Customer Reviews

Fortune Magazine July 7 2008 Senator John McCain

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"Gates After Microsoft" tells us that after retirement Bill Gates will have time to indulge his "world-class curiosity," as well as focus on his foundation, lobby governments and corporations to do more for the poor (money and innovation power). A friend notes the irony of Gates never going to class while at Harvard, and now almost subsumed by a love of learning.

"Microsoft After Gates" may not be occurring at the best time - VISTA is a P.R. disaster, Apple continues to corner the market on cool (and gain share against Microsoft), Google is threatening with its cloud-computing concept while continuing to dominate the search-engine market, and Yahoo has rejected Microsoft's acquisition offer (the back-and-forth continues, while Yahoo's stock and fortunes decline). Gates' preparations for retirement include having handed over the CEO title years ago to Balmer, and bringing in Ray Ozzie as chief software architect. Balmer, in turn, has hired leading personages from Wal-Mart and other firms to support him.

"How I'll Fix the Economy" gives Obama and McCain the opportunity to present their positions. Obama wants rich people and big companies to pull more weight - higher taxes and capital-gains rates. His position on Free Trade is unclear, though he has recognized that NAFTA's support for U.S. agriculture raises illegal immigration from Mexico. McCain is clearly pro Free-Trade, thinks CEO pay is out of line (but won't tax it). Both want action on Global Warming and sustainable energy - McCain with nuclear power and drilling, Obama with ethanol, etc.

If only the economy now was as good as it was in July!