Rating: 
Summary: Insight in to the Internal and External Struggles at MS
Review: "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.
Rating:
Summary: Insight in to the Internal and External Struggles at MS
Review: "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.
Rating: 
Summary: Dramatized Version
Review: Bank covers an extended period of time, and a broad subsection of Microsoft. He does a good job of keeping the story interesting, but at the expense of oversimplifying things. By the end of the book, you almost believe that a company of Microsoft's complexity could really be distilled down to two warring camps -- hawks and doves. Bank spends a lot of time developing characters, like the "Dungeons and Dragons" style of profile popularized by Wired Magazine, broad-brushing people as "visionary", "agitator", "protector", and so on. But despite the overall liberties taken for entertainment value, the book covers some interesting topics in a unique way, and is still worth reading.
Rating:
Summary: Dramatized Version
Review: Bank covers an extended period of time, and a broad subsection of Microsoft. He does a good job of keeping the story interesting, but at the expense of oversimplifying things. By the end of the book, you almost believe that a company of Microsoft's complexity could really be distilled down to two warring camps -- hawks and doves. Bank spends a lot of time developing characters, like the "Dungeons and Dragons" style of profile popularized by Wired Magazine, broad-brushing people as "visionary", "agitator", "protector", and so on. But despite the overall liberties taken for entertainment value, the book covers some interesting topics in a unique way, and is still worth reading.
Rating:
Summary: Armchair Analyst Runs Amok
Review: Bank's thesis that Gates somehow fumbled is not supported by the context: the company continues as an economic powerhouse. As the richest man in the world, with the finest people in the world working on your team, it is reasonable that a lot of great ideas will have to be constrained or stopped. Raising thoroughbred horses is not a far cry from Gates's position leading some of the fiercest, the fastest, the most persuasive, and most aggressive people that have been produced by our society. It seems that Banks spends a lot of time gathering facts and opinion from the fine people whose ideas get quashed, and colors his thesis with their emotion and frustration. Paradoxically, Banks literally presents Gates as a technology reactionary, when in fact he appears to be more willing than others in the company to spend money on long term initiatives. Toward the end of the story, we learn that Gates is supplanted by fiscally conservative Ballmer. From a business perspective, it's not likely Gates will go down in history as an enemy of innovation. Much of the world runs Windows, and many people have staked their companies, lives, and careers on the technology. It's not responsible to suggest that, over the timeframe of this book, the Windows desktop could have been displaced by an Oracle, linux or a 'network as computer.' People and organizations can absorb change only so quickly. Gates' unwillingness to undermine the Windows platform reflects social reality more than it does represent any kind of quashing of innovation: the health and popularity of the technology is important to the customers who have chosen to make trillions of dollars of significant personal, professional and business investments in the technology. Banks comes across as someone who has never had to explain a software bug to a panicky secretary who is worried about her job, or had to stay up all night fixing a server so a company could operate the next day. Microsoft has made tremendous progress in these kinds of contexts. Which explains something that Banks does not: why a company with a 'fumbled future' continues to command the attention of economic decision makers on every level of society. Microsoft software provides tremendous utility. Ordinairy folk can only absorb change at a limited rate. A company that takes a conservative position with respect to the revolutions that seem to rock the industry every two years is going provides much greater social good than a company which would decry it's model (leaving the rest of us in the lurch) in the face of a new way of doing things. I think that Banks' book does a disservice in that it leads the unwary into a unnecessarily negative position. While reading the book, I found myself questioning my decision to support Microsoft software professionally. I had to remember that I did not choose Microsoft because I was 'locked in' to their platform. Looking at a system like NT, or SQL Server, there is no question that the platform is unambiguously superior, and of great value when third party vendors can spread their costs over such a large customer base. (Imagine buying a linux computer from Dell and then realizing after the first time you lose power that the operating system has no automated way of recovering the hard disk damage caused by a power failure!) Hooks or no hooks, Microsoft software is nice to use and easy on the end user. Then I realized my emotional conflict: that I was simply responding to the ad hominem nature of many of Banks' statements, his depiction of Gates as an irate fool, and his deliberate de-emphasis of the big picture. As a previous reviewer said, it would be nice if Banks stuck to the facts, and had listened to the input of Gate's ex team members with a more critical ear.
