Пишут, что она была начальником в благотворительной организации, и там же в начальниках был ген. директор IBM. Слово за слово, и сынок Билли получил хороший контракт. http://www.nytimes.com/1994/06/11/obituaries/mary-gates-64-helped-her-son-start-microsoft.html
... She was later appointed to the board of the United Way of America; in 1983, she became the first woman to lead it. Right Time, Right Place.
Her tenure on the national board's executive committee is believed to have helped Microsoft, based in Seattle, at a crucial time. In 1980, she discussed with John R. Opel, a fellow committee member who was the chairman of the International Business Machines Corporation, the business that I.B.M. was doing with Microsoft.
Mr. Opel, by some accounts, mentioned Mrs. Gates to other I.B.M. executives. A few weeks later, I.B.M. took a chance by hiring Microsoft, then a small software firm, to develop an operating system for its first personal computer.
The success of the I.B.M. P C gave Microsoft and its MS-DOS (for Microsoft Disk Operating System) a lift that eventually made it the world's largest software company for personal computers. Sales now exceed $3 billion.
SciFi (29.10.2016 17:14, просмотров: 132) ответил Скрипач на ...но в решении о закупке личного участия не принимала. Наверное. Так принято считать.