Page 10 The Skanner Portland & Seattle October 17, 2018
News
Microsoft Co-founder Paul Allen Dies at 65
Allen, who owned the Portland Trail Blazers and the Seattle
Seahawks, died of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma Monday
By PHUONG LE
Associated Press
SEATTLE (AP) — Paul G. Allen, who
co-founded Microsoft with his child-
hood friend Bill Gates before becom-
ing a billionaire philanthropist who
invested in conservation, space travel
and professional sports, died Monday.
He was 65.
His death was announced by his com-
pany, Vulcan Inc.
Earlier this month Allen announced
that the non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma that
he was treated for in 2009 had returned
and he planned to fight it aggressively.
“While most knew Paul Allen as a
technologist and philanthropist, for us
he was a much-loved brother and un-
cle, and an exceptional friend,” said his
sister, Jody Allen, in a statement.
Allen, who was an avid sports fan,
owned the Portland Trail Blazers and
the Seattle Seahawks.
Allen and Gates met while attending
a private school in north Seattle.
The two friends would later drop out
of college to pursue the future they en-
visioned: A world with a computer in
every home.
Gates so strongly believed it that he
left Harvard University in his junior
year to devote himself full-time to his
and Allen’s startup, originally called
Micro-Soft.
Allen spent two years at Washington
State University before dropping out
as well.
They founded the company in Albu-
querque, New Mexico, and their first
product was a computer language for
the Altair hobby-kit personal comput-
er, giving hobbyists a basic way to pro-
gram and operate the machine.
After Gates and Allen found some
success selling their programming
language, MS-Basic, the Seattle natives
moved their business in 1979 to Bellev-
ue, Washington, not far from its even-
tual home in Redmond.
Microsoft’s big break came in 1980,
when IBM Corp. decided to move into
personal computers and asked Micro-
soft to provide the operating system.
Gates and company
didn’t invent the oper-
ating system. To meet
IBM’s needs, they spent
$50,000 to buy one
known as QDOS from an-
other programmer, Tim
Paterson. Eventually the
In this Oct. 12, 2015 file photo, Portland Trail Blazers owner Paul Allen
product, refined by Mi-
looks on before the start of the first quarter of an NBA preseason
crosoft — and renamed
basketball game against the Utah Jazz in Salt Lake City. Allen,
DOS, for Disk Operating
billionaire owner of the Trail Blazers and the Seattle Seahawks and
System — became the
core of IBM PCs and their Microsoft co-founder, died Monday, Oct. 15, 2018 at age 65. Earlier
clones, catapulting Mic- this month Allen said the cancer he was treated for in 2009, non-
rosoft into its dominant Hodgkin’s lymphoma, had returned. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)
position in the PC indus-
into orbit.
try.
He has also backed research into nu-
The first versions of two classic Mi-
clear-fusion
power.
crosoft products, Microsoft Word and
Allen
later
joined the list of Ameri-
the Windows operating system, were
ca’s
wealthiest
people who pledged to
released in 1983.
By 1991, Microsoft’s operating sys- give away the bulk of their fortunes to
tems were used by 93 percent of the charity.
In 2010, he publicly pledged to give
world’s personal computers.
The Windows operating system is away the majority of his fortune, say-
now used on most of the world’s desk- ing he believed “those fortunate to
top computers, and Word is the corner- achieve great wealth should put it to
stone of the company’s prevalent Office work for the good of humanity.”
When he released his 2011 memoir,
products.
Microsoft was thrust onto the throne “Idea Man,” he allowed 60 Minutes in-
of technology and soon Gates and Allen side his home on Lake Washington,
across the water from Seattle, reveal-
became billionaires.
With his sister Jody Allen in 1986, he ing collections that ranged from the
founded Vulcan, the investment firm guitar Jimi Hendrix played at Wood-
that oversees his business and philan- stock to vintage war planes and a 300-
foot yacht with its own submarine.
thropic efforts.
Allen served as Microsoft’s execu-
He founded the Allen Institute for
Brain Science and the aerospace firm tive vice president of research and new
Stratolaunch, which has built a colossal product development until 1983, when
airplane designed to launch satellites he resigned after being diagnosed with
cancer.
Royals
cont’d from pg 6
the British press.
Harry confirmed their
relationship in Novem-
ber of that year, and at
the same time warned
the British press against
what he characterized as
“racial overtones” in its
coverage of Meghan. He
said the press had been
so abusive that he wor-
ried about her and her
family’s safety.
It was another step in
Harry’s coming-of-age.
He made it clear that he
loved Meghan and would
protect her.
Word of the pregnancy
came at the very start of
their first extended royal
tour as a couple. It seems
they withheld the an-
nouncement so as not to
upstage the wedding of
Princess Eugenie — Har-
ry’s cousin — at Windsor
Castle on Friday.
After their arrival
Monday in Sydney, Har-
ry and Meghan held
hands and walked out
an airport rear entrance
and into a car. Meghan,
wearing skinny black
pants and a black, bur-
gundy trimmed coat,
was smiling and clutch-
ing folders, while Harry
gave a thumbs up to by-
standers.
The announcement of
the pregnancy cleared
up the mystery of why
Meghan is not joining
Harry when he climbs
the Sydney Harbour
Bridge on Friday to raise
the flag for the Invictus
Games, which he found-
ed in 2014 to give injured
military personnel and
veterans the opportuni-
ty to compete in sports
such as wheelchair bas-
ketball. The games open
on Saturday.
The royal baby would
be seventh in line for the
British throne — but he
or she won’t automati-
cally be a prince or prin-
cess.
The
children
and
grandchildren of the
queen are princes and
princesses — that’s why
Harry has that title —
but this doesn’t apply
to great-grandchildren.
Same goes for the his or
her royal highness desig-
nation, though the queen
could choose to inter-
vene on their behalf.
Instead, the child will
likely become an earl
if it’s a boy or a lady if a
girl.
The baby is very un-
likely to become king or
queen, as it will be be-
hind all of William and
Kate’s children, includ-
ing 5-month-old Prince
Louis. And he or she is
likely to get pushed still
further down the line of
succession as more roy-
als are born.
The child will, however,
have the option of becom-
ing an American citizen.
That will be up to Harry
and Meghan to decide
whether to apply for a
U.S. passport for the baby,
who will automatically
have British citizenship.
Katz reported from Lon-
don.