacturing companies, besides innumerable holding, investment, subsidiaries and associate concerns, making it India's biggest business group.

Diversification of Tata Group -

During the last half of the twentieth century Tata entered several new businesses, many of them unconventional, and produced a vast range of products -- from airlines to hotels, trucks to locomotives, soda ash and other heavy chemicals to pharmaceuticals and financial services, tea and air conditioning to lipsticks and cologne.

The group seemed to make everything and do everything. One of Tata's earliest achievements was to cajole ten rival cement companies to merge and form the Associated Cement Companies, run by the Tatas.

JRD strengthened existing businesses such as steel, power and hotels. At the same time, the group lost interest in some of its older core businesses.

As an industrialist, JRD Tata is credited with placing the Tata Group on the international map. As an aviator and pioneer flier, he brought commercial aviation to India.

As a patron of the arts, he was revered by India's artists, sculptors and performing artists; under JRD's tutelage, the Tatas became the biggest buyers, promoters and supporters of the art world in India.

And as a philanthropist, he was respected for keeping alive and building up the tremendously active Tata charitable trusts.

Against all Odds -

His achievements have to be seen through the lens of India's economic and political history. Under British colonial rule until 1947, India was strait-jacketed by a foreign exchange crunch for almost forty years after independence, which gravely limited industrial entrepreneurship.

From 1964 to 1991 severe government controls on big business further curbed the growth of the Tata Group. Analysing his own performance, JRD Tata insisted that his only real contribution to the group of companies was Air-India. For the rest, he generously gave credit to his executives.

Any chronicle of the Tata Group's growth therefore has to take the contribution of these larger than life men into account.

JRD's story is, in many ways, as much theirs as his own. Yet, it would be a mistake to under-assess JRD's role. As one of the senior Tata executives, Darbari Seth, once said, 'Mr Tata was able to harness a team of individualistic executives, capitalizing upon their strengths, downplaying their differences and deficiencies; all by the sheer weight of his leadership.'

A Leader and Motivator -

Leadership, according to JRD meant motivating others. 'As chairman, my main responsibility is to inspire respect.' Sometimes referred to as the 'chairmen's chairman,' JRD adopted a management by consensus style: 'When a number of persons are involved I am definitely a consensus man,' he once said, adding: 'but that does not mean that I do not disagree or that I do not express my views. Basically it is a question of having to deal with individual men heading different enterprises. You have to adapt yourself to their ways and deal accordingly and draw out the best in each man. If I have any merit it is getting on with individuals according to their ways and characteristics. In fifty years I have dealt with a hundred top directors and I have got on with all of them. At times it involves suppressing yourself. It is painful but necessary. To be a leader you have got to lead human beings with affection.'

Be that as it may, Tata spotted talent easily. And once he was confident that a manager would perform, he gave him a long rope. If they wanted to be on their own, like Sumant Moolgaokar, he left them to it. If they occasionally wanted a shoulder to cry on, like Darbari Seth, JRD was there.

The supportive climate he built developed entrepreneurs such as Sir Homi Mody, Sir Ardeshir Dalal, Sir Jehangir Ghandy, Russi Mody, Sumant Moolgaokar and Darbari Seth, and others who created billions in wealth for the group and the country.

It was an environment where scientists of international repute such as Homi Bhabha, leading lawyers such as J D Choksi and Nani Palkhivala, and economists such as John Matthai, A D Shroff, D R Pendse and Freddie Mehta could flourish.

This attitude contrasted sharply with the prevailing management styles of other Indian business leaders. Large Indian companies tend to fall into three categories: public sector ones run by the government, multinational affiliates, and those promoted by family dynasties. While the Tata Group firmly remained a family concern -- to date, four out of its five chairman have been Tatas -- JRD's professionalism stood out from the crowd.

Moreover, in most of the family firms, the top management tended to belong to the same community as the promoter family. With the Tatas, it was different: only merit counted.

