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Renegades of the Empire: How Three Software Warriors Started a Revolution Behind the Walls of Fortress Microsoft Paperback – October 31, 2000

by Michael Drummond (Author)

16 customer reviews

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Competing in the high-tech computer market is a lot like a war -- especially if you work at Microsoft. Bill Gates's gladiators -- his engineers, evangelists, and programmers -- were famous for seizing new terrain and new technology, converting nonbelievers, and always winning . . . no matter what the cost. No one took the lessons of Microsoft more to heart than Craig Eisler, Eric Engstrom, and Alex St. John, a trio of software engineers who were willing to do almost anything to conquer a market of their own, even if that meant disregarding procedure and protocol.

Michael Drummond gained exclusive access to their story, and the result -- in this updated edition -- is a revealing glimpse into the world's most successful company. Renegades of the Empire isn't just a tale of technology and power -- it's a story of fascinating science, of high-tech boys and their toys. Even more, though, it's a tantalizing, behind-the-scenes look at how three engineers conquered an empire.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"A look at the shark from the remora's perspective."
--San Diego Union-Tribune

"A very revealing look inside one corner of the computer industry and the personalities that color it."
-- Booklist

From the Inside Flap

the high-tech computer market is a lot like a war -- especially if you work at Microsoft. Bill Gates's gladiators -- his engineers, evangelists, and programmers -- were famous for seizing new terrain and new technology, converting nonbelievers, and always winning . . . no matter what the cost. No one took the lessons of Microsoft more to heart than Craig Eisler, Eric Engstrom, and Alex St. John, a trio of software engineers who were willing to do almost anything to conquer a market of their own, even if that meant disregarding procedure and protocol.

Michael Drummond gained exclusive access to their story, and the result -- in this updated edition -- is a revealing glimpse into the world's most successful company. Renegades of the Empire isn't just a tale of technology and power -- it's a story of fascinating science, of high-tech boys and their toys. Even more, though, it's a tantalizing, behind-the-scenes look at how three engineers conquered an empire.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product details

Paperback: 297 pages
Publisher: Three Rivers Press; 1 edition (October 31, 2000)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0609807455
ISBN-13: 978-0609807453
Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.6 x 8 inches
Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 16 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #545,727 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #485 in Books > Business & Money > Industries > Computers & Technology
- #1254 in Books > Business & Money > Biography & History > Company Profiles
- #3084 in Books > Computers & Technology > Business Technology

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Dan tdaxp

A fair history of a product team at Microsoft

April 14, 2011

Verified Purchase

Renegades of the Empire is a 1999 book by Michael Drummond. Renegades is an odd book, focusing primarily on a small political faction within Microsoft and two projects with which it was identified. Drummondfs LinkedIn profile lists as an accomplishment, gManaged Shiite, Sunni employees as Baghdad bureau chief at the height of the U.S. military surge,h so presumably he knows something about in-fighting!

Specifically, Renegades focuses on Alex St. John (eventually CEO of WildTangent), Eric Engstrom (eventually CEO of Wildseed), and Craig Eisler (now a Corporate Vice President at Microsoft, and former blogger) through two projects, DirectX and Microsoft Chrome/Chromeffects. If youfre a PC gamer, youfve heard of DirectX, a multimedia technology that many games use to have more lifelike graphics and sound. Almost no one has heard of Chrome/Chromeffects, initially an advanced browser, and finally a bucket of technology subsumed by other groups. The political machinations that occur in the background continue to impact the company, such as the rise of Jim Allchin (who became head of the Windows group, only to resign the day Vista shipped and is now a musician) and the ever-increasing importance of Steve Ballmer (now the CEO).

In my mind I compare Renegades to four previous books with similar themes
¡I Sing the Body Electronic is an on-the-ground account of the near-collapse of the gEncarta Kidsh project at Microsoft
¡Microserfs is a fictionalized treatment of ambitious employees at the company
¡Crystal Fire, focusing on Bell Labs, is an analogous story of three men attempting to push their vision on an organization.

Against such fine competition, Renegades comes up short. While I Sing the Body Electronic finally differentiates between characters and explores the link between personality quirks and project fates, Renegades focuses on three stereotypical alpha nerd. Microserfs, similarly set in the mid-1990s, features much more sympathetic protagonists. Crystal Fire, exhaustively researched and with the benefit of historical context, charts the rise of an entire industry.

Michael Drummond has had an excellent career since Renegades of the Empire, and I would be fascinatined if he came out with a second book. Considering the heavy competition in the niches that Renegades occupies, however, it is difficult to recommend this book.

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Paul D. Tozour

A Must-Read For Anyone Who's Ever Used DirectX

December 6, 1999

Verified Purchase

This book is a fascinating read, especially for anyone in the fast-growing and ultra-competitive computer game industry. If you've ever used DirectX, you owe it to yourself to buy this book.
It's all here: the creation of the wildly successful DirectX software platform; the humiliating WinG fiasco; Alex St. John's outrageous publicity stunts to promote DirectX (including the crisis with the cancelled alien spacecraft, or when he convinced several game industry executives to streak through Seattle GameWorks); the obnoxious coders who began the OpenGL wars; and St. John's raucous but ultimately career-limiting final letter to Gates & Co.
Although the book reads at times like an Alex St. John biography, the book's mix of wild stunts, software eccentrics, and high technology is enough to keep any reader thoroughly entertained.
Perhaps the most astonishing and terrifying revelation of all is how long it took Microsoft to take the multi-billion-dollar computer game industry seriously, even after the conception of DirectX . . . a mistake the company surely won't make again.

13 people found this helpful

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Ryan

Good read!

April 29, 2016

Verified Purchase

Very fun book to read. If you're a fan of the original XBox, or worked at Microsoft, you'll appreciate some of the stories I'm sure!

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Andrew Newman

Real life Microserfs

December 30, 2001

Verified Purchase

I was slightly disappointed with the style and the completion of the book. The author seems very smitten with the main protagonist (St Johns) which led to some boring exchanges and I felt ruined some of it.

Being a person that briefly used Chrome (the Java tool released by Microsoft to do graphics on the Internet) before it was pulled I had always wondered about the people and politics behind it.

The history and development of DirectX is interesting as are the characters that shaped it.

3 people found this helpful

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Berglund Center for Internet Studies

Berglund Center for Internet Studies Review by Jeffrey Barlow

May 2, 2011

The approach of Renegades of the Empire is also its weakness. The book can best be thought of as a massive oral history focusing upon the very interesting group of the Beastie Boys as the vehicle for understanding the corporation itself. However, the list of voices is staggering, witnesses come and go, opinions differ widely, and at the end we feel that we have achieved significant, but limited insights.

Because of its delineation of the corporate culture as seen in the careers of three men, and because of their involvement in the development of two controversial software developments which proved to be significant, one as a success, and one as a failure, we think this book well worth reading. But for a more extended understanding we would follow it up with a more recent publication, to be reviewed in our next issue....

For a full review see Interface, Volume 5, Issue 4.

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