The Codex Leicester is essentially a manuscript that includes scientific books by Leonardo da Vinci. Not only is it the second most expensive book in the world, but it is also the one that caught the attention of Microsoft founder Bill Gates.
Gates is now one of the richest people in the world, with a fortune of $ 2020 billion in January 108.
But in 1994, Bill Gates was obviously not as rich as he is today. However, he still had the money to spend about $ 30 million to buy Codex Leicester.
Those who follow Bill Gates on Social Networks they surely know that the founder of Microsoft reads too many books.
Each year, it recommends books to read and sends random collections of books and more to anyone lucky enough to get.
Undoubtedly, Codex Leicester is the most expensive book Gates has ever bought, having paid at least $ 30.802.500 at its auction. Christie on November 11, 1994 in New York to obtain the manuscripts.
Such a purchase would normally go to a collection, but Gates had different designs.
The founder of Microsoft after purchasing the Codex Leicester scanned every page of the manuscript for the creation digital image files that could be opened on a computer. In other words, you no longer needed to have the Codex Leicester to read Da Vinci's scientific writings, as you only needed the Gates digital version.
And because Bill Gates wanted everyone to have it, he made a really bold move: to include images in Windows as wallpapers and screensavers.
Thus, Da Vinci's manuscript became a collection of wallpapers and screensavers available to any Windows user on a CD-ROM. The package first came with Microsoft Plus! and because content proved so popular, Bill Gates decided to make the content available in later versions of the OS (Windows 98 and Windows ME).
The founder of Microsoft did not stop there. After the manuscript was so popular, he decided to create a digital version of it as a separate CD-ROM released in 1997. It was called Leonardo da Vinci, and was released by Corbis, a company founded by Bill Gates in 1989.
The collection was referred to as an "electronic tool that allows the user to browse English translations of the Codex" and included paintings, drawings, manuscripts and lost works belonging to Leonardo da Vinci.
Things have changed a lot in the meantime and Codex Leicester is not only no longer used in modern Windows, but features like screen saver are rarely used these days.
Finding the original digital version of Codex, which Microsoft offered 25 years ago, is quite difficult unless you still have the CD-ROM somewhere in home your. And if you have it, you're pretty lucky, as these things are already collectibles and can no longer be purchased.
