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Microsoft Co-founder Paul Allen Dies of Cancer at age 65
MSN ^ | 10/15/2018

Posted on 10/15/2018 3:55:13 PM PDT by RainMan

Allen passed away Monday afternoon in Seattle at 65 years old, Vulcan said. His sister, Jody, said he was "a remarkable individual on every level."

"While most knew Paul Allen as a technologist and philanthropist, for us he was a much-loved brother and uncle, and an exceptional friend. Paul's family and friends were blessed to experience his wit, warmth, his generosity and deep concern," she said in a statement. "For all the demands on his schedule, there was always time for family and friends. At this time of loss and grief for us – and so many others – we are profoundly grateful for the care and concern he demonstrated every day."

(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...


TOPICS: Computers/Internet; Health/Medicine; Local News; Society
KEYWORDS: billgates; cancer; microsoft; obituary; paulallen; seahawks; seattle
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1 posted on 10/15/2018 3:55:13 PM PDT by RainMan
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To: RainMan

RIP.


2 posted on 10/15/2018 3:58:40 PM PDT by Biggirl ("One Lord, one faith, one baptism" - Ephesians 4:5)
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To: All

Allen, Seahawks, Blazers owner, donates $100,000 to help Republicans in House

Jay Busbee Yahoo SportsSep 3, 2018, 8:39 AM

Seahawks owner Paul Allen has donated $100,000 to a fundraising committee dedicated to helping Republicans maintain control of the U.S. House of Representatives, according to a new report in the Seattle Times. It’s the largest single check Allen has sent to a political action committee, according to federal election records, and it’s one of many donations Allen has made to a range of bipartisan causes.

Paul Allen’s political causes:
Allen donated $100,000 to Protect the House, a joint fundraising committee headed by House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) with the goal of holding onto the Republican majority in the House in this fall’s competitive elections. Joint fundraising committees allow wealthy individuals — Allen has a reported net worth in excess of $20 billion — to donate significant sums that are later divided among a range of causes. Protect the House has raised more than $13 million nationally, with Allen’s gift placing him among the top 50 donors.

The donation is notable given Allen’s history of bipartisan, and even Democratic-leaning, giving. So far during this election cycle, Allen has given $173,500 to Republican candidates and committees as opposed to $45,900 to Democratic candidates and causes. During the 2016 election cycle, Allen gave $74,500 to Democratic candidates and $52,400 to Republican ones.

Notable among Allen’s other donations is a $1 million check to help the passage this November of a Washington state initiative on gun safety reform. The initiative aims to raise the minimum age to buy semiautomatic rifles to 21, as well as increase the stringency of background checks.
“Paul Allen has supported both Republicans and Democrats over the years, and he will continue to support candidates on both sides of the aisle,” Allen’s spokesman John Pinette told the Seattle Times in a statement.

NFL owners’ conservative leanings:
Allen is among a number of NFL owners who have given to conservative causes. Houston Texans owner Bob McNair gave $371,500 to Protect the House. And eight NFL owners donated a total of $7.25 million to President Donald Trump’s inauguration in 2017, including McNair, the Patriots’ Robert Kraft, the Rams’ Stan Kroenke and the Jets’ Woody Johnson.

The NFL, of course, has since found itself in Trump’s crosshairs over protests during the national anthem. Trump continues to criticize the NFL for allowing players to silently protest during the national anthem.
____
Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter or on Facebook.

SOURCE https://sports.yahoo.com/seahawks-blazers-owner-donates-100000-help-republicans-house-123905673.html


3 posted on 10/15/2018 4:02:11 PM PDT by Liz (Our side has 8 trillion bullets; the other side doesn't know which bathroom to use.)
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To: RainMan

His work in finding sunken WWII Navy Ships was a great service to mankind.


4 posted on 10/15/2018 4:02:15 PM PDT by microgood
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To: Biggirl

Many a programmer my age got interested in it as teenagers from BASIC. If understand it correctly, Gates deserves the most credit for inventing BASIC, but Allen deserves a lot of credit for promoting it.


5 posted on 10/15/2018 4:05:16 PM PDT by Tell It Right (1st Thessalonians 5:21 - put everything to the test, hold fast to that which is true)
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To: RainMan

That is just terrible. May he rest in everlasting peace.


6 posted on 10/15/2018 4:05:28 PM PDT by SmokingJoe
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To: microgood
His work in finding sunken WWII Navy Ships was a great service to mankind.

But his efforts to strangle the Second Amendment was an insult to every man and woman who fought to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

7 posted on 10/15/2018 4:06:46 PM PDT by Yo-Yo (Is the /sarc tag really necessary?)
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To: RainMan

RIP. We owe much to him.


8 posted on 10/15/2018 4:08:18 PM PDT by Reno89519 (No Amnesty! No Catch-and-Release! Just Say No to All Illegal Aliens! Arrest & Deport!y)
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To: RainMan

Very sad to hear. This is one fellow I really, really liked and admired.


9 posted on 10/15/2018 4:14:10 PM PDT by Hostage (Article V (Proud Member of the Deranged Q Fringe))
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To: Tell It Right

Allen was an ASSEMBLY Language programmer who did most of the grunt work while Gates was on the phone most of the time promoting things. Both did BASIC too.