Tata's role model in management was the British civil service. How was it, he wondered 'that a young Briton straight from college, could come to a foreign country and administer various departments with such distinction?'

The Tata Group faced a constant shortage of managers, and JRD carried out many experiments to expand and improve the pool of talent. His first attempt -- the formation of the Superior Staff Recruiting Committee -- failed when none of the recruits stayed with the corporation.

Eventually he formed the Tata Administrative Service and the Tata Management Training Centre at Pune. This commitment to professionalism served the group well. In 1971, for example, when the coal industry was nationalised, Mohan Kumaramangalam, the then industry minister, left Tata Steel's coal mines untouched on the ground that these efficiently run mines would provide a model for the nationalised mines.

Professionalism -

JRD's respect for his managers bound the group. 'I am a firm believer that the disintegration of the Tata Group is impossible,' he once declared.

Most business groups have disintegrated or drifted apart because of family ownership and management, with rival family members wanting to go their own way. In contrast, the Tata Group companies are run by professionals who firmly believe in the trusteeship concept laid down by J N Tata as also by Mahatma Gandhi.

A university dropout, JRD was something of a self-taught technocrat, and died long before the phrase 'war for talent' was coined. Yet, almost every senior Tata director from the 1930s onwards held a degree from a foreign university. Tata willingly financed bright young boys who wanted to go abroad for further education.

He was also a vital bridge between the scientific establishment and the government through his founding of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, and as the longest serving member of the Atomic Energy Commission.

Tata's personal interest in technology, combined with India's isolation in the 1950s and 1960s, spurred several group companies, particularly Tata Steel and Tata Chemicals, to innovate in their fields. At Tata Steel, a Research and Control Laboratory had been opened in 1937, and its researchers developed an extensive variety of special steels for applications as varied as parachute harnesses and razor blades.

The lab also developed a high-tensile alloy steel -- Tiscrom -- which made it possible for the Howrah Bridge in Calcutta to be built entirely from Indian materials. Another corrosion resistant, low-alloy high-yield strength steel -- Tiscor -- was used for the manufacture of all-metal steel coaches on the Indian railways.

Quality First -

According to JRD, quality had to match innovation. He intensely disliked the laid-back Indian attitude, and much of his fabled short temper was triggered by the carelessness of others. He stressed: 'If you want excellence, you must aim at perfection. I know that aiming at perfection has its drawbacks. It makes you go into detail that you can avoid. It takes a lot of energy out of you but that's the only way you finally actually achieve excellence. So in that sense, being finicky is essential. A company, which uses the name Tata, shares a tradition. The symbol 'T' has to be a symbol of quality.'

The achievements of the Tata Group would not have been possible without the support of its workforce. Before JRD took over, the labour situation at key Tata plants was frequently tense despite the fact that management had poured millions into subsidised housing for workers, offered free medical and hospital treatment, as well as free education and was miles ahead of government legislation in terms of labour practices.

For example, Tata Steel pioneered the eight-hour day in 1912, long before the principle had been accepted in the United States or Europe (Britain introduced the twelve-hour day in 1911).

Tata Steel introduced leave with pay in 1920, and in India this was established by law in 1945. Tata Steel set up a provident fund in 1920, which was not legalised until 1952.

Tata asked the question: if the workers were being treated exceptionally well, why were they frequently discontented and mistrustful and hostile towards the company?

Benign Boss -

According to Tata, the crux of any successful labour policy lay in making workers feel wanted. One of the inherent drawbacks of modern industry with its large and concentrated labour forces was that each man felt 'that instead of being a valued member of a friendly and human organisation, he was a mere cog in a soulless machine.' 'Because of this, a worker's attitude towards management becomes one of indifference, mistrust and coldness often tinged with hostility. He is easily led to feeling himself the victim of callous and unfair treatment and little is needed to make him look upon his employers as his enemies and break out into open conflict.'

