How the Web Was Won: How Bill Gates and His Internet Idealists Transformed the Microsoft Empire

by Paul Andrews

Book Overview

Taking readers into the mind of Microsoft, How the Web Was Won reveals how the company struggled first to comprehend and then capitalize on the Net. How 22-year-old Internet hound J. Allard was... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0767900499
• ISBN13: 9780767900492
• Release Date: August 2000
• Publisher: Broadway Books
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.1" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Scratch a free-marketeer and you’ll find a socialist

I am writing this after the appeals court has done the smart thing and voided the breakup remedy and exposed Judge Jackson for the little punk he is (His bias was obvious during the trial, despite MS's missteps. Congress should impeach him pronto). So I have perspective many of the other reviewers don't.All I can say is: Ah-hah. Ah-hah. The appeals court may have found that MS maintained its monopoly illegally, largely because it didn't provide sufficient evidence that it needed those contracts with PC makers to protect the proprietary elements of Windows. And they may be right (although I think the general rapacity of the software industry is enough). But it agreed with nothing else, and I think the author of this book has been more than vindicated against his critics.Yes, he had access to top MS officials, and probably shares their views of things. But you don't need that to agree that Netscape did everything all wrong ... they walked out of the HTML 3 standards conference, made their browser as incompatible with IE as they could just because they were so afraid. Their entire business plan could be summed up as "Bill Gates must be incredibly dumb and tone-deaf, so we'll make all the noise we want about how we can make them irrelevant and they won't notice until it's too late. Oh, and if this somehow doesn't work, let's get the Justice Department to sue them."Well, it tells you a lot about this strategy (as if you couldn't guess) that Netscape today is just another cog in the AOL Time Warner media machine. The author is particularly good at noting what has not been much noticed elsewhere ... how Netscape, especially in the infamous 1995 meeting, seemed to be working hand-in-glove with Justice to create the appearance of improper competition on Microsoft's part (Funny how, when Larry Ellison (and Bill Gates' biggest service to America is keeping that guy from taking his place, believe me) pays people to sniff through DC trash to find connections between MS and DC lobbying groups, the news is more about the latter aspect of the story than the former).But the larger issue that this book doesn't get into is how the New Economy guys, all devout members of the Church of the Invisible Hand, were done in by their own economic beliefs working too well.That basically went that MS would become, and remain, hidebound and lazy like all companies with little real competition (of course, many companies have said they competed against Microsoft, which comes as a real surprise to anyone who has used many of their products ... Linux especially). After all, hadn't IBM and Apple before MS? Our laissez-faire theory tells us so, that economics will trump all human ability ... right?Well, no one ever thought to imagine that maybe a company that has achieved the kind of market dominance that MS has might just retain the competitive instincts that got it there (as plainly logical as that might be). You're going to have to wait a while for MS to get soft. The story is no

Engrossing and Informative

You've all heard of Billionaire Bill Gates and the Merry Men of Microsoft. The story, in light of the recent antitrust ruling, is a good bit of modern history. Although a little too heavy on the biographies of the players, the narraive is well paced and seemingly objective. This book is for all who are using Windows, those who hate it, and wonder all about the Redmond, Washington company and what goes on behind its walls. The story is basically that of Microsoft and how it was about to write off the Internet until it was forced to work with it- and did it so well that the Feds came in (and other companies) want to put a stop to it. Really, this book is well written and entertaining for all those who, like me, want to keep up with the history of this seemingly overnight phenomenon known as the Internet.

Make sense of Microsoft's Internet offerings

Microsoft has released such a confusing stream of products into the Internet arena, it's hard to keep up with it all. This book provides excellent perspective and historical context for those decisions. I also really enjoyed the compelling writing style of this book, especially on the fascinating charaterizations of the colorful players at Microsoft. A good read for anyone interested in the history of the Internet!

Inside the Greatest Company of the New Economy

There's been a lot of blather from competitors about Microsoft's so-called predatory ways -- some of it, I understand, directed at this book. But the real reason Microsoft is so feared and often loathed is that they compete so well. How many companies of Microsoft's size in any industry would be fleet-footed enough to completely reinvent their overall strategy to address a sea change in their market? This book tells you how this remarkable company did it. Get to know the real players who helped turn this battleship around -- and kept Bill Gates very very wealthy.

a great read that kept me interested throughout

Obviously, a book of this nature will draw criticisms simply because it covers the Microsoft turnaround and the people behind the company's success. People who dislike Microsoft already will most likely continue to dislike the company and won't find much to enjoy in this book. But I found the story to be an interesting and fair account of the Internet challenges facing Microsoft and their resulting strategies. Andrews gives great background on each of the players and makes you feel that these are real people, not some robots that are out to take over the world. The book kept me interested throughout and I look forward to Paul Andrew's future books. Good job!