Rating: 
Summary: Another interesting peek in Bill's mind
Review: I have decided to recommend this book to the VP of my division. Hopefully he'll get the idea that our company is way behind and should be moving towards "the digital nervous system" which Mr. Gates so emphatically promotes. Microsoft, contrary to Linux-loonies rantings, makes usuable good products. They improve vastly with each release. NOW IS THE TIME TO GET RID OF ALL THAT PAPER. READ THIS BOOK FOR IDEAS!!!!! CHHHHAARRRGGE!!!!!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Marketing Knock-Off
Review: Typical of Bill Gates' style, it's a knock-off of other ideas that put the Microsoft spin. Most of these concepts from a view that would appeal to the executives and managers (that such a book targets) are presented more clearly in James Martin's CyberCorps and several other books on the subject...
Rating:
Summary: Convincing examples. Insider Info. Comprehensible visions.
Review: The book contains a lot of convincing examples, IT insider infos, comprehensible visions, and interesting management details, e.g. about the management of term workers by MS. Statements are underlined by a lot of numbers.
Rating:
Summary: Business @ Speed of Thought --- Obviousness @ Speed of Light
Review: Insight? Genius? Don't waste your time on this one unless you've lived in a remote section of the planet. You can look around you and see more of what is transpiring this technological shift than you'll learn from this book. If this is the best Bill can do, then that may explain why linux is rapidly catching MS
Rating: 
Summary: Where do you want to go today Mr. Gates?
Review: As far I have known, Microsoft and Mr.Gates have a reputation for pushing windows wherever they can.Call it marketing strategy or pushing it down people's throats, this continues in this book. Mr.Gates is laying the road to his company's success in the future. After all, if more people use technology, more WindowsXX can be bundled with new computers. That's all that is there to this book. Full Stop.
Rating: 
Summary: What do you want to sell today?
Review: This was just awful. Bill is simply trying to put you in the frame of mind that the future depends on.....you guessed it...windows!With newer, faster, and overall better OSs actually starting to show up, Gates is doing what he does best, selling you his OS. Linux is not as fully functioning(but wayyyyy more stable) as MS products, but watch out, it soon will be.
Rating: 
Summary: Das Kapital for the "Web Lifestyle"
Review: On merit alone, I would have rated it a 2 as it was simply a nice packaging of current principles and observations. I was tempted to take a couple of points off from my indignance over this veiled attempt to reason demand for Office 2000's new capabilities. Office 97 offered little but frustration and cost to Office 95 users and only teased our web appetite. Without the "web workstyle" there would be virtually no incremental demand for an Office 2000. But this book explains the reason why we all MUST have Office 2000. To be successful, be like me. To be like me, use tools like I use. But, I gave it four stars because I am pragmatic. Microsoft IS THE MARKET. They rule, so you're better off to simply pick up a copy of Gates Kapital (or Microsoft Kampf for the truly jaded) and understand where the victors are headed. Happy reading Komrads!
Rating:
Summary: Mixture of obvious and bold foresight
Review: You could read much of this book and think to yourself: this is obviously where the future is going. Indeed I may be especially prone to this feeling of deja prevu, because my father first Norman Macrae of The Economist first wrote a book exploring the future scearios of a networked world of business and consumers back in 1984 - as a celebratory Goodbye to Orwell. But take another look, and ask yourself how many of Gates' lead recommendations are CEOs of big companies acting on or even fully knowledgable about. In telling them to wake up to the digital age or go out of business, his message is a bold call for action. Macraes would particularly enjoy debating with like minded readers examples of the best actions of the following types of Gatesian Do Nows: 1) The internet will help achieve "friction-free capitalism" by putting buyer and seller in direct contact and providing more information to both about each other. ..Only a few businesses will succeed by having the lowest price, so most will need a strategy that includes customer service. If you take a service approach, arm your knowledge workers with digital information tools to connect with customers and manage those realtionships...Do you have a single infrastructure to support applications for your internal knowledge workers and your customers?....2) To win big, you sometimes have to take big risks. Risk supported by digital information flow may be the single biggest way to create product and market breakthroughs.3) Time to market is shrinking for every business...The most important "speed" issue is often not technical but cultural. It's convincing everyone that the company's survival depends on everyone moving as fast as possible...4) Knowledge management starts with business objectives and processes and a recognition of the need to share information. Knowledge management is nothing more than managing information flow, getting the right information to the right people who need it so they can act on it quickly...Do you have a digital repository where you preserve and augment your organisation's accumulated knowledge? Do your digital systems allow numerical and non-numerical data to be accessed together? Can employees, partners and suppliers get access to appropriate corporate knowledge with a few simple commands? Do your information systems ensure that proper reviews happen as products move through development?
Rating:
Summary: If you look up a horses ass, what do you expect to find?
Review: I was taken, do you think it is likely that I could get my money back from the world's richest man? Does this guy really think that PC's are the savior? His thinking will create problems that will make Y2K look like a typo
Rating:
Summary: Banal fodder for clueless rubes
Review: A facile book cynically written for the legions of poor cubicle slobs toiling away in the hope of getting a competitive "edge." Duh! The edge here was never more than a simple case of a scary personality disorder gone amok. Computation and connectivity have nothing to do with the success of Bill Gates. As with all Microsoft products, this book is simply other people's ideas, rebranded and hyped to create demand out of thin air. Just climb up on your roof, open your wallet and throw your money into the wind. Same effect.
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