Tata Steel became one of the earliest companies in India to have a dedicated human resources department. Expressing surprise that the company had functioned for so long without one, Tata commented: 'If our operations required the employment of, say, 30,000 machine tools, we would undoubtedly have a special staff or department to look after them, to keep them in repair, replace them when necessary, maintain their efficiency, protect them from damage, etc.'

'But when employing 30,000 human beings each with a mind and soul of his own, we seem to have assumed that they would look after themselves and that there was no need for a separate organisation to deal with the human problems involved.'

Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata died in Geneva on November 29, 1993. Few addressed him using his full name, with which he was born; he was simply 'JRD' to the world, and 'Jeh' to his friends.

JRD was India's most well known industrialist, widely respected for his enormous contribution to the development of Indian industry and aviation in particular.

Tata headed India's largest industrial conglomerate with uncommon success. But this was only one aspect of his life. He was also a man of great sensitivity and was pained by the poverty he saw around him and sought vigorously to alleviate it.

He also was a philanthropist who wanted India to be a happy country and did all he could to make it so; a patron of the sciences and the arts; and a man with a passion for literature, fast cars, skiing, and flying.

Chairmen of the Tata Group
Jamsetji Tata • Dorabji Tata • Nowroji Saklatwala • J. R. D. Tata • Ratan Tata

Bill Gates

- Bill Gates Photo Gallery -


Bill Gates and Paul Allen (1981) --^

Bill Gates the year Windows 1.0 was released (1985) --^

Bill Gates and the Microsoft team (1978) --^

BillGates_Davos2004 --^

Bill Gates launches Windows Vista and Office 2007

at New York's Times Square (2007) --^

Bill Gates in an interview by CNN Money (2006) --^

Bill Gates playing video games at CES (2005) --^

Bill Gates hands over beta 2 of Windows Vista,

Office 2007 and Longhorn Server at WinHEC

2006 in Seattle (2006) --^

Bill Gates and wife, Melinda French Gates (2002) --^

Bill's parents - Bill Sr. & Mary Gates --^

Bill Gates gets knighthood from Queen Elizabeth (2005) --^

Bill Gates in a Time Magazine Interview (1997) --^

Bill Gates Profile -

Name : Bill Gates
Nickname : Trey
Date of birth : 28 October 1955
Place of birth : Seattle, Washington, USA
Birth name : William Henry Gates III
Height : 5' 10

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 ha©kers 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 ha©kers 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 ha©kers 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

