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By/March 14, 2017 11:24 am EDT/Updated: May 4, 2021 4:19 pm EDT

You'd think that the world would know every detail of the life of the richest man in the world, especially since he's been on the Forbes Billionaires List for many years running. But Bill Gates doesn't get a ton of attention. There've been two movies about Steve Jobs and a dissection of everything Apple, but the founder of Microsoft tends to keep a fairly low profile. So, get to know a little bit about the world's most famous college dropout billionaire.

Harvard was a lot harder than he thought it would be

It clearly takes brains to become a billionaire, unless your name rhymes with Fronald Frump. Bill Gates always knew he was much smarter than the average Seattle youngster. So, in high school, he'd show off his smarts, undoubtedly to impress the ladies. Classes were a breeze, and when he got into Harvard, he figured he'd waltz right through the Ivy League school like a badass nerd genius.

Unbeknownst to him, Harvard was hard. It's practically in the name. He got a B in his first theoretical math class, says Business Insider, a completely new experience. So Gates changed his major from theoretical math to applied math after his horrible defeat. But a one-time B was far from his last failure.

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Before Microsoft, he had a company called Traf-O-Data that was a complete failure

Eventual co-owner of Microsoft Paul Allen met Bill Gates in high school. One summer, when Allen was back in Seattle from college and Gates was a high school senior, they started a business. You know, just normal teenage boy shenanigans.

They created a minicomputer to track the flow of traffic. Though that sounds incredibly boring, it could be very useful to cities wanting to know where to place new traffic signals or stop signs or make road alterations or repairs. Gates came up with the name 'Traf-O-Data,' like it was some kind of horrible date-based candy. Gates and Allen had a working prototype two years and $1,500 later.

Unfortunately for the data duo, nobody cared. They did no market research, so they didn't realize that getting the local government to invest money in anything is a real pain. In 'Newsweek,'Paul Allen said, 'We had virtually no customers.' After six years of trying, Traf-O-Data lost $3,494 and put away their traffic files forever. Obviously, that didn't stop the pair, and they went on to create Microsoft, probably to get revenge on those who didn't appreciate their traffic ideas.

Bill Gates was arrested in New Mexico

Albuquerque, New Mexico police department/Wikimedia Commons

Generally, Bill Gates doesn't seem like a guy with a long rap sheet. But looks can be deceiving.

In 1977, Gates was arrested in New Mexico, though his exact crime wasn't recorded. Could it be some kind of computer/drug smuggling scheme? No, it was a traffic violation, and they just didn't record what specific error led to his arrest. Though the details are sketchy, it definitely happened, and Albuquerque has the smiling mug shot to prove it (via The Telegraph). It's doubtful that a DUI was to blame, since few drunks can look so clean cut and wholesome while the cops are documenting their crimes.

Said 'no one is getting rich' making software in 1980

In 1976, Bill Gates wrote an 'Open Letter to Hobbyists' to discourage computer hobbyists from using his software without paying. The technology was so new it wasn't clearly covered under copyright law. Gates was adamant that the 'share and share alike' culture of early computer fiends would discourage programmers from bothering to make new software if they knew it would only be stolen.

Gates thought the letter would be the end of it, since open letters asking people to start paying for stuff they can get for free are usually very effective. But copyright law remained cloudy. In 1979, a federal court ruled that one company selling an exact copy of another company's computer chess game was not a violation of the law, writes Michael B. Becraft. By 1980, Gates had to speak out again about unlicensed software usage. In an interview with 80 Microcomputing Magazine, the hottest of all microcomputing magazines of 1980, Gates detailed the importance of software copyright and made this incredibly unprecient statement – 'There's nobody getting rich writing software that I know of.'

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This was true at the time, and with the licensing issues and completely uncharted territory of the software world, Gates had no reason to think he'd wind up one of the richest men in the world. Still, that's a quote that probably won't end up on a lot of inspirational Facebook memes.

Bill Gates was critical of Paul Allen's efforts when Allen was sick with cancer

Bill Gates and Paul Allen had a long relationship of working together. After the Traf-O-Data failure, the two pressed on, working feverishly to create software needed for the upcoming computer world. Since Gates named Traf-O-Data, Allen thought it best to take over the naming of any future endeavors, and he came up with the now legendary name 'Microsoft,' reports The Guardian.

Gates had a lot of respect for Allen. In fact, he dropped out of Harvard his sophomore year to join Allen in New Mexico to grow their business. But he didn't always treat him as an equal. When they debuted their first major project, the programming language BASIC, Gates spent hours double-checking all of Allen's work. Turns out, it was error-free.

Despite Allen's major contributions to Microsoft, in 1982, he overheard Gates and Steve Ballmer (who ran the business side of the company) talking about Allen's diminishing contributions, conspiring about how they could dilute his equity, says Business Insider. But Allen wasn't just slacking off. He had cancer.

Allen called them out on their little 'try to weasel money from the guy with cancer' plan and quit the company a while later. Luckily, Gates' cheapness worked to Allen's advantage. Gates wanted to buy Allen out of his stock holdings at $5 a share. Allen wanted $10, Gates said 'no thank you,' so Allen kept his stock. Eddie money real name. Allen made almost $20 billion, all because of Gates' cheap-o ways.

Bill Gates dealt with many monopoly problems

As Microsoft became huge, they faced a lot of monopoly problems. Not that Bill Gates kept putting up hotels on Boardwalk and Park Place, but the United States was investigating him for violating antitrust laws. The government had an eye on Microsoft since 1990, reports Wired, and in 1994 made Microsoft sign an agreement to not use their preeminence over the software world to keep out competition. In 1997, the U.S. struck again, filing a suit that Microsoft violated the agreement by forcing PC makers to ship Internet Explorer with Windows 95. The courts felt they were purposely keeping out competitors. The suit waged on, with Microsoft claiming it was easy to remove Internet Explorer and opposing witnesses saying it was impossible to remove. A lot of thrilling 'can I delete this icon' trial footage is floating around somewhere.

Microsoft agreed that computer makers could have the choice whether or not to include Internet Explorer with Windows. But that wasn't the end. After many years, a court found that Microsoft was acting as a monopoly and ordered the company to break up to loosen its hold on the industry. But after many appeals, that judgment was overruled, and by 2002, Microsoft agre

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