Customer Reviews

The Road Ahead: Completely Revised and Up-to-Date

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Seriously this is Bill Gates talking about the future but out of 300 pages about 9 are dedicated to talking about the internet -- and most of that is buried with other information. Lots of talk about applications and appliances that did not materialize....one book you need to read because-- then you know that all the gurus DO NOT KNOW everythng !! Wonderful for entrepreneurs who dont' doubt their own paths on their road ahead......

I read the first edition of the book a few years ago. It was also translated into Russian in 1997. And now when I'm reading "Business @ Speed of Thought" I take a look into the second edition of "The Road Ahead" and read it again. Considering that this book was written in 1995-96, the predictions he made are quite remarkable in their prophecy. The founder of Microsoft presents his vision for the future in which he sees the digital technologies of the coming years changing the way we buy, work, learn, and communicate. And this man definitely knows the future.

"The Road Ahead" is very much primarily an easy-to-read IT textbook. This book tells you what lies ahead in the future for everyday living world of computers. Will everyone in the world have access to computers in our future? Will everyone gain access to the Internet? Will we be able to walk in a store and pick out whatever we want to, and walk out of the store without being a shoplifter? Read this amazing book and find out the answers to these questions and more.

It also includes CD-ROM containing the complete text of the book, a dictionary with multimedia hyperlinks and an interview with Bill Gates. It is still extraordinary. This CD-ROM illustrates the future of electronic publishing.

I interviewed Bill Gates in 1990 when he visited Moscow for the first time to introduce the very first Microsoft product in Russian language. It was MS-DOS 4.0. Then I wrote several books on MS-DOS and IT for beginners.

Bill Gates was worth "only" $2.5 billion in 1990. It is estimated that hundreds million people today have personal computers in their home. Over ninety-five percent of them are operating Windows Operating Systems. Today Microsoft really enjoys the self-made monopoly. Although many people don't like Bill Gates personally because he's so rich, I wish good luck to Microsoft Corp. and the Microsoft team. And at the same time I also wish good luck to all young entrepreneurs who will start their companies and deprive Microsoft of its reins eventually. This is the capitalism, ladies and gentlemen! This is a great system with opportunities for everyone with guts.

This is a must have book for anyone pursuing a career in computers, the computer hobbyist and the Mac users, too. Get this book today and have it in your library. I highly recommend it, especially to people new to computers and the digital revolution.

I bought the book couple of days ago and it didn't take me much time to through. What genuinely surprised me is the number of Mr. Gates' thoughts about the Info Highway that came true: customizable portals, fight for broadband between phone and cable companies, online auctions and etc. I don't recall any other so called "visionaries" and "experts" talking about it in back 1995...

Many people don't like Gates because he's so rich, but I think that he and all Microsoft (yes, MS is not Bill Gates alone!) team deserved it for all their hard work and vision. I think that Bill Gates' success is that Microsoft managed to create the world where its products are the most needed ones to allow his company to stay on the top... He and his team deserve full credit for this feat.

At the same time I wish good luck to all young entrepreneurs who will start their companies and deprive Microsoft of its reins eventually. This is the capitalism, a great system with opportunities for everyone with guts.

The Road Ahead is a novel about how computer technology effects our lives. The book explains how Bill Gates was introduced to computers at the young age of 13 (a rarity in 1969). He also practicly designed software for an entire computer terminal at age 13 1/2. Bill's obsession carried him through grade school and then through high school. Eventually, he got into Harvard University. While in Harvard he designed more advanced software for a brand new computer he saw in a magazine. When Bill tried to give his software to various companies they rejected him. Discouraged, Gates dropped out of Harvard after his sophomore year. After dropping out he decided to star his own company. Perhaps you have heard of it, the most successful homemade software company in the world, Microsoft.

Bill Gates is obviously the most important character in the book. He is a persistent and determined man. He is very bright, and his life revolves completely around computers. Because of Gate's hard work, he is one of the wealthiest men in the world.

I would recommend this book to everyone. I feel that people can easily relate to this wonderful story. The theme is, when you have a goal, you can reach it with work, and lots of it. This definitely applies to everyday life. Although Bill is a billionaire, he still handles himself like a normal person. Bill Gates is classy, intelligent, and respectable. He is truly quite a man!