• 1955 - William Henry Gates III is born on October 28th in Seattle, Washington. Popularly known as Bill Gates, his family called him "Trey" when he was little.
• 1967 - Bill enrolls in the Lakeside School in Seattle and met Paul Allen.
• 1969 - Bill and Paul (a.k.a "Lakeside Programming Group") reports bugs in exchange for computer time.
• 1972 - Bill and Paul forms Traf-O-Data and develops hardware/software to record highway traffic.
• 1973 - Bill Gates graduats from Lakeside High and enrolls in Harvard University, where he majors in pre-law.
• 1974 - Bill Gates and Paul Allen forms Micro-soft.
• 1975 - Bill and Paul writes the first computer language called BASIC and license it to MITS.
• 1976 - Bill writes software routines for BASIC on the Altair to use diskettes for storage. Gates writes his famous "Open Letter to Hobbyists", accusing them of software piracy. Bill Gates drops out of Harvard.
• 1977 - Bill Gates and Paul Allen officially registers a partnership, and Micro-soft becomes Microsoft.
• 1980 - Tim Paterson begans writing an OS for use on Seattle Computer Products' (SCP) 8086-based computer. IBM repesentatives meet Gates and Steve Ballmer to write the OS for their upcoming computer. They meet again and IBM showed the "Acorn" computer running on an 8-bit 8080 processor. Gates recommends the use of a 16-bit 8086 processor instead and promises an operating system. SCP ships QDOS 0.10 (Quick & Dirty Operating System). Paul Allen approachs SCP and purchased the rights to resell to an unnamed client for $50,000 - IBM. Microsoft propose to be in-charged of IBM's entire software development and convert DOS for IBM's PC.
• 1981 - Microsoft buys all the rights to SCP's DOS and renames it MS-DOS.
  IBM introduces its first desktop, Datamaster, which runs on the 16-bit 8086 CPU and Microsoft's MS-DOS.
• 1983 - Microsoft announces Windows 1.0.
• 1985 - Bill Gates gives keynote speech at Comdex. Microsoft releases Windows 1.0.
• 1986 - icrosoft is taken public at an IPO price of $21/share. Bill Gates became a billionaire at 31 years old - the yougest person to do so.
• 1990 - Microsoft releases Windows 3.0 and Microsoft's sales top $1 billion for the first time.
• 1994 - Bill Gates and Melinda French gets married in Hawaii on January 1st. Bill Gates becomes the richest person in America later in the year.
• 1995 - Microsoft releases Windows 95 and Bill Gates becomes the richest person in the world.
• 1996 - Jennifer Katherine Gates is born on April 26th.
• 1998 - Bill, Melinda and Jennifer move into their new multi-million dollar house in Medina, Washington. Microsoft releases Windows 98.
• 1999 - Bill's fortunes swell to $90 billion and maintains his position on Forbes list as the wealthiest person alive.
• 2000 - Microsoft releases Windows 2000 and Windows ME.
• 2001 - Microsoft releases Windows XP.
• 2002 - Stocks and lawsuits bring Gates' net worth down to $53 billion - still good enough for #1 on Forbes list.
• 2003 - Microsoft releases Windows Server 2003.
• 2004 - Microsoft announces a new OS, codenamed Longhorn.
• 2005 - Longhorn is officially named Windows Vista.
• 2006 - After numerous delays, Windows Vista is finally released to business users. Microsoft also RTMs Office 2007.
• 2007 - Bill Gates officiates the public release of Windows Vista in New York's Times Square at midnight on January 30th.
  By: Paul Giambarba

Personality - D.H. Ambani

Famous Personality of India - Dhirajlal Hirachand Ambani

Dhirajlal Hirachand Ambani, one of the leading Indian businessmen, was born on December 28, 1932 in Chorwad, Gujarat. Popularly known as Dhirubhai Ambani, he heads The Reliance Industries, India's largest private enterprise.

Dhirubhai started off as a small time worker with Arab merchants in the 1950s and moved to Mumbai in 1958 to start his own business in spices. After making modest profits, he moved into textiles and opened his mill near Ahmedabad. Dhirubhai founded Reliance Industries in 1958. After that it was a saga of expansions and successes.

Reliance, acknowledged as one of the best-run companies in the world has various sectors like petrochemicals, textiles and is involved in the production of crude oil and gas, to polyester and polymer products. The companies refinery at Jamnagar accounts for over 25% of India's total refining capacity and their plant at Hazira is the biggest chemical complex in India. The company has further diversified into Telecom, Insurance and Internet Businesses, the Power Sector and so on. Now the Reliance group with over 85,000 employees provides almost 5% of the Central Government's total revenue.

Dhirubhai has been one among the select Forbes billionaires and has also figured in the Sunday Times list of top 50 businessmen in Asia. His industrious nature and willingness to take on any risk has made him what he is. In 1986 after a heart attack he has handed over his empire to his two sons Anil and Mukesh. His sons are carrying on the successful tradition of their illustrious father.

Early life -

'Dhirajlal Hirachand Ambani' was born on 28 December 1932, at Chorwad, Junagadh in the state of Gujarat, India, into a Modh family of very moderate means. He was the second son of a school teacher. When he was 16 years old, he moved to Aden, Yemen. Initially, Dhirubhai worked as a dispatch clerk with A. Besse & Co. Two years later A. Besse & Co. became the distributors for Shell products and Dhirubhai was promoted to manage the company’s oil-filling station at the port of Aden.

