12 Amazing Microsoft Facts That You Did Not Know About
Original Company Photo
The above photo looks like it should be in AwkwardFamilyPhotos.com, but it is actually a Microsoft staff photo from December 7, 1978.
From top to bottom, left to right, these staff members are:
Top: Steve Wood, Bob Wallace, Jim Lane
Middle: Bob O’Rear, Bob Greenberg, Marc McDonald, Gordon Letwin.
Bottom: Bill Gates, Andrea Lewis, Marla Wood, Paul Allen
Steve and Marla Wood are married and their combined personal net worth is $15 million. Bob Wallace was the first popular user of the term shareware and passed away in 2002 — His net worth was about $5 million at the time. Jim Lane runs his own software company and his net worth is at about $20 million. Bob O’Rear runs a cattle ranch in Texas, serves on several technology company boards, and his net worth is at about $100 million. Bob Greenberg cut a deal with a photo studio to have the above picture taken after hitting Microsoft hit their first million dollar sales year — Greenberg is on the boards of several Jewish non-profit organizations and his net worth is at about $20 million. Marc McDonald is known for designing the FAT File System — he quit and rejoined Microsoft after his company Design Intelligence was bought in 2000 — currently he works as the Chief Software Architect at Mindmode. Gordon Letwin left Microsoft in 1993 and his net worth in 2000 was pegged at $20 million — after leaving Microsoft, he donated a lot of his money to his charity the Wilburforce Foundation that he founded with his wife. Bill Gates is the second wealthiest people in the world and is now a full-time philanthropist dedicated to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Andrea Lewis was Microsoft’s first technical writer and she left in 1983 — her net worth is at around $2 million and she is now a freelance writer that founded the literary center called the Richard Hugo House. Paul Allen is the 48th richest person i n the world with an estimated net worth of $14.2 billion — he is the founder and chairman of Vulcan Inc. and owns the Seattle Seahawks and Portland Trailblazers.