Bill Gates was born on October 28th, 1955. He and his two sisters grew up inprefix = st1 /Seattle. Their father, William H. Gates II, was aSeattleattorney  . Mary Gates, their late mother, was a school teacher.    Gates attended public elementary school before moving on to the private Lakeside School in North Seattle. It was at Lakeside that Gates began his career in personal computer soft- ware, programming computers at age 13.    In 1973, Gates enteredHarvardUniversityas a freshman, where he lived down the hall from Steve Ballmer, who is now Microsoft's president. While at Harvard, Gates developed a version   of the programming language BASIC for the first microcomputer---the MITS Astair. In his junior year, Gates dropped out of Harvard to devote his energies full-time to Microsoft, a company he had started in 1975 with his boyhood friend Paul Allen. Guided by a belief that the personal computer would be a valuable tool on every office desk-top and in every home, they began developing software for personal computers.    Gates' foresight and vision have led to the success of Microsoft and the software industry. He plays an important role in the technical development of new products. Much of his time is devoted to meeting with customers and staying in contact with Microsoft employees around the world through e-mail.    In the dozen years since Microsoft went public, Gates has donated more than $ 800 mil- lion to charities  , including $ 200 million to the Gates Library Foundation to help libraries in North America take advantage of new technologies and the Information Age. What does the word "donated" mean?
Gave. Earned. Made. Received.