He was married to Kokilaben and had two sons and two daughters. He also worked in Dubai for some time during his early years.

Life in Aden -

Kokilaben and Dhirubhai Ambani, In the 1950s, the Yemini administration realized that their main unit of currency, the Rial, was disappearing fast. Upon launching an investigation, they realized that a lot of Rials were being routed to the Port City of Aden. It was found that a young man in his twenties was placing unlimited buy orders for Yemini Rials.

During those days, the Yemini Rial was made of pure silver coins and was in much demand at the London Bullion Exchange. Young Dhirubhai bought the Rials, melted them into pure silver and sold it to the bullion traders in London. During the latter part of his life, while talking to reporters, it is believed that he said “The margins were small but it was money for jam. After three months, it was stopped. But I made a few lakhs. In short, I was a manipulator. A very good manipulator. But I don’t believe in not taking opportunities.

Reliance Commercial Corporation -

Ten years later, Dhirubai returned to India and started the Reliance Commercial Corporation with a capital of Rs. 15,000.00. The primary business of Reliance Commercial Corporation was to import polyester yarn and export spices.

The business was setup in partnership with Champaklal Damani, his second cousin, who used to be with him in Aden, Yemen. The first office of the Reliance Commercial Corporation was set up at the Narsinathan Street in Masjid Bunder. It was a 350 Sq. Ft. room with a telephone, one table and three chairs. Initially, they had two assistants to help them with their business. In 1965, Champaklal Damani and Dhirubhai Ambani ended their partnership and Dhirubhai started on his own. It is believed that both had different temperaments and a different take on how to conduct business. While Mr. Damani was a cautious trader and did not believe in building yarn inventories, Dhirubhai was a known risk taker and he considered that building inventories, anticipating a price rise, and making profits through that was good for growth.

During this period, Dhirubhai and his family used to stay in an one bedroom apartment at the Jaihind Estate in Bhuleshwar. Mumbai. In 1968, he moved to an up market apartment at Altamount Road in South Mumbai.

Reliance Textiles -

Sensing a good opportunity in the textile business, Dhirubhai started his first textile mill at Naroda, near Ahmedabad in the year 1966. Textiles were manufactured using polyester fibre yarn. Dhirubhai started the brand "Vimal", which was named after his elder brother Ramaniklal Ambani's son, Vimal Ambani. Extensive marketing of the brand "Vimal" in the interiors of India made it a household name. Franchise retail outlets were started and they used to sell "only Vimal" brand of textiles. In the year 1975, a Technical team from the World Bank visited the Reliance Textiles' Manufacturing unit. This unit has the rare distinction of being certified as "excellent even by developed country standards" during that period.

Death -

Dhirubhai Ambani was admitted to the Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai on June 24, 2002 after he suffered a major "brain stroke". This was his second stroke, the first one had occurred in February 1986 and had kept his right hand paralyzed. He was in a state of coma for more than a week. A battery of doctors were unable to save his life. He breathed his last on July 6, 2002, at around 11:50 P.M. (Indian Standard Time).

His funeral procession was not only attended by business people, politicians and celebrities but also by thousands of ordinary people. His elder son, Mukesh Ambani, performed the last rites as per Hindu traditions. He was cremated at the Chandanwadi Crematorium in Mumbai at around 4:30 PM (Indian Standard Time) on July 7, 2002.

He is survived by Kokilaben Ambani, his wife, two sons, Mukesh Ambani and Anil Ambani, and two daughters, Nina Kothari and Deepti Salgaocar.

