SOFTWARE SUPERMAN

Bill Gates has mystified people ever since he took the information highway to fame. His competitors, stunned by his speed and his ruthlessness, want the government to slam the brakes on him. In the meantime, the billionaire with the boyish look is preparing to change the way people live and work. He is heading for the future. And to India.

DISHEVELED and insouciant he would easily stand out in a pack of school kids. There was something else that made William Henry Gates III different from boys his age. He would not allow himself to be conquered by a challenge. When Bill was eleven, the Rev. Turner threw a challenge to him and his classmates at the religious confirmation session : to memorize chapters five to seven from the Gospel of St. Matthew in the Bible. Better known as the Sermon on the Mount the passage was and repetitive. The prize in the likely event of a kid belting it out: a meal at the restaurant on top of Space Needle, one of the tallest buildings in Seattle, USA.
When the clergyman landed at the Gates home to listen to Bill, the lad religiously recited the entire passage at one go. There was no fumble or mistake, just a boyish bravado. "I can do anything I put my into," boasted Bill to the amazed reverend.
Over the years Bill Gates has displayed the same bravura in his business ventures. Every time he tackles a challenge successfully the reward proves as filling as the free meal he wrested from the reverend. Only this time it fills his coffers.
At 41, Gates is the richest man on the planet, and some argue the most powerful as well. When the Microsoft stock rose last year by a mere $3 (one dollar=Rs 35 approx.), the value of Gates' 24 per cent stake in the company doubled to a stunning $29 billion (Rs 101, 000 crore)! In the days when the stocks shot up, he earned about $30 million every 24 hours. Microsoft, which Gates co-founded with school chum Paul Allen near a massage parlour in 1975, is now the most influential company in the world's fastest growing industry.
And Gates is its mascot. "He is not only a symbol but a single-man driving force of the global computer industry," say Dewang Mehta, executive director of the National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM). "He is like the president of Information Technology," gushes Raj Saraf, the Mumbai based managing director of Zenith Computers. Adds Ashwani Kurana, executive director of Bangalore-based Infosys Technologies: "He is a very intelligent person who has a say in how the IT industry responds to today's challenges."
It is with such an awesome reputation that Gates comes to India next week. He had sought a meeting with Prime Minister Deve Gowda during the World Economic Forum summit in Davos last month and told him that Microsoft was looking for an Indian partner. They will meet again on March 5 in Mumbai where Gates will deliver a lecture on software technology.
The Microsoft CEO is impressed by the growth of the computer industry in India and feels it can emerge as the next software superpower. Says Khurana: "When Gates sees for himself India's potential as a consumer, the result could be more investment in terms of money, a development centre, training centre, etc., and maybe even a Hindi version of Microsoft Windows!"
Gates may not have yet thought about a Hindi version of Microsoft's best-selling operating system-which allows the computer to carry out its functions - but he is toying with the idea of starting a training center in the country to keep local companies abreast of the latest technologies in software. He also wants to improve the telecom sector to make available the Internet platform to Indian companies. "The market and software exports will grow," Saraf predicts the impact of Gates's foray into India.
"The visit will create a significant motivation for the Indian computer industry," says Pradeep Kar, chairman of MicroLand Limited, a Bangalore-based IT company which has a tie-up with Microsoft. "It is recognition of India's potential as a large market for Microsoft."
The creme de la creme of the Indian computer industry will land in Mumbai to listen to the guru of the computer world. For as Kar says, "He is the most significant entrepreneur of all times across all segments." The cyberkids of the infotech industry who hold Gates in reverence will agree. Many of them deluge the Internet with facsimiles of his signature.
The skinny kid with a squeaky voice and nerdish dress sense who could not get the attention of computer big daddies two decades ago is now feted as the shaper of the next century. He moves in the league of business barons Rupert Murdoch and Mike Ovitz, plays golf with President Clinton and holds an audience of statesmen and tycoons spellbound with his vision of the future.
They marvel at Gates's vision just as they do at the revolution he has ushered in the computer industry. When he set up Microsoft his vision was "A computer on every desk and in every home". He made himself a part of his vision by dreaming of "Microsoft on every computer".
