Gates: How Microsoft's Mogul Reinvented an Industry--and Made Himself the Richest Man in AmericaHe is the youngest self-made billionaire in history, the most powerful person in the computer industry, the most eligible bachelor in America. His limited-edition Porsche, his high-tech mansion, his tantrums, and his odd rocking tic have become the stuff of legend. Bill Gates is an American icon, the ultimate revenge of the nerd. In high school he organized computer enterprises for profit. At Harvard he co-wrote Microsoft BASIC, the first commercial personal computer software - then dropped out and made it an international standard. At twenty-five, he offered IBM a program he did not yet own - a program called DOS that would become the essential operating system for more than 100 million personal computers, and the foundation of the Gates empire. Today Microsoft's dominance extends around the globe, and Bill Gates is idolized, hated, and feared. Yet behind the legend lies an enigmatic genius whose accomplishments, failures, strategies, and worries have never before been accurately reported. In this riveting independent biography, veteran computer journalists Stephen Manes and Paul Andrews draw on nearly a thousand hours of interviews with Gates's friends, family, employees, and competitors - and a dozen sessions with Gates himself - to debunk the myths and paint the definitive picture of the real Bill Gates, "bugs" and all. Here is the shy but fearless competitor with the guts and brass to try anything once - on a computer, at a negotiation, or on water skis. Here is the cocky twenty-three year old who calmly spurned a multimillion-dollar buyout offer from Ross Perot. Here is the supersalesman who motivated his Smart Guys, fought bitter battles with IBM over Microsoft Windows, andlocked horns with Apple's Steve Jobs and John Sculley over the Macintosh computer - and usually won. Here, too, is the workaholic pessimist who presided over Microsoft's meteoric rise while virtually every other personal computer pioneer fell by the wayside. Gates has extended his vision of software to art, entertainment, education, and even biotechnology in an all-out battle to make good on his promise to put his software "on every desk and in every home". Manes and Andrew show precisely how he intends to do it. Permanently erasing the public relations myths, Gates is a bracing, comprehensive portrait of the industry, the company, and the man - and what they mean for a future where software is everything. |
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Page 210
... hired European chief and reorganize Europe . " Steve and Bill weren't in the mood to hear me say that someone they had just hired wasn't any good . So they were jumping up and down and bouncing off the walls saying ' You're crazy . You ...
... hired European chief and reorganize Europe . " Steve and Bill weren't in the mood to hear me say that someone they had just hired wasn't any good . So they were jumping up and down and bouncing off the walls saying ' You're crazy . You ...
Page 410
... hired Doss to conduct an international architectural competition that eventually in- cluded twenty - three entrants from as far away as France and Japan . The three finalists each met with Bill three times during the process of ...
... hired Doss to conduct an international architectural competition that eventually in- cluded twenty - three entrants from as far away as France and Japan . The three finalists each met with Bill three times during the process of ...
Page 446
... hired people imbued with what Scott Oki would call " the maniacal work ethic , " meaning " six - thirty in the morning until midnight and just pounding away . " And to some , particularly the callow young software developers , Microsoft ...
... hired people imbued with what Scott Oki would call " the maniacal work ethic , " meaning " six - thirty in the morning until midnight and just pounding away . " And to some , particularly the callow young software developers , Microsoft ...
Contents
Witness the Transformation | 1 |
Think Smart | 11 |
Logging In | 23 |
Copyright | |
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agreement Albuquerque Altair Altair BASIC announced Apple Apple's applications Ballmer int BASIC better Bill Gates Bill Gates's Bill's C-Cubed called CD-ROM Charles Simonyi chip clone Comdex Confidential int copy CP/M deal Digital Research disk Electronics employees eventually Gates and Allen Gates int going Gordon Letwin graphics Harbers hardware hired Ibid IBM PC IBM's idea industry InfoWorld Jon Shirley July June kids Kildall Klunder knew Konzen Lakeside language later Letwin license looked Lotus machine Macintosh Manager microcomputer Microsoft million MITS MS-DOS Multiplan Nishi operating system Paul Allen percent personal computer Philippe Kahn Raburn recalled Ric Weiland Sculley Seattle Computer sell Sept Simonyi Smart Guys Steve Ballmer Steve Jobs stuff thing told TopView Traf-O-Data wanted weeks Weiland Winblad Windows word XENIX