There must be sundry books on Bill Gates. And most books on other Information Technology luminaries will have a mention of their tussle with him. Bill Gates is an extremely well marketed a commodity. Not that he needed much marketing with his tagline of ‘the richest man in the world’. But one of the four P’s of marketing, packaging, was a crucial element. And that is one of the things the author dwells in in one of the chapters.
The book, if you really go to see about it, is about the success of Microsoft, and Bill Gates, with a twist. It focuses on the adversaries and builds the identity of hero by describing the foes he fought. And while it is up to the reader to decide this, but I genuinely felt that it wasn’t a book written with the Microsoft agenda at the back of the mind. Or it could have been the part of Bill Gates ver 4 that the author talks about. You never know.
The book starts at 1994 with ‘The Agenda’ an annual technological event which attracts the who’s who of the technology world, and where Bill Gates is a constant celebrity despite the power quotient of the attendees. From there the book goes back to the genesis of Microsoft and the a rapid coverage of Microsoft’s ascendance in the industry. Again, the spotlight is not on Microsoft as much as on the competition of IBM and Digital Research and Novell and the rest of them, which gives a fresh perspective to the battles of the bytes. Maybe it would have been more fun if the duel between Microsoft and Apple had been brought out better. But it probably wasn’t as much of a duel as Apple as a corporation and its cult followers believe it to be.
The second phase of the book is about the race in the internet-world where Microsoft was a late starter. Scott McNealy of Sun, Larry Ellison of Oracle and Marc Andreesson of Netscape were the primary enemies with their Java, NC (Network Computer) and Netscape browser. Again, the book livens up with the flamboyant lifestyle of Ellison, the raw aggressiveness of McNealy, and the arrogance of folks at Netscape as Microsoft bulldozes through the competitors.
The last section is an acknowledgement of the sheer dominance of Microsoft in the industry, a detailed write up on the anti-trust suit against Microsoft, and an actual Anti-Bill fund set up by his competitors. Well, it was actually called the Java Fund, but thwarting Bill Gates was the whole point of it!
The book is fascinatingly entertaining, as it narrates the anecdotes and the interviews. Anyone with a flair for business and interest in the computer world will surely love the book. Having been published in 2000, maybe it’s lost a lot of its relevance in 2009, but it sure would have made a great read the year it was published. Not that I regretted reading the book, but it does feel a bit incomplete to read a book which talks about Operating Systems, and internet and leaves out Google. A question of timing I suppose. But that does not make this book, considering the subject it was written on, any lesser a read. I would rate it highly, if not for its recentness, then for its historical perspective. (20 years back is almost dinosaur age in the hi-tech)
Lastly, the book is not all about gushing praise for Bill Gates. And Gary Rivlin doesn’t mince words when he paints a portrait of Bill Gates from Microsoft Co-founder to the Chief Software Architect of his company. And neither is the author overly critical of the business ambition that drove Bill Gates to be what he ended up being. The quote that the books opens with, says it all. And it was a delightful read throughout.
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