The personal computer (PC) was not even launched when Gates made his prediction of a computer on every desk. Today a PC with Microsoft Windows is sold every two seconds. Microsoft makes its moolah not just from the operating system; the company also dominates the market for application programs - which enable a PC to get work done - such as word processing, spreadsheets and databases. There are millions of computers in the world, and 90 per cent of them use Microsoft's software.
The Seattle-headquarters Microsoft has 48 subsidiaries programs are available in more than 30 languages. Last year the company spent $2 billion on R&D and new software hit the shopshelves regularly.
HARD WORK has combined with Gates's intellect and desire to succeed to take his company far ahead of the nearest competitor. He also knows where and how to make his money. That is a trait he picked up very early in life. The only son of an affluent Seattle family, Bill was stirred by the success of his father, an attorney, and his mother, a teacher who was on the boards of several corporations.
Young Bill was often cause of worry to Mama Gates. A domineering woman she just could not make him do what she wanted. When she called the sixth grader for basement bedroom. She called him over the intercom and asked him what he was doing. "I am thinking," replied Bill.
She despatched him to a psychologist for assessment. The shrink carried out a series of tests and got back to her. 'You're going to lose," he told her. "There is no use trying to beat him."
Bill has always preferred to do things his own way. Particularly when striking a deal - whether with his elder sister or later with the mega computer company International Business machines (IBM). As a 10-year-old he drew up an elaborate agreement for unlimited access to his sister's baseball glove for $5. Even at that age Bill was preparing for the future : his favourite game was Risk which rewarded the winner with world domination. "When he was nine he talked like an adult and could express himself in ways that none of us understood," recalled a friend.
Bill was obsessed with being the best in his field. That is why he wrote the maths test more than once to strike a perfect score of 800. In 1966 the boy with an IQ of 170 was packed off to the exclusive Lakeside School, an institution with such rigorous academic demand that the joke went that it could turn even "dumb kids smart". It also allowed students freedom to pursue their own interests. Bill found his when Lakeside acquired a computer in 1968.
The 13-year-old was hooked, so was fellow student Paul Allen, who was two years older. During their free time, and sometimes even bunking class, they would tinker with the machine.
Gates mastered it in a week and eventually helped devise a timetable for the school which is still in use. He was paid $4,200 for it. Businessman Bill was born.
He never missed an opportunity to sharpen his business instincts : Gates and his pals scrimmaged the rubbish bins of a local company for discarded programs and used them to devise a technique for monitoring traffic flow. They set up a company, with Gates as the boss, and did business worth $20,000 before the clients discovered they were doing business with kids and withdrew.
The Gates-Allen friendship continued even after the former joined Harvard to study applied mathematics. In January 1975 the duo got their big chance with the launch of the first home computer, the Altair 8800. They dialed the computer's manufacturer and fibbed they could provide a better program. Altair fell for it. Allen and Gates sweated it out and came up with a new computer language, BASIC, Microsoft had arrived.
The company hit big time after IBM asked Microsoft to come up with an operating system for its new range of PCs. The result was MS-DOS (Microsoft Disk Operating System) which became an industry standard along with IBM's machine. Whenever other companies launched new computers they still needed a common computer language to run the machines and Microsoft held the licence to it. Gates became a billionaire at 31.
Gates's critics say that Microsoft's phenomenal success stems from his business acumen, not from his creativity. Microsoft had, for instance, bought the basic version of MS-DOS from a rival and altered it to suit IBM's machine; and Windows was inspired by Apple Mac software. And who but a business genius would have sold IBM an operating system for its first PC, Acorn, and retained the licence. "He is a true combination of a business and technology wizard," says Dewang Mehta of NASSCOM.
While Gates has thrived, competitors are fuming at Microsoft's power and its boss's belligerence in pushing his products. Ray Noorda, chairman of rival firm Novell, spat out after a dispute with Gates : "For a heart-to-heart talk with someone, you need two hearts."
The US government, worried by Microsoft's growing clout in the industry,blocked the company's takeover bids, including that of Intuit Inc. which makes 80 per cent of the software for personal finance and has done impressive groundwork on electronic banking, a subject close to Gates's heart. The US Justice Department is meanwhile investigating Microsoft's alleged monopolistic practices.

