Pride Before the Fall: The Trials of Bill Gates and the End of the Microsoft Era (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Like other "totemic firms" of recent years, Microsoft attained astounding power and profitability in stunningly short order--along with a slew of rivals who desperately wanted it broken into less threatening pieces. Few really believed it would happen when the U.S. Department of Justice first began looking into its operations, however, which made the eventual judgment against the company even more significant. "The humbling of Microsoft is the last great business story of the 20th century and the first great riddle of the 21st," writes John Heilemann in Pride Before the Fall, his insightful examination of the epic antitrust battle that began as a Wired magazine cover story. "There are fancier ways of putting it," he adds, "but the riddle is: how did it happen?" In the pages that follow, Heilemann examines the behind-the-scenes machinations that drove United States v. Microsoft, based largely on exclusive interviews he conducted with Bill Gates and his top lieutenants, Justice Department prosecutor Joel Klein, special trial counsel (and lead Democratic Florida recount litigator) David Boies, Intel chief Andy Grove, Sun Microsystems' Scott McNealy, and various "unknown soldiers" who arguably played the biggest role of all. With Microsoft's future still uncertain, Pride helps reset the tone in a case that will shape our high-tech future. --Howard Rothman

From Publishers Weekly

HNavigating the myriad twists and turns of the landmark antitrust suit against Microsoft, Heilemann forges a gripping, breakneck account of contemporary law applied to business conduct, peopled with rival visionaries, guardians of the public interest and brilliant trial lawyers. A former staff writer for the New Yorker and the Economist, Heilemann covered the case as a special correspondent for Wired in November; this is an expanded version of that extensive article. Having gained the trust of almost every major player, Heilemann vividly depicts the adversaries and their positions. In July 2000, Bill Gates told him, "We believe that what we've done is absolutely pro-competitive, and it's our right to stick up for that." Joel Klein, the Justice Department's assistant attorney general during the trial, is equally forthcoming: "What we found in Microsoft was a serious pattern of practices and behavior that... was predatory, lawless, and indefensible." Heilemann's insight into the legal process and his analysis of Gates's videotaped deposition, overseen by chief government counsel David Boies (now representing Vice-President Gore on ballot issues), are themselves worth the price of admission. Wherever readers' sympathies lie, Heilemann's careful timeline illuminates the points at which the case could have been settled. With journalistic panache, Heilemann explicates the reasons that both sides chose to await the ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals in spring 2001. (Jan. 23) Forecast: A major marketing campaign including national print and broadcast coverage as well as author appearances in West Coast cities will raise this title's profile. Display alongside U.S. v. Microsoft: The Inside Story of the Landmark Case by New York Times reporters Joel Brinkley and Steve Lohr could draw people to both titles, with the edge probably going to Heilemann's book.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Collins Business; 1st edition (January 9, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0066621178
• ISBN-13: 978-0066621173
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,358,622 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #25 in	Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( G ) > Gates, Bill
  #96 in	Books > Professional & Technical > Law > Administrative Law > Antitrust
  #99 in	Books > Nonfiction > Law > Administrative Law > Antitrust

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Clear (and Witty) Showing, January 13, 2001

By	Hollis Robbins "hollisrobb" (Baltimore, MD) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This brilliant and thorough account of the complicated dynamics of US
v. Microsoft ought to be read by everyone who uses a computer. Despite
its unfortunate and misleading title, this is a book that first and
foremost explains in detail what Microsoft did that was unlawful and
what was done about it. Heilemann introduces individual after
individual on the many sides of the case - Bill Gates, Joel Klein,
David Boies, Steve McGeady, Bill Neukom, Garth Saloner and the rest
- offering a critical picture of motive, drive, method, and
specific contribution to the outcome (as of November 2000). The book
succeeds by its resistance to the usual (and in this case wrong) David
v. Goliath or organizational determinism metanarratives. Instead, it
is a story of a loose-knit organization of Davids fighting the Borg
that chronicles the complicated reasons that the Davids themselves
never became a Borg. Heilemann's achievement is no less extraordinary
because it is done simply and adroitly through his choice of language.
First, his folksy style (tangling "like a pair of scorpions in a
sock") sustains his focus on the organic even while he walks us
through the technological specificities of integrated browsers,
operating systems, and platforms: a tale peopled with pudding-bowl
bangs and cowlicks refuses to be intimidating. Second, the comingling
of earthy figures of speech and and computer-speak (an acronym such as
API is simply a metaplasmus, while the product name `Windows' is
patently metaphoric) serves to remind the reader that while the market
circuitry is new, the human story is not. Heilemann's book is an
excellent read.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Trial Book To Read, January 19, 2001

By	fredric a maxwell (Seattle, Washington) - See all my reviews

PRIDE BEFORE THE FALL relays the trials of Microsoft from a different point of view than Auletta's account. Heilemann's access to the key players, many of whom are unknown to the general public and received nary a headline, is just excellent. If you're going to read only one book about the Microsoft trials, this is it.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Corporate Culture of Denial, February 9, 2001

By	Jeff Christensen (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews

Pride Before the Fall is an excellent account of a company brought to its knees as much by its megalomaniac founder Bill Gates, as by the brilliant David Boies and the DOJ. Yet with all the overwhelming evidence of its guilt as outlined in the Findings of Fact on the case, as well as the "avowedly pro-Microsoft economists, culled from a list provided by the company itself - who flayed the firm for not conceding the obvious: that it did indeed try to eliminate competitors; that it was indeed a monopoly." Yet astonishingly, to this day Microsoft continues to believe, in the words of its CEO Steve Ballmer, "We have done nothing wrong." HELLO? Heilemann is by no means a Silicon Valley Microsoft-Basher. He also chronicles the ways in which the valley's elite (Sun,Intel,Apple) clandestinely provided witnesses and encouragement for the DOJ's attack on Microsoft. This case really has nothing to do with inhibiting Microsoft's abillity to innovate(as their PR spin doctors would like you to believe)but rather Microsoft's behavior and lack of contrition. A good, quick and balanced read.