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David Bank
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Breaking Windows: How Bill Gates Fumbled the Future of Microsoft Hardcover – Bargain Price, August 13, 2001

by David Bank (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 15 ratings
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David Bank's Breaking Windows offers a scathing inside look at the past few tumultuous years at the Microsoft Corporation. Bank, who covers the company for The Wall Street Journal, bases this well-written tale on interviews he has conducted with most major players (including Bill Gates), along with boxes of e-mails and other documents that "provided an unprecedented glimpse into strategic debates and internal decision-making processes of a company that had long restricted outside access to its insular corporate culture." Through them he shows how Microsoft, which always put software above everything--and in more recent years made Windows its number-one priority--has scrambled and squabbled as first the Internet and then the U.S. government forced major directional changes and significant internal reevaluations. Bank's story crackles with immediacy as he brings readers directly into the action with central characters like Gates, who "created a company that remained uniquely a projection of himself"; Steve Ballmer, the close friend of Gates and former sales-force leader elevated to CEO; Jim Allchin, a senior vice president who heads the Windows division and remains a staunch advocate for its dominance; and Brad Silverberg, another VP who launched Windows 3.1 and 95 before forming the Internet division and fervently trying to turn the company in its direction. Those who can't get enough on the behemoth from Redmond will find this an illuminating addition to their bookshelf. --Howard Rothman
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  1. Print length
    288 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publication date
    August 13, 2001
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Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B000066TPP
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 288 pages
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.2 pounds
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 15 ratings

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David Bank

David Bank

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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
15 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

