Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen dies at 65
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Paul Allen, who co-founded software giant Microsoft with his childhood friend Bill Gates before turning his attention to sports and philanthropy, died on Monday from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, his family said in a statement. He was 65.
His death unleashed an outpouring of condolences from the sports world, where Allen was known as a Super Bowl-winning football team owner, and the tech industry, where he held a beloved place as a pioneering executive who used his wealth to take on technological challenges.
“His contributions to the world of technology and philanthropy will live on for generations to come,” Gates said in a statement.
Allen died in Seattle from the disease he began battling a decade ago, his family said in a statement released by Vulcan Inc, a company Allen founded to pursue his various interests.
Allen was the 27th-richest person in the world, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which placed his net worth at $26.1 billion. Most of his wealth came from stock in Microsoft, which he and Gates co-founded in 1975.
In a 2011 autobiography, Allen portrayed his role as the company’s “ideas” and “vision” person, while Gates contributed an aptitude for business. The two met as children at a Seattle private school.
Allen and Gates battled and their friendship wore down while at Microsoft, he wrote, comparing his years at the company to a “failed romance.”
Allen left Microsoft in 1983, after his initial diagnosis of Hodgkin’s lymphoma, but by a decade later the company’s Windows operating system had become the dominant way that people used personal computers.
Though the company later faltered after a U.S. Justice Department antitrust lawsuit, it remains among the largest U.S. companies. Allen and Gates also later repaired their friendship.
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We live in a world that Paul Allen helped to create. He changed life as we know it.
Yet there are times I wonder if the world would be better off if he hadn't.
Think back before Allen and Gates, man how they changed the world as we know it.
RIP Mr. Allen
RIP, Mr Allen. You fought the brave fight.
He will be missed.....
Not to diminish the man in any way as he deserves any and all accolades.
I just think it is odd that as a co-founder, he rarely gets any cheers for his accomplishments. Gates gets top billing.
Just like with the founding of Apple, Jobs got top billing while Wozniak seemed to be pushed to a back burner.
Anyway,
RIP Mr Allen. Your contributions changed the world.