All right, maybe I'm misjudging it. The CD is entertaining. This isn't a revolutionary tome written by a techno-visionary inventor, it's more a nice little pamphlet introducing people to Our Friend, Mr. Computer. Having read it 4 years ago, I found it just as vapid as Donald Trump's Art of the Deal: you find the same self-congratulation packaged as wisdom, but since Trump never claimed to be doing anything new, it's even worse. You get a techno-primer on such things as the binary system, a cute picture of a boy Gates fooling with a PDP-8, a lot of talk about his way-kewl house, and a CD-ROM showing off what life is going to be like in a Windows-centric future. Rereading it, it's amazing how much this "visionary" got wrong: stick to bridge, Bill, you're better off.

Definitely worth reading. I'd also, however, suggest that if you really are curious about the early years of computing, you use the internet to check up other opinions of Microsoft's origin. There's two sides to every story...

Mr. Gates is is undoubtedly a phenomenal businessman, though not perhaps quite the visionary he perceives himself to be. Would a visionary have to rewrite his book a year after completion? The internet took off - and The Road Ahead received a complete overhaul to reflect the recent developments. More like, The Road Behind. He's also not quite such an innovator - Microsoft purchased "MS-DOS", rather than created it, and incorporated many other people's ideas into Windows (without permission, of course).

This isn't just a Microsoft bashing session. I have the greatest respect for them. But, think twice before you believe every word in this book. There is a definite stretching of the truth in places. Having said that, buy it - it's an interesting comparison with other accounts of the dawn of personal computing. No doubt the truth is somewhere in between.

Bill Gates is a first class teacher. That is one of the most striking things you learn about him after reading what he writes. So to his talents of being a first class businessman, a first class programmer, first class mathematician and first class tech leader, you can add not a bad book author, given that this is his first incursion into the field of literature.

The big question however is why you would want to read a book that is dated 1996 about technology? The answer is four-fold. First of all, it's Bill Gates and how he thinks. Second, this book has an odd sort of history to it. Third, only some things in this book are coming to pass and much of it remains open or in development. Forth, you can still learn heaps from it although this stuff that has to come to pass doesn't have the same impact it did when he predicted it. However there is a little bit of controversy over how much he did predict and this is explained in the preface.

Preface
After launching the book in 1995, Bill Gates quickly revised it for a 1996 edition that focused on the Internet. It was only after releasing the 1995 book that Gates watched as the Internet unexpectedly achieved a mass sufficient to turn heads in the industry. Gates responded by making Microsoft Internet orientated and revising his book, The Road Ahead. So this book is a combination of how Gates predicts the future and how he suddenly reacted when the future came in unpredictably ahead of schedule.

1 - A Revolution Begins
Bill Gates discusses his history as a child growing up with computers. He describes what he was doing with very simple machines the size of a refrigerator and how he and Paul Allen in their teens developed software for businesses. He talks a lot about microprocessors and Intel.

2 - The Beginning of the Information Age
Gates talks about the dawn of computer technology and implementation, especially in war time. He talks about binary systems and how these techniques of communicating information changed the world.

3 - Lessons from the Computer Industry
In this chapter Gates walks us through the computer revolution which includes BASIC, VHS, IBM, PC-DOS, MS-DOS, Xerox developing the mouse, Apple's graphical interface, Compaq clones, Windows and the failure of IBM's OS/2 project that paved the way for Microsoft to become a mega player. It is a really good business story with many lessons to learn.

4 - Information Appliances and Applications
This is focused on the concept of asynchronous technology such as video on demand (VOD), the wallet pc and encryption technology. The principles are still valid although the forms they take differ in the 21st century.

5 - From Internet to Highway
Gates merges VOD with a need for better communication hardware to handle the technology such as fiber optics. Essentially he discusses bringing broadband to the home user cheaply, somehow, but states that the costs in doing so mean completely revolutionizing the way phone companies make money. It is a very detailed chapter in which Gates correctly asserts that this will happen no matter what.

6 - The Content Revolution
Gates discusses the differences between paper documentation and digital documentation including design techniques. He talks about the power of CD technology to capture large quantities of written data, such as the Encyclopedia Britannica and even mentions DVD technology. He talks about VR (virtual reality) and simulators.

7 - Business on the Internet
This is his view on how business will be conducted using computers to communicate, arrange meetings, video conferencing and how commerce will be conducted on-line. Gates is alerting business that they need to be computer Internet savvy or else the competition will drive them out of town.

8 - Friction-Free Capitalism
The Internet is predicted to increase sales and thus business will boom. Here Gates sees everybody improving across the world because the Internet gets businesses to serve a bigger community with more precision marketing. Business will move faster because of this revolution.

