14 DAY TRIAL // It's really hard to think of Bill Gates as the charismatic guy who asks women out on dates, but he and Melinda are now making one of the best-known couples not necessarily in the world, but in the philanthropic society that they're both so active in.
And yet, little is known about the way the two met each other, so in an interview with makers.com, Melinda Gates actually reveals some spicy details about the way Bill, her husband since 1994, asked her out on a date for the very first time.
Melinda joined Microsoft in 1987, when she was appointed as product manager at Microsoft, so Bill Gates, who was obviously the number one man in the company, had every reason in the world to be confident about asking her out on a date.
After several months of waiting...
But it wasn't easy. After months of thinking about how to do it, Bill mustered up the courage to ask her out. In two weeks from that day.
“You know I was thinking maybe we could go out, if you give me your phone number, maybe two weeks from tonight,” Melinda recalled Bill as saying in the interview for makers.com.
Her answer probably took Bill by surprise.
“And I said to him, ‘Two weeks from tonight? I have no idea what I'm doing two weeks from tonight.’ And I said, ‘You're not spontaneous enough for me.’”
And yet, Bill Gates, founder of the world's number one software empire, couldn't simply give up.
One hour after their first talk, Bill called Melinda (because he obviously had her number since he was... well, her boss) and said, “Hey, let's go out on a date. Is this spontaneous enough for you?”
Melinda said yes, so here's how the two put the foundation of a 28-year relationship. Bill and Melinda got married on January 1, 1994, on the Island of Lanai in Hawaii, and now have three daughters who all use Microsoft phones and tablets because, you know, dad is Microsoft's boss.