Gates met Allen when he was in 7th grade, and he said he looked up to Allen right away. The two shared a love of computers, spending their free time "messing around with any computer we could get our hands on," as Gates notes. "Paul foresaw that computers would change the world. Even in high school, before any of us knew what a personal computer was, he was predicting that computer chips would get super-powerful and would eventually give rise to a whole new industry. That insight of his was the cornerstone of everything we did together."

Gates describes Paul Allen as someone who was cooler than he was and as someone who loved to share his passions, be it music or basketball, with his friends. Allen also had a knack for explaining complicated subjects in simple, understandable ways -- an ability that Gates turned to Allen for a number of times.