Dhirubhai Ambani started his long journey in Bombay from the Mulji-Jetha Textile Market, where he started as a small-trader. As a mark of respect to this great businessman, The Mumbai Textile Merchants' decided to keep the market closed on July 8, 2002. At the time of Dhirubhai's death, Reliance Group had a gross turnover of Rs. 75,000 Crore or USD $ 15 Billion. In 1976-77, the Reliance group had an annual turnover of Rs 70 crore and Dhirubhai had started the business with Rs.15,000. - (Source - 4to40)

Steel Tycoon - Laxmi Mittal

Laxmi Mittal - Steel Tycoon L.N. Mittal - Laxmi Niwas Mittal [Chairman and CEO of Mittal Steel]
Born: June 15, 1950
Sadulpur, Rajasthan, India
Occupation: CEO & Chairman of Arcelor Mittal
Net worth: $32 billion USD

Lakshmi Niwas Mittal (born June 15, 1950) is a London-based Indian billionaire industrialist, born in Sadulpur Village, in Churu district of Rajasthan, India, and residing in Kensington, London. He is the fifth richest person in the world, with a fortune of US$32 billion according to Forbes. The Financial Times named Mittal its 2006 Person of the Year.

In May 2007, he was named one of the "100 most influential people" by Time magazine.

Early history -

He spent his first years in India, living with his extended family on bare floors and rope beds in a house built by his grandfather. His family, from the Marwari Aggarwal caste, was from humble roots; his grandfather worked for the Tarachand Ghanshyamdas Poddar firm, one of the leading Marwari industrial firms of pre-independence India. They eventually moved to Kolkata where his father, Mohan, became a partner in a steel company and made a fortune. Lakshmi was a keen student and his classmates knew him as a sharp student who was good with numbers. He graduated at the top from St. Xaviers in Kolkata with a Commerce Degree in Business and Accounting in 1969.[citation needed]

Lakshmi Mittal began his career working in the family's steelmaking business in India and in 1976, when the family founded its own steel business, Mittal set out to establish its international division, beginning with the buying of a run-down plant in Indonesia. Shortly afterwards he married Usha, the daughter of a well-to-do moneylender. In 1994, due to differences with his father and brothers, he branched out on his own, taking over the international operations of the Mittal steel business, which was already owned by the family. The family or Mittal never spoke to the public about the reasons for the split. Although, rumors have it that it was due to financial instablity between the brothers.

Today -

For last three consecutive years, he has been the richest person in the United Kingdom and is the President of the Board of Directors and CEO of Arcelor Mittal which is the world's largest producer of low and mid-grade steels, with assets in France, Belgium, Romania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, South Africa, Poland, Czech Republic, Indonesia, Kazakhstan and the United States. On July 13, 2005 it was announced that he had donated £2 million to the Labour Party, and on January 16, 2007 it was announced that he had donated a further £3 million.[citation needed] Although he has been living abroad for many years, he claims he will remain an Indian.

Personal wealth -

In March 2007, he was reported the 5th wealthiest person in the world by Forbes Magazine (up from 61st richest in 2004). The Mittal family owns 44% of Arcelor Mittal, the world's largest steel company.

His residence at 18-19 Kensington Palace Gardens was bought from Formula One car racing boss Bernie Ecclestone in 2004 for £57.1 million ($105.7 million), the world's highest price ever paid for a house. Formerly, this house was the residence of Paul Reuter, the founder of the Reuters news service.

Mittal has two children. His son Aditya Mittal is the CFO of Arcelor Mittal. He paid over £30 million/$65 million to host his daughter Vanisha's wedding celebration in Vaux le Vicomte on 22 June 2004 and an engagement ceremony at the Palace of Versailles on 20 June 2004, the world's most expensive wedding ever. He even hosted a Bollywood night where superstars like Rani Mukerji, Saif Ali Khan, Shahrukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai performed. Kylie Minogue also sang on stage.

His house in Kensington, London uses marble taken from the same quarry that supplied the Taj Mahal. The extravagant show of wealth has been deemed the "Taj Mittal."