9 - Education: The Best Investment
He wants computers in schools to undergo a major upheaval. The computer lab needs to be transformed into the central focus of all knowledge based school activities. Gates emphasizes the need for public schools to undergo a major upheaval. He claims fears about computers replacing teaching jobs are superfluous.

10 - Plugged In at Home
Bill Gates describes his home. This is probably the main reason why most people bought this book when they heard that they could read about what the inside of this billionaire's house looks like. Needless to say he lives in a mansion the size of football pitch filled with all the toys you could image. One room is even a trampoline. Computers control everything from the lighting mood to paintings. Gates talks about robotics a bit here too.

11 - The Internet Gold Rush
This chapter compares the Internet to the American Gold rush and is devoted to broadband infrastructure. It is about the investment potential of the Internet but he specifies that the Internet itself will not make money but is a tool for making money.

12 - Critical Issues
This is mostly about the Internet and the law. Gates has a growing concern that Internet censorship will undermine this next technological leap forward and warns against being too strict. A lot of this chapter is devoted to the issue of a world where more video cameras will be present in both work and life. He highlights problems concerning piracy and forgery. In the end he states that the Internet is a journey everyone should be prepared to make.

Afterword
This is a brief synopsis of the entire book.

The Road Ahead is essentially about the birth of the home PC evolving into the Internet. There is an article called "The Road Ahead 10 years on" on the Internet that you should read after finishing this book to get an idea of how this book faired in its predictions. Things to keep in mind are that Gates maybe undermined how disc storage space would develop. He correctly predicted broadband television services (digital TV). His wallet PC is essentially mobile phone technology. Pen-based computers are the PDA. Wireless is here. There isn't a whole pile he is off-target on. In fact the reader will be surprised by how much he gets right.

There are some criticisms. It does repeat much of what is being said especially when it comes to telecommunications companies investing in broadband. Gates revised this book to reflect changes that had already taken place, namely the Internet revolution. He also doesn't tell everything about Microsoft's coming to power or how they essentially bought DOS and just sold it on. Probably most apparent of all is that Microsoft has tried relentlessly to maintain a monopoly and has been criticized for anticompetitive tactics that run contrary to the ethics and morals that Gates evangelizes in this book.

All in all, the book has lasted in people's memories (it sold 2.5 million copies) and there is no reason to not want to read it. I would recommend it to people who just want to get informed about why everyone is on the Internet or just want to be clearer about what is going on.

It maybe a historic piece of writing, but equally it is one of the most important books about computers ever written. If you like computers and if you like technology then read this modern classic. It is possibly the first book about computers that was scooped up a computer illiterate public.

Written just at the brink of the Internet revolution, Bill Gates (Microsoft CEO) predicts what will happen in the future in regards to computers. Gates predicts that computers will become even more prevalent and become more indispensable. Roughly the first quarter of the book is dedicated to computer history and Gates' early computer experiences. Also, Gates writes a synopsis of the start of Microsoft.

Much of the book deals with the future of e-commerce and how the consumer will win with more choices. Also chapters are dedicated to the benefits to the economy when technology becomes more infused with daily life. In addition, he predicts that computers will become smarter and be able to learn about the user and response quicker, even guessing ahead of time what a user's request might be. Gates feels that it is important to include computers in school, as children can learn better with them.

I felt Gates' predictions were a bit overly optimistic. I also felt that with the coming of this new technology that the end of privacy would result. While Gates does address this issue, I felt that it was treated in a light matter. The book is about 6 years old and his predictions were largely on the money. However, some the products he sees have yet to come to fruition. I didn't I find many of his plans too laughable, but some bordered Orwellian. The audience of the book need not be overly technical to understand the book, only an interest in where computers will take us next is required.

Bill Gates and other Microsoft thinkers discuss the history and future of Microsoft and the PC. This book provides a good summary of the state of play and thinking at the time of publication. Much of the thinking is not particularly new or original, but coming from inside Microsoft it carries some weight. If you do not follow the industry, then this will provide a good overview -- although you might get the impression that Bill came up with all the ideas! The accompanying CD contains a version of the book's text and a view of Bill's famous high-tech home. The CD is really pretty unremarkable though.

We live in a digital age. We will not be able to succeed in the workplace unless we become fluent in the use of digital tools. Mr. Gates explains the FUNdamentals of the computer age. Read this book if you are interested in an easy-to-read update of the computer revolution and a vision of our future. His vision of the future of education is particularly interesting to me (a parent and an educator). I have seen how the computer can augment learning, especially outside the classroom. A real challenge will be to ensure that all children have the same access to computers both in and outside of school.