Rating:
Summary: Armchair Analyst Runs Amok
Review: Bank's thesis that Gates somehow fumbled is not supported by the context: the company continues as an economic powerhouse. As the richest man in the world, with the finest people in the world working on your team, it is reasonable that a lot of great ideas will have to be constrained or stopped. Raising thoroughbred horses is not a far cry from Gates's position leading some of the fiercest, the fastest, the most persuasive, and most aggressive people that have been produced by our society. It seems that Banks spends a lot of time gathering facts and opinion from the fine people whose ideas get quashed, and colors his thesis with their emotion and frustration. Paradoxically, Banks literally presents Gates as a technology reactionary, when in fact he appears to be more willing than others in the company to spend money on long term initiatives. Toward the end of the story, we learn that Gates is supplanted by fiscally conservative Ballmer. From a business perspective, it's not likely Gates will go down in history as an enemy of innovation. Much of the world runs Windows, and many people have staked their companies, lives, and careers on the technology. It's not responsible to suggest that, over the timeframe of this book, the Windows desktop could have been displaced by an Oracle, linux or a 'network as computer.' People and organizations can absorb change only so quickly. Gates' unwillingness to undermine the Windows platform reflects social reality more than it does represent any kind of quashing of innovation: the health and popularity of the technology is important to the customers who have chosen to make trillions of dollars of significant personal, professional and business investments in the technology. Banks comes across as someone who has never had to explain a software bug to a panicky secretary who is worried about her job, or had to stay up all night fixing a server so a company could operate the next day. Microsoft has made tremendous progress in these kinds of contexts. Which explains something that Banks does not: why a company with a 'fumbled future' continues to command the attention of economic decision makers on every level of society. Microsoft software provides tremendous utility. Ordinairy folk can only absorb change at a limited rate. A company that takes a conservative position with respect to the revolutions that seem to rock the industry every two years is going provides much greater social good than a company which would decry it's model (leaving the rest of us in the lurch) in the face of a new way of doing things. I think that Banks' book does a disservice in that it leads the unwary into a unnecessarily negative position. While reading the book, I found myself questioning my decision to support Microsoft software professionally. I had to remember that I did not choose Microsoft because I was 'locked in' to their platform. Looking at a system like NT, or SQL Server, there is no question that the platform is unambiguously superior, and of great value when third party vendors can spread their costs over such a large customer base. (Imagine buying a linux computer from Dell and then realizing after the first time you lose power that the operating system has no automated way of recovering the hard disk damage caused by a power failure!) Hooks or no hooks, Microsoft software is nice to use and easy on the end user. Then I realized my emotional conflict: that I was simply responding to the ad hominem nature of many of Banks' statements, his depiction of Gates as an irate fool, and his deliberate de-emphasis of the big picture. As a previous reviewer said, it would be nice if Banks stuck to the facts, and had listened to the input of Gate's ex team members with a more critical ear.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting current look at MicroSoft
Review: Books about Microsoft a dime a dozen and often obsolete by the time they hit the bookshelves- especially this year's books looking back at the anti-trust trial. This book is different in focusing on internal conflicts inside Microsoft the past year or two. The main question is how to move past the mature Windows product family into the InterNet world. Here the book depicts battles between window-centric "conservatives" and net-centric "radicals". Also are reasons for the vigorous thrust into the entertainment market that will be important in late 2001. Bank claims Bill Gates was pushed out of power by those who thought he was leading MicroSoft down the wrong business track. Thought the book is not about the anti-trust trial per se, it draws much of its material from the volumous email evidence exposed at the trial. I personally was comforted by the fact that high-and-might Microsoft has the same internal infra-structure battles as the software company I work for. And a few misteps here and there won't necessarily kill a company.
Rating:
Summary: Good Job
Review: David Bank does a good job of getting into the meat of the Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer story, and he was much help in helping me write my unauthoprized bio of Microsoft's CEO BAD BOY BALLMER.
Rating:
Summary: Maybe the Web hasn't been won yet
Review: David Bank does an incredible job of presenting a new side to the Microsoft story. Here we get to know the inside politics that usually doesn't get written about. I've read many accounts of the Microsoft saga over the past few years (comes from looking a bit like Chairman Bill), few ever showed the facts and then made a thesis that points toward the future and not reflect solely on the past. The conflict within MS over the Internet looked to be over, but really the best is yet to come. .NET is on the horizon (with all of the open vs. closed battles), Windows XP (MS finally gets rid of the DOS code base) may not see the light of day because of politics (but we know its new features will not be spread to other versions - finally a shot gun to upgrade will be held to the consumers head), and the Xbox seeks to dethrown Sony from the console crown. I look forward to what is ahead (my prediction is .NET will work but get hacked to prevent control of personal information, Windows XP won't ship this year but the code and interface will be the future of Windows, just no XP only integrated Apps will survive antitrust scrutiny, and Xbox will be vaporware 2001 and not ship this Christmas but will see the light of day next summer when PCs will be too powerful for game developers to care about a MS console box).
Rating:
Summary: I was there...
Review: David Bank used to cover Microsoft for the Wall Street Journal. In this book he describes the period 1997-2000 at Microsoft as it coped with the success of Windows and Office and the threat of the Internet to the continuation of Microsoft's dominance. From e-mail snippets and interviews with many current and former Microsoft employees, he presents the "protect Windows" perspective of Bill Gates and Jim Allchin and contrasts that with the "do the new internet thing" perspective of people like Brad Silverberg and myself and others. Obviously Bill Gates prevailed and so a lot of people left. Overall I think a very balanced presentation -- you at least understand why Bill did what he did, even if you don't agree with his decision. Several juicy quotes from me. :-)
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