Renaissance Man, who rarely gives interviews and comes out in public
only when he’s founded some new scientific or philanthropic venture, has decided to tell the story of his life in an upcoming memoir.
talking through the years, in speeches, in the smattering of interviews
he’s given to a lucky few, and in other public writings and appearances.
And on those rare occasions throughout the past 30 years he’s given a pretty good glimpse of who he is,
expressing what he cares about, his hopes and dreams, his vision of the
future and even proffering a word of wisdom or two for future generations.
So, here are some of the best of those speeches, quotes, interviews and
insights into Microsoft co-founder, Paul Allen from the man himself:
Paul Allen January 1977
1980’s
1986
From Todd Bishop’s former PI blog, here’s a retro of the article that appeared in the Seattle PI on March 14, 1986 when Microsoft went public:
http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/microsoft/archives/102018.asp
From the article:
“Microsoft’s two founders – Bill Gates and Paul Allen – were made instant millionaires by the offering, but they didn’t seem fazed by all the hoopla. Allen went to work as usual at Asymetrix, the company he founded last year in Bellevue. Gates was in Australia on business.
”I’m pretty happy,” said Allen. ”Everybody involved with Microsoft since the beginning has been looking forward to this day.”
Then began life after Microsoft. Allen started out with Asymetrix, making “software specifically designed for the new, more powerful 286 and 386 microprocessors.” Forbes, 4/6/1987 “The Next Chapter (Microsoft’s Paul Allen founds Asymetrix) by Edward F. Cone.
From the article:
“Microsoft has been phenomenally successful, which has been great for me,” says Allen. “Now we just want to have some fun and push back the existing boundaries of applications software.”
1990’s
In 1993, few envisioned the enormous possibilities of the Internet, and yet Allen was already viewing the computer as an interactive multimedia device, a window to the “wired world.” One of his early “Wired World” investments was in Ticketmaster.
See Seattle Times 11/23/93; Paul Andrews “Microsoft Co-founder Allen sees new first as ticket to interactive TV”
From the article:
“Allen, who helped jump-start the Information Age in 1975 through his development, with Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, of the BASIC software programming language for the first personal computer–has assembled an intriguing cast of investments potentially tied to a nationwide Data Highway.
And check out this 1994 article from Computerworld “Paul Allen’s On-line Kingdom” 10/3/94 Stuart J. Johnston.
“What I call the “wired world” is a scenario where everybody is basically on-line via inexpensive, high-bandwidth digital channels into pretty much everybody’s home and place of business,” Allen said.
“The marriage of video technology, computer technology, and networking is another sea change, where you try to ride the incredible wave that’s coming. That’s the core convergence of ideas for the information superhighway,” says Allen, gazing out of the giant picture windows and seeing the future. “So you say, ‘Okay, we’re getting a whole new medium here, what can we really do that people haven’t thought about in their individual areas?’ It’s not just showing movies on demand. What wholly new applications and user interfaces and products and services can you deliver?”
So in 1995, Allen invested in yet another wired world venture, this time in Hollywood. See “Allen Shares Belief with Dreamworks” USA Today; 3/20/95; by Dottie Enrico.
From the article:
March 24, 2009 at 9:00 am
[…] Market Wire – Full Feed placed an interesting blog post on Paul Allen: In His Own Words (Part One of Three)Here’s a brief overview “The marriage of video technology, computer technology, and networking is another sea change, where you try to ride the… […]