Greg Whitten

Who is Greg Whitten?

Greg Whitten is a former chief software architect at Microsoft, where he worked from 1979 to 1998. Whitten graduated from the University of Virginia with a B.A. in mathematics and from Harvard University with a Ph.D. in applied mathematics. He worked for Compucolor, where he reputedly optimized a pirated copy of Microsoft Basic so effectively that Microsoft later forgave Compucolor for their infringement in exchange for the rights to the enhancements. At Microsoft, he developed the standards for the company's BASIC compiler line. Since 2003, he has been CEO of Numerix. He is also a vintage car enthusiast and has a famous car collection that contains various Ferraris including a Ferrari Enzo, a 250 GTO, a F40 and F50

"GW" in the name of the GW-BASIC dialect of BASIC developed by Microsoft may have come from Greg Whitten's initials:

"The GW-BASIC name stands for Gee-Whiz BASIC. The GW- name was picked by Bill Gates. He is the one who knows whether it was Gee-Whiz or after me because it has been used both ways. I did set the directions for the BASIC language features after joining the company in 1979."

- Greg Whitten, 13 Apr 2005