William H. Gates Hall UW campus. The state funded the construction with $44.2 million of money from bond sales and $1.5 million of funds directly from the state, while $34.3 million came from private donations. The University of Washington stated that it was "an exceptionally large share for a public building." The state bond money would be repaid by the university's Metropolitan Tract revenues, instead of tax-supported bonds. More than 160 donors contributed to the building. William H. Gates, Sr.'s son, William Henry "Bill" Gates III, and his wife Melinda Gates, under the Gates Foundation, donated $12 million to the UW School of Law.
Bill Gates retail version of Microsoft Windows on November 20, 1985. In August of the following year, the company struck a deal with IBM to develop a separate operating system called OS/2. Although the two companies successfully developed the first version of the new system, the partnership deteriorated due to mounting creative differences. From Microsoft's founding in 1975 until 2006, Gates had primary responsibility for the company's product strategy. He gained a reputation for being distant from others; as early as 1981 an industry executive complained in public that "Gates is notorious for not being reachable by phone and for not returning