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By Ross Moyo
Zimbabwean born Paul Maritz who was third in command after Microsoft Founders Bill Gates and Steve Balmer has been credited for being the vital cog behind the once richest and most successful computer company in the world.
According to Gates and Balmer, the Zimbabwean Maritz was “Group Vice President of Microsoft Platforms and Applications a role meant he was responsible for developing Windows 95, Windows NT, Internet Explorer, Exchange, SQL Server, and Development Tools.”
His position also involved “overseeing Microsoft Office, which included Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook.”
Maritz became highly respected in the world of high technology during his time at Microsoft, regarded as the company’s third-ranking executive, behind Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer.
Ballmer described Maritz as “a leader among leaders”, while Gates said that “his vision and technological insight had a significant impact on the entire computer industry.”
A Zimbabwean immigrant originally having lived in Zimbabwe for over 13 years before moving and later emigrating from South Africa controlled the development of Microsoft Windows and became Pi Corporation founder.The Zimbabwean-born and raised innovator discovered his passion for computers at a South African university and became one of Microsoft’s core executives, directing much of the early development of Windows.
He was Born 1955 in Zimbabwe, then part of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, and later on Maritz immigrated to South Africa as a teenager with his family.
He completed his schooling at Highbury Preparatory in Hillcrest near Durban before attending Hilton College.
Thereafter he studied at the University of Cape Town (UCT) and the University of Natal, where he was first introduced to programming.
Maritz told the New York Times in a 1999 interview that this introduction was through an experimental course in computer science at the University of Natal, where he was “bitten by the bug.”
“I found that programming was an activity that could occupy your whole mind for long periods and give you great satisfaction at the end because you have produced something.”
Maritz obtained a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the University of Natal and later an Honours degree in Computer Science from UCT in 1977.
Maritz moved to the United Kingdom, after completing his studies where he began working as a software developer for Borrough Corporation, an American business equipment manufacturer.
Maritz completed a stint as a researcher at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland before moving to Silicon Valley at the height of the personal computer boom in 1981.
On first arrival in the US, Maritz worked for Intel, where he helped develop early tools for the company’s relatively new x86 platform as a product manager.
Maritz moved to Microsoft in 1986, remaining until 2000 after five years at Intel.
Microsoft appointed him to the company’s executive team and eventually became third in command.
Wall Street Journal reporter Gregg Pascal Zachary, in a book titled Showstopper, Maritz was described as “calm and sardonic” and “a classic field general” who amazed people with his grasp of technical details.
He left Microsoft in September 2000 after shipping the hit new version of Windows NT, called Windows 2000, in February of that year.
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