Gates, William Henry, III (1955- ) is an American business executive, who serves as chairman and chief software architect of Microsoft Corporation, the leading computer software company in the United States. Gates cofounded Microsoft in 1975 with high school friend Paul Allen. The company’s success made Gates one of the most influential figures in the computer industry and, eventually, one of the richest people in the world.

Microsoft Corporation is a leading American computer software company. Microsoft develops and sells a wide variety of software products to businesses and consumers in more than 50 countries. The company’s Windows operating systems for personal computers are the most widely used operating systems in the world. Microsoft has its headquarters in Redmond, Washington. Microsoft’s other well-known products include Word, a word processor; Excel, a spreadsheet program; Access, a database program; and PowerPoint, a program for making business presentations. These programs are sold separately and as part of Office, an integrated software suite. Microsoft’s Internet Explorer allows users to browse the World Wide Web. Among the company’s other products are reference applications; games; financial software; programming languages for software developers; input devices, such as pointing devices and keyboards; and computer-related books.

Ohio is one of the East North Central states of the United States. Ohio is located on several main routes between the eastern and western United States. Therefore it attracted settlers from all parts of the country and developed a culture significant for its diversity. Ohio first developed as an agricultural region, and more than half of the land is still devoted to growing crops and raising livestock. The state’s position on major east-west highways and railroads and its access to Lake Erie and the Ohio River, however, offered a large potential market for industrial production. This strategic location, combined with the presence of abundant natural resources and potential sources of power, made possible the rise of the industrial concentrations that have made Ohio a leading industrial state.