Recently, Mittal - who is twice as rich as Roman Abramovich - has emerged as a leading contender to buy Barclays Premiership club Birmingham City, but has so far refused to comment. On June 25th Hong Kong businessman Carson Yeung bought a 29.9% stake in Birmingham City making a full takeover from Mittal incresingly unlikely.

Charity -

After seeing India get just one bronze medal in the 2000 Olympics, and a silver medal at the 2004 Olympics, he decided to set up Mittal Champions Trust with U$9 million to support 10 Indian athletes with world-beating potential.

For Comic Relief 2007 he matched the money raised (~£1million) on the celebrity special BBC programme, The Apprentice.

Awards -

• 2006: Person of the Year - Financial Times
• 2004: European Businessman of the Year - Fortune magazine
• 1998: Willy Korf Steel Vision Award - American Metal Market and PaineWeber’s World Steel Dynamics.
• 1996: Steelmaker of the Year - New Steel

Contact Address :
Lakshmi Mittal
Summer Palace
The Bishops Avenue
Hampstead Garden Suburb London
N2 OAB Great Britain
Phone : 0171 629 7988

[Source: Wikipedia]

An Interview with 2nd Richest Man

Introduction -

Warren Edward Buffett (Born. August 30, 1930, Omaha, Nebraska) is an American investor, businessman and philanthropist.

Buffett has amassed an enormous fortune from astute investments, particularly through the company Berkshire Hathaway, of which he is the largest shareholder and CEO. With an estimated current net worth of around US$52 billion, he was ranked by Forbes as the third-richest person in the world as of April 2007, behind Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and telecom magnate Carlos Slim.

In June 2006, he made a commitment to give away his fortune to charity, with 83% of it going to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The donation amounts to approximately $30 billion. Buffett's donation is said to be the largest in U.S. history. At the time of the announcement the donation was enough to more than double the size of the foundation.

Despite his immense wealth, Buffett is famous for his unpretentious and frugal lifestyle. When he spent $9.7 million of Berkshire's funds on a corporate jet in 1989, he jokingly named it "The Indefensible" because of his past criticisms of such purchases by other CEOs. He continues to live in the same house in the central Dundee neighborhood of Omaha, Nebraska that he bought in 1958 for $31,500 (although he also owned a more expensive home in Laguna Beach, California which he sold in 2004).

His 2006 annual salary of about $100,000 is tiny by the standards of senior executive remuneration in other comparable companies. CEOs in S&P 500 constituent companies averaged about $9 million compensation in 2003.

There was a one hour interview on CNBC with Warren Buffet, the second richest man who has donated $31 billion (85% of his fortune) to charity.

Here are some very interesting aspects of his life:

1. He bought his first share at age 11 and he now regrets that he started too late!
2. He bought a small farm at age 14 with savings from delivering newspapers.
3. He still lives in the same small 3 bedroom house in mid-town Omaha, that he bought after he got married 50 years ago. He says that he has everything he needs in that house. His house does not have a wall or a fence.
4. He drives his own car everywhere and does not have a driver or security people around him.
5. He never travels by private jet, although he owns the world's largest private jet company.
6. His company, Berkshire Hathaway, owns 63 companies. He writes only one letter each year to the CEOs of these companies, giving them goals for the year. He never holds meetings or calls them on a regular basis.
7. He has given his CEO's only two rules.
   Rule number 1: Do not lose any of your share holder's money.
   Rule number 2: Do not forget rule number 1.
8. He does not socialize with the high society crowd. His past time after he gets home is to make himself some pop corn and watch television.
9. Bill Gates, the world's richest man met him for the first time only 5 years ago. Bill Gates did not think he had anything in common with Warren Buffet. So he had scheduled his meeting only for half hour. But when Gates met him, the meeting lasted for ten hours and Bill Gates became a devotee of Warren Buffet.
10. Warren Buffet does not carry a cell phone, nor has a computer on his desk.
11. His advice to young people: Stay away from credit cards and invest in yourself.