A. Valentine
5.0 out of 5 stars Insight in to the Internal and External Struggles at MS
Reviewed in the United States on September 5, 2001
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"Breaking Windows" is a must read for anyone interested in learning how the nut and bolts Microsoft's intellectual assets really function. This book gives great insight in to how Microsoft reacted to it's two most recent crises, the Internet and the DOJ. David Bank does a great job in explaining the many divisions, which exist at Microsoft but don't show up on the company's organizational chart. Themes such as "Windows Hawks" vs. "Internet Doves" and "Bill guys" vs. "Steve Guys" to name a few. Personally, this book has given me a clear vision on how it will deal with it's next big crisis, the Open Source Revolution.
5 people found this helpful
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Terence Wilson
5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read - Highly Recommended
Reviewed in the United States on August 27, 2001
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I couldn't put this wonderfully written book down. As an occasional Microsoft insider I can attest to the fact that Banks has done his homework and produced a comprehensive discussion of the technical & political wars at Redmond. We've all heard soundbites from the antitrust trail, this book gives the full story and more.
2 people found this helpful
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Jason Michel
5.0 out of 5 stars The emperors of Redmond in their new Clothes
Reviewed in the United States on July 24, 2001
While reading "Breaking Windows", I felt as if I was holding a stick of dynamite, because this gripping book completely blows the lid off of the "official" Microsoft history of the last few years. David Bank has told a story seldom reported in the mainstream media, which is that the real battle for the internet was fought not between Microsoft and Netscape, or even between Microsoft and Sun. Ground zero in the battle for control of the internet was fought between various factions within Microsoft. Senior management, which viewed the internet as a threat to the Windows franchise, tried to contain the "disruptive innovations" advocated by company strategists seeking to wholly embrace the concept of internet computing.
The dilemma facing Microsoft in the new millennium is that their blockbuster franchises, Windows and Office, are "feature driven" businesses. Users continually upgrade to the newest version in order to get more power and features. This value proposition was the growth engine of the computing industry until the mid 1990s, when the internet burst onto the scene. In the internet model, power and features matter less than connectivity. What creates value in a network environment is the number of people or applications that connect to the network. The Windows upgrade strategy becomes vulnerable, because with each attempt to upgrade the installed base, the upgrade version starts out initially with zero users. How can Microsoft simultaneously leverage the network effects of the internet, and further the Windows and Office franchises? Should these goals be part of a unified strategy?
Anyone who wishes to understand today's current "infection point" in software and computing architecture should read this book. It is a superb account of the internal crisis at Microsoft in 1999-2000, as the company confronted its transformation from insurgent innovator to defender of the status quo. The issues raised in this book continue to confront the company today, as Microsoft attempts to regain leading-edge industry leadership with the .NET platform, while at the same time protecting Windows from becoming a mere hardware abstraction layer. The book sets a "de-facto standard" in framing some of the issues surrounding Microsoft and the Internet.
24 people found this helpful
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Staale Sinding-larsen
5.0 out of 5 stars Bank, Breaking windiows - a key to many things
Reviewed in the United States on November 17, 2008
In our time of information and communication, one aspect is that of interdisciplinarity. In the interlocked network of business management, organizational theory and psychology, and more or less use-focused science,there is a great need for introductions to the relevant fields. Great writing are available here: by protagonists, like Herbert Simon in his Models of my life, Ramon in his the business of science; and by a relatively new "race" of science journalists: James Gleick and John Horgan. David Bank, in his opening windows rather than breaking them, offers a work in this same class of excellence and usefulness. Bank contrives, as I see it, in a masterly fashion, also pleasantly and engagingly, to keep alive and combine views on many levels of the complexities of a modern organization whose achievement is important to all of us (even if some windows may have been broken). - If I should teach students in organization theory and psychology and several related field (what heaven forbid!), I would give them this book for first reading. They would get all the essentials for free. - One little point of criticism. Exactly because the subject is an interdisciplinary one, I should like a little less of "insider jargon" in places. This is an occasion to praise the American tradition in this kind of activity. Staale.
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Amazon Customer
2.0 out of 5 stars A bit disappointing overall
Reviewed in the United States on August 22, 2001
Overall, I was a bit disappointed with the lack of facts in this book. The author does a very good job narrating a story about the main characters, but the book could have done with significantly less editorializing. For anyone reasonably familiar with the tech industry, only a couple of chapters will be really interesting - specifically the ones that deal with the departures of some of the senior execs and technologists.
I would recommend that you rent this book from your local
library rather than purchase it.
3 people found this helpful
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Tracy Brown
3.0 out of 5 stars Detailed look at Microsoft
Reviewed in the United States on September 4, 2001
This book provides a very detailed look at the inner workings of Microsoft. It describes the battles within the company to determine how to change in the face of the internet revolution. The author provides tremendous detail, much of which is taken from email correspondence made public by the antri-trust case. Some of the detail may be a little dull for some. My major problem with the book is with the author's premise that Gates has "broken" the company by not adapting to the internet quickly enough and instead focused on protecting and extending the windows dynasty. Nobody has really figured out how to make money off the internet, so why blame Microsoft? Gates did protect the Microsoft cash cow (windows). The internet has not made windows extinct, at least not yet. I think a little time is required to see if Gates' strategy was the right one or not. However, still a very worthwhile read for any interested in Microsoft and the PC industry.
11 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Eddie-B
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating story.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 18, 2013
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I bought this from Amazon as a 2nd hand book , now more than 10 years old. The book is an extremely good read if you are interested in the Microsoft/Gates era around 1995 to 2000. This well researched and well written book details the internal struggle at Microsoft during the emergence of the internet between those who "got it" and those who just wanted to keep cranking out software that Microsoft could use to keep the revenue coming in (i.e. Gates himself). the author clearly has a good understanding of events and relates the time that Bill Gates was forced to step down in favour of Steve Ballmer. The also book stands up well in the light of events of the last decade where for every success, Microsoft has at least one big failure:- Office still sells well, Microsoft 7 was well received, and the XBOX is a success but Vista, the Zune, KIN phone etc just never floated. Microsoft continues to struggle to escape an image of "naffness".
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DMc
5.0 out of 5 stars When money no longer matters..
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 19, 2019
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Entertaining narrative about the central role that Bill Gates plays but how others navigate around him. Insightful and informative but also a great read.
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