Do Indian companies fear losing out once Microsoft starts developing programs for the local market? "No," says Raj Saraf of Zenith. "On the contrary the Indian market will grow." Binod Singh, a vice-president at Bangalore's Digital Equipment (India), believes "Microsoft will focus on development for the parent company and will not take away jobs from Indian software developers." Asks Dewang Mehta: "If we cannot compete with global companies in our own country, how can we compete with them in the international market?"
In any case, says Mehta, Gates is a great supporter of the Indian software industry. "Last year when we were troubled by the proposed immigration bills in the US congress and senate, Gates came to our rescue," he reveals. "He argued that America requires the services of Indian software companies for a win-win situation. His singular comment pressured the Clinton administration to withdraw the immigration bill."
According to Ashwani Khurana of Infosys, Indian companies should take the entry of big firms like Microsoft and Intel in their stride. " After all, Indian software companies are used to global competition. Microsoft is predominantly a product company whereas most Indian companies are strong in projects and develop application software.
There are the superstitious who believe Gates is the devil incarnate out to control the world and they proffer numerological proof: the ASCII codes-numbers computers give to the letters of the alphabet-of Bill Gates adds up to 666, the devil's number. So do the codes of Windows 95.

KILLER INSTINCT he does have, but Gates, though an admirer of Napoleon, does not come across as one with an aggressive intent. The sandy-haired man with smeared spectacles will not impress as the world's youngest billionaire either. he gorges on pizzas and junk food and watches weepies:his favourite movies are Shadowlands, Schindler's List and Bridges of Madison County. Despite his enormous wealth he flies economy class on scheduled flights and buys his clothes from a downmarket mail catalogue.
He has bad body language: during company meetings and interviews with journalists Gates unconsciously rocks back and forth in his chair as he contemplates in silence. He lacks any sense of humour-when he cackles other miss the joke-and seldom makes eye contact.
When it comes to social skills he quite low down the order. An example: he had so little time for girlfriend Ann Winblad that they preferred 'virtual dating' - they would go to the same movie in different cities and discuss it late on their car phones.
He had also wooed Microsoft product manager Melinda French through E-mail. They got married on January 1, 1994, and have a 10-month-old daughter, Jennifer. Incidentally, Gates has a deal with Melinda to spend a weekend a year with his old flame Ann.
Gates still dies it his way. He is absolutely ruthless when it comes to running his business, and can tear his subordinates to shreds if they do not rise to his expectations. "I expect people to know stuff off the top of their heads," says the Microsoft chief. "He is a visionary and he's aggressive," says Digital's Binod Singh.
Gates's style has rubbed off on the 17,000 'Microserfs" at the company's 260-acre site near Seattle. Mostly in their 20s and 30s they slog it out round the clock and exude a casualness like their chairman.
Many have reaped rich rewards for their labour. Microsoft has made five billionaires in the US and more than, 3,000 millionaires. Many employees drive to work on Porsches and Ferraris while their boss cruises in on his blue Lexus.
While Gates powers ahead on the infobahn he keeps a close watch on his competitors. "The more successful I am the more vulnerable I feel," he says. but he is not slowing down. The future, Gates believes, will be even more exciting.
The miracles of the future are described in his book The Road Ahead, and include a wallet-size wonder PC, the opportunity to play Scrabble without even meeting the other person, the ability to retrieve information from an office in Mumbai with a mere click on the screen while doing business in Manhattan.
The future, according to Gates, will be a world where you could decide the climax scene of a movie while chatting up its characters, where you could withdraw cash from your bank or order rumali roti and rogan josh from the restaurant without leaving home, where a sick infant would only have to be held before the screen for diagnosis.
Gates's excitement about the possibilities of the future is almost childlike. He feels that our lives will be transformed by the wallet PC, while will do away the need to carry cash, cellphones or cameras-they will all be packed into one small computer! Paper money will be passe; "The wallet will store unforgettable digital money," predicts Gates.
The magical micro will also be your best friend when you hit the road. It will warn you of potholes and traffic jams and alert you when your destination is close. Its maps will lead you to the theater showing Ashwarya Rai, the city's best infertility specialist or the trendiest pub.
Gates tells the sceptics the story of an Oxford professor who in 1878 laughed at the possibility of the electric bulb. "The information highway will give us choices," he says, "that can put us in touch-with entertainment, information, and each other."
When Gates succeeds in his mission he will dash more frequently to the bank. Or probably he will just sit in his $40 million-futuristic home and click on his computer screen to stash away the money that the new millennium will bring. In the Information Age dollars may turn digital but Bill would still be a billionaire.

STANLEY THOMAS