Barbarians Led by Bill Gates

by Jennifer Edstrom and Marlin Eller

Book Overview

"Microsoft, a rather new corporation, may not have matured to the position where it understands how it should act with respect to the public interest."-U.S. District Judge Stanley Sporkin. Teamed with... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0805057544
• ISBN13: 9780805057546
• Release Date: August 1998
• Publisher: Henry Holt & Company
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.3" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

Catching Up

Despite what many people have said about this book, I found it very intriguing to have learned many problems that Microsoft faced before becoming the name it is today. Who knew that they had many internal problems with programmers from IBM. No one really. This book spills the beans on how Microsoft and luck made them the giant company they are today. This book will inform the reader on many unknowns about Microsoft that I'm positive no one ever knew.

Excellent book about how Microsoft grows to today's strength

I think the content of the book is very much focused on the title: Barbarians Led by Bill Gates. Bill Gates is by far the smartest leader in business world. It is true he did not know very much what is going on in the company in details and some successful projects came by 'accident'. But he has acquired the best brains in the computer field and that is why he and Microsoft succeeded.

Very entertaining - very polarizing

This book will have an impact on the case against Microsoft, since Eller was in charge of an effort to squeeze a start-up Pen Computing firm. In this particular case the book describes very openly the Microsoft practice to fabricate fake product demos in order to create the impression that they would be able to come up with comparable competitive products any time soon. This vaporware approach together with the ruthless marketing methods described in this book gives an interesting insight into how this industry works. It is notable that the reviewer here either tend to hate or love this book. It makes me wonder how many MS employees reviewed this book ;-)In combination with the sarcastic anecdotes I consider it a highly entertaining book.

Didn't you expect something personal ?

I saw how many reviewers gave this book one or two stars. I think that it deserves five stars because the authors had a unique perspective. They weren't afraid to say what they thought about Microsoft. Admittedly, it was biased, but that's to be expected. I have been a Microsoft fan and investor for a few years now. The company is a winner, no doubt about it. The book states that Bill Gates isn't as smart as people think he is. He isn't as smart as he thinks he is. Microsoft's success is largely due to Gates hiring the right people, such as Steve Ballmer and Nathan Myhrvold, for the job. They certainly have their flaws, but they make a great team that's more than the sum of its parts. They make their own opportunities in business. That's what an investor likes to see, so that's why I made Microsoft my largest investment. All of this controversy with the DOJ hasn't done very much- the stock is up about fifty-sixty percent since the beginning of the year. The book really shows you why Microsoft is so successful.

Hilarious Book

Really cool description about how Microsoft(MS) does biz. Author tracks MSs story right from the beginning of time when MS was trading as a penny stock. He pretty humorously points out a lot of flaws (who doesn't) in MSs biz model and how luck favored MS all the time.. and how MS is becoming corrpupt slowly... may be due to its successThe acronyms that prevail in MSs biz environment has been very funnily described. I could not control my laughter when he says that the marketing people are better equipped in sucking upto IBM.Looks like the author ended up working in the unsuccessful pen computing project and ended up losing his importance and power in MS. This has been reflected through out the book but for a few chapters. So, the moral of the story is: "If you are in IT field watch out what you are doing, you better bet on the right horse" Kinda hard to do, but atleast you should put an effort.Overall, it is a really funny book on technology and has been published at the right time. Overall its a great book and would make a good coffee table book as long as MS/DOJ was goes on.. Uncle Bill should read this...