Video Art Project

Video Art Project

Paul Allen: "Idea Man"

Paul Allen

"Here is the tale of one of the most restlessly curious and broadly imaginative people of our times, which in simple and eloquent language tells how he changed those times forever."

- Jann S. Wenner, editor and publisher, Rolling Stone

The co-founder of Microsoft is Paul Allen. He is a long-time friend of Bill Gates. However, it was not always a good relationship between the two.  It has been described as the equivalent of a bad first marriage.  In his memoir, Idea Man, Allen discusses the rocky relationship that eventually led to the creation of the billion dollar company, Microsoft.  Allen believes he was cheated out of shares of the company.  Yet, he still owned enough stock to be worth $13 billion today.  

One reason many people haven't heard of Allen is because he left Microsoft in 1983.  And this is when Gates excelled at making the company spread.  

Beginning in 1974, at 21-years-old, he instantly became interested in electronics after reading an issue of Popular Electronics.  At such an early age it seems inevitable that Allen would continue his love for technology and electronics.  His recent release of Idea Man is said to be rather candid recollections of his life. The New York Times says, "It is primarily a book about the advance of technology, and about Mr. Allen’s truly forward-thinking, sometimes staggeringly important innovations."