IDEA MAN A M E M O I R B Y T H E C O F O U N D E R O F M I C R O S O F T PA U L A L L E N P O R T F O L I O / P E N G U I N IDEA MAN IDEA MAN A M E M O I R B Y T H E C O F O U N D E R O F M I C R O S O F T PA U L A L L E N P O R T F O L I O / P E N G U I N portfolio / penguin Published by the Penguin Group Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A. Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4P 2Y3 (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England Penguin Ireland, 25 St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd) Penguin Books Australia Ltd, 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd) Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi – 110 017, India Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, Auckland 0632, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd) Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England First published in 2011 by Portfolio / Penguin, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. Copyright © MIE Services LLC, 2011 All rights reserved Grateful acknowledgment is made for permission to reprint an excerpt from “Purple Haze,” written by Jimi Hen­ drix, published by Experience Hendrix, L.L.C. Used by permission. All rights reserved. library of congress cataloging in publication data Allen, Paul, 1953– Idea man : a memoir by the cofounder of Microsoft / Paul Allen. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 1-101-46811-4 1. Allen, Paul, 1953– 2. Businesspeople—United States—Biography. I. Title. HC102.5.A49A3 2011 338.7'610053092—dc22 [B] 2010043588 Set in Sabon Lt Std Designed by Jaime Putorti Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechani­ cal, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the per­ mission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrightable materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated. Penguin is committed to publishing works of quality and integrity. In that spirit, we are proud to offer this book to our readers; however, the story, the experiences, and the words are the author’s alone. FOR MY PARENTS C O N T E N T S 1 Opportunity 1 2 Roots 10 3 Lakeside 24 4 Acolytes 39 5 Wazzu 52 6 2+2=4! 69 7 MITS 84 8 Partners 102 9 SoftCard 118 10 Project Chess 133 11 Borrowed Time 149 12 Wake- Up Call 160 13 Hellhounds 175 14 Blazermania 191 | VIII CONTENTS 15 12th Man 208 16 Space 218 17 Jimi 246 18 Wired World 266 19 Fat Pipe 283 20 Searching 296 21 Mapping the Brain 304 22 Adventure 317 In Sum 331 Acknowledgments 335 Appendix 339 Index 347