10 posted on 10/15/2018 4:15:29 PM PDT by Hostage (Article V (Proud Member of the Deranged Q Fringe))
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To: Tell It Right

Gates didn’t invent BASIC, what he did do is recognize the value of DOS, which he also didn’t create but bought it from another (Tim Paterson?) for around $60,000 - knowing that it was exactly what IBM wanted.

Without that there would never be the Microsoft we know today.

That said, I’ve heard many times about Paul being a genius, RIP.


11 posted on 10/15/2018 4:17:07 PM PDT by fuzzylogic (welfare state = sharing of poor moral choices among everybody)
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To: RainMan

You can’t take it with you.

RIP Paul Allen.


12 posted on 10/15/2018 4:18:08 PM PDT by Jim Noble
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To: RainMan

I was just about to post. Thanks for beating me to it.

Paul Allen, regardless of his politics, did a good job of enjoying and using the unbelievable wealth that his share of Microsoft grew into. Basketball, football, sailing, research... amazing. Many people would have vegetated in rich gathering places like Manhattan, Cannes, or Davos.

RIP.


13 posted on 10/15/2018 4:20:52 PM PDT by Pearls Before Swine ("It's always a party when you're eating the seed corn.")
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To: All

In 1975, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Allen and Gates began marketing a BASIC programming language interpreter.[14]

Allen came up with the original name of “Micro-Soft,” according to a 1995 Fortune magazine article.[19]

In 1980, after Microsoft had committed to deliver IBM a disk operating system (DOS) for the original IBM PC, although they had not yet developed one, Allen spearheaded a deal for Microsoft to purchase QDOS (Quick and Dirty Operating System), written by Tim Paterson, who, at the time, was employed at Seattle Computer Products.

As a result of this transaction, Microsoft was able to secure a contract to supply the DOS that would eventually run on IBM’s PC line. This contract with IBM proved the watershed in Microsoft history that led to Allen’s and Gates’ wealth and success.[14] Allen effectively left Microsoft in 1982 due to serious illness.[14]

Allen officially resigned from his position on the Microsoft board of directors in November 2000 but was asked to consult as a senior strategy advisor to the company’s executives. Bill Gates reportedly asked Allen to give him some of his shares to compensate for the higher amount of work being performed by Gates.[20]

Allen thought this was warranted; however, when the time came [when?] for the adjustment to occur, Gates decided not to proceed.[21]

Instead, Gates tried to buy Allen out at a low price, however Allen refused and left the company with his shares intact.

This proved critical to Allen becoming a billionaire after Microsoft went public.[22]


14 posted on 10/15/2018 4:20:58 PM PDT by Liz (Our side has 8 trillion bullets; the other side doesn't know which bathroom to use.)
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To: Jim Noble
You can’t take it with you.

But it must be nice to enjoy it while you're here.

15 posted on 10/15/2018 4:26:51 PM PDT by CtBigPat (Qanon - Please be real...)
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To: RainMan

IBM, whose success was built largely on government subsidized research, had belatedly decided to get into the personal computer business, that bevvy of geniuses having dismissed the trend in its planning during the 1970’s. They did not even have a program to run a PC, and so approached Gates for some help. Gates didn’t have one either, and referred them to Gary Kildall of Digital Research Inc. Talks did not go well between Kildall and IBM, and another IBM employee, Jack Sims, approached Gates again. He still did not have a program, but began to show his true “genius.” He knew someone who did.

The system Gates had in mind might well have been based on Kildall’s work. Gates chose to approach a company called Seattle Computer Products (SCP). Tim Paterson, a SCP programmer, then had developed an operating system called Quick and Dirty Operating System (QDOS). Gates bought the rights for QDOS and hired Paterson to develop a modified version of QDOS to create MS-DOS and sell/license it to IBM.

The controversy over whether Gates cheated in the deal stems from the fact that Paterson had previously worked with Kindall at Digital Research Inc. (DRI). Kindall accused that both QDOS & MS-DOS had been copied from his original CP/M operating system. An accusation rejected by Microsoft. Gates asked if IBM wanted him to go get it, or if IBM would do that dirty work itself. Sams, understanding what was going on, insisted that Gates go get it, hint hint.

Ergo, the conundrum so many of us have faced over the years – crappy PC technology dominates the market because IBM had market power at that time. “People bought DOS because people were buying DOS.” Gates and Microsoft amassed a huge war chest of money, and from there started to buy up competing companies and to reverse engineer technology, including Apple’s icon-orientated home screen so common now on computers.


16 posted on 10/15/2018 4:30:46 PM PDT by CharlesMartelsGhost
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To: RainMan

bookmark


17 posted on 10/15/2018 6:31:04 PM PDT by GOP Poet
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To: RainMan

Wow, I had no idea he was ill. RIP.


18 posted on 10/15/2018 6:58:01 PM PDT by Mozzafiato
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To: microgood

I think he had a lot of irons in the fire that may never bare fruit now. He bought Howard Hughes’s ME 262 from a museum some years back with the intention of a total restoration including the original engines. That would have made it the only flight worthy 262 with original engines in existance.


19 posted on 10/15/2018 7:04:55 PM PDT by Karl Spooner
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To: Jim Noble

To his credit he outright gave away billions and invested many billions in long shots some of which may pan out one day
A visionary and a quiet man
Godspeed


20 posted on 10/15/2018 9:53:16 PM PDT by wardaddy (I donÂ’t care that youÂ’re not a racist......when the shooting starts it wonÂ’t matter what you were)
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