Barbarians Led by Bill Gates [Hardcover]

Jennifer Edstrom (Author), Marlin Eller (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 15, 1998

"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 the daughter of one of Bill Gates's closest associates, thirteen-year Microsoft veteran Marlin Eller shows us what it was like at every step along Gates's route to world domination, making all that's been written before seem like a rough guess. If the Justice Department had Eller and Edstrom investigating the current-headline-making antitrust case, they would have on the record many of Microsoft's most respected developers directly contradicting the "authorized" version of events being presented in court. They would know the real scoop on how Windows was developed in the first place, shedding new light on the 1988 Apple v. Microsoft lawsuit over the alleged copying of the Mac. They would even know the real story of how Microsoft killed off Go Corporation, told for the first time by the man who did the deed, Marlin Eller himself. Revealing the smoke-and-mirror deals, the palms greased to help launch a product that didn't exist, and the boneyard of once-thriving competitors targeted by the Gates juggernaut, this book demonstrates with often hilariously damning detail the Microsoft muddle that passes for strategic direction, offset by Gates's uncanny ability to come from behind to crush whoever's on top.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

How has Microsoft been able to crush its competition every step of the way? The company's own version of history ascribes it to something like "really great technical innovation." Barbarians Led by Bill Gates presents a harsher and messier history, sharply questioning Microsoft's ethics and corporate wisdom while underscoring its fierce will to compete.

The authors present a history of Microsoft from the early '80s to the present, covering the big projects, both successes and failures, that defined the company's direction. It's a difficult story to tell, filled with complex technology and a large cast of characters who are rarely in the public eye.

Perhaps the most surprising thing to emerge is how many Microsoft ventures were mismanaged and how many opportunities were missed. The best-known of these is Microsoft's near-catastrophic failure to see the arrival and success of the Internet. The book also details the unplanned success of Windows 3.0, the demise of Pen Windows (which annihilated GO Corp. and its promising Penpoint operating system but little else), and the compromised design and slow success of Windows 95. A final chapter tackles the Netscape-Microsoft Web-browser war and Microsoft's head-on collision with the Justice Department.

Both authors are, in different ways, Microsoft insiders. Jennifer Edstrom is the daughter of Pam Edstrom, Gates's long-time PR chief and spin doctor. Marlin Eller is a 13-year veteran Microsoft developer who has worked on DOS, early versions of Windows, and pen computing. Both stand open to the charge of having an ax to grind, and the reader senses a lot of personal animosity at work. Yet anyone who has followed Microsoft for any length of time will recognize most of the war stories from other sources, and most of the new information presented has the ring, at least, of probability. Indeed, the value of this book is not so much in presenting new information as in marshaling it to paint a portrait of a company that has largely escaped this sort of scrutiny. --Thomas Mace

Review

Barbarians Led by Bill Gates is a timely but uneven behind-the-scenes peek at the software-industry leader, Microsoft Corp. Although individual incidents, such as Microsoft's foray into a pen-based interface, are worth noting, they don't add up to a substantially new perception of the company. It's a story we've heard before. Perhaps Barbarians loses focus precisely because it tries to adopt such a broad perspective toward its subject. The book's prose doesn't help; the wooden writing is obvious from the resounding thud made by jokes such as "Beware of geeks bearing gifts." -- Upside

Although readers not particularly enamored of computer culture will be bored silly, for those interested ... Edstrom and Eller dish up the dirt.... While the book can be entertaining, the sound of large axes being ground becomes quite noticeable. -- The New York Times Book Review, J.D. Biersdorfer

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.; lst ed edition (August 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805057544
• ISBN-13: 978-0805057546
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (62 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #932,039 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very entertaining - very polarizing, September 3, 1998

By 

Henning Dekant ([e-mail]) (Rochester) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Barbarians Led by Bill Gates (Hardcover)

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.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hilarious Book, May 25, 1998

By 

[e-mail] - See all my reviews

This review is from: Barbarians Led by Bill Gates (Hardcover)

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 success

The 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...

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating, very biased "insider view", May 8, 2000

By 

Gadgester "No Time, No Money" (Mother Earth) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Barbarians Led by Bill Gates: Microsoft From The Inside: How The World's Richest Corporation Wields Its Power (Paperback)

It's always good to have an "insider's view" book. At the same time, when this guy is an ex-employee, you should always ask yourself: why did he leave, and what does he have to gain from writing a book like this?

The authors are evidently very anti-Microsoft, yet at the same time their stories come across not so much as how stupid Microsoft is, but how mismanaged and lucky Gates & Company have been, which is closer to the truth than many people think. Some other books describe Gates and his employees as evil, but this book would characterize them as rather incompetent. It offers a detailed look into how Microsoft committed so many business goofs and yet every time it would come out the winner. After reading it you may even feel sorry for Bill Gates for having to fight so many enemies on so many fronts, some internal.

A book worth reading.