Rating: 
Summary: Summary & Comments
Review: According to Bill, business is at the point with Information Technology (IT) that it will now dictate new and more efficient processes, rather than old and inefficient processes dictating the use of IT. I've heard of a similar shift in business that resulted from a technology coming of age. It's electric power. Apparently a long time ago factories were powered by a single central water wheel. Plants had to be arranged around this single massive power source. When electric motors came on the scene, enormous ones were built and they replaced water wheels. It wasn't until someone realized you could have lots of little engines distributed out where they were needed that companies really began to experience the benefits of electric power. Distributed power allowed them to organize into efficient production lines, rather than circularly around a power source to maximize power utilization. Now companies could maximize for production speed. I think this is an analogy for what Bill says is about to happen with IT. I see one example of this in the B2B market. The first wave of eCommerce automated the old paper system. That's why business software applications have notions of "purchase orders", "receipts", and "checks". New electronic models based on XML standards like cXML and BizTalk will still allow businesses to transact, but will also allow them to find useful bits of information that can save them money. Buyer-side eProcurement is a perfect example of eCommerce helping save money that could not have been done with the paper model. eProcurement allows companies to identify how much money they spend on certain commodities, and negotiate volume discounts based on how much they predict they'll spend. The paper model didn't allow you to track the information necessary to predict accurately how much you would need. The electronic model does allow you to track this information in addition to transact business. Bill argues that the 2000's will be all about companies' ability to react quickly to market conditions. He says the key to reacting quickly is having a "Digital Nervous System". He advocates going paperless everywhere in a company so employees can be notified immediately of important changes. He identifies three broad categories of business activities that benefit from a digital nervous system: 1-customer and partner relationships 2-employee knowledge management 3-processes The book is a bunch of common sense to any normal geek, but Bill has a good point that there are a lot of businesses out there that still don't even use email. That was probably the most interesting thing I read in the whole book.
Rating: 
Summary: A Lesson to be Learned
Review: Taken in it's entirety, this (March) 1999 release by the author of "The Road Ahead" has been a multi-media event. The print edition has been available in hard-cover or paperback. The audio cassette format has been marketed in both abridged and unabridged versions, and there's also been an audio compact disc available. The content poured into the book's web-site has been extensive, and has included an insightful 45-minute video "chat" by Mr. Gates recorded on March 31, 1999. There is little about the publication that hasn't been covered in over 100 reviews on either Amazon.com, Barnes&Noble.com, or other web-sites. Traditional media coverage has been extremely broad based, and the book was ranked in the top ten on just about every final 1999 business bestsellers list, including the New York Time's and USA Today's. Like it or not, there's no denying that this book has reached out deep into the critical masses. But, (in less than a year), has the response to this work perhaps surpassed the actual content in importance? Take for example Scott Rosenberg's hard-hitting perspective in which Mr. Gates is critiqued as an author with obviously passionate ideas on business management, but also as one who is either unwilling or unable to break out of a dull corporate-speak writing tone. Mr. Rosenberg cites "e"source proponents of the idea "that the Internet is rapidly transforming not just the speed but the tenor and content of business communications." He furthers the suggestions that the corporate lingua-franca is soon to be made a remnant of our popular culture, and could very well be replaced with a much more original form of thought as one of the results of the "Web lifestyle" Mr. Gates is promoting. Customer comments on the review pages of e-bookstore sites are given as one example, and the postings on corporate stock message boards (such as those found within Yahoo) would be another. Mr. Rosenberg is most profound when he considers whether "the very voice Bill Gates uses in Business @ The Speed of Thought is being rendered obsolete by the technology he espouses." It's too bad, but we probably won't be seeing responses by Mr. Gates to these kind of issues posted in the questions section of the book's website. My conclusion here is to take care to consume the entire event, and don't be skimpy. Digest both the content of and the response to Business @ The Speed of Thought or whatever other media-intense works you study . Savor the combination and all of its flavors. Then draw your own conclusions and fling them into cyberspace, because one can't yearn to be a knowledge participant unless one can learn like a knowledge participant. Records managers like myself may take particular interest in the discussion of the issue of creating a paper-less office. Don't be mislead by the title of Chapter 3 -- the author's view is realistic and the insight into Microsoft operations presented here is interesting. Additionally, the discussions in Section IV on the concept of bringing insight to business operations should be specifically noted by professionals in the records and information management industry. In particular, the thoughts in Chapter 18 on utilizing an organization's information technology department are very relative. This information is excellent support for the argument that technology has given records managers improved tools to do their jobs, while actively changing the perception of their profession.
Rating: 
Summary: You have to read this book, but...
Review: If Bill Gates writes a book about what business in the future will look like, you have to pay attention. Since Gates has affected business so much in the past and will doubtless be a prime mover in the future (Justice Dept. or no) you have to listen to what the man says, just like folks way back when had to listen to Moses when he came down from the mountain. You might miss something really really important. As it turns out the points Gates make in his book are important, if not necessarily all original. I think that you can read this book and come away with a much deeper understanding about how the Internet is changing the way the world works. But what struck me most was a comment Gates made that I think is terribly important. Gates says that when people try to predict how technology will change in the future, they grossly OVERestimate the change that occurs in two years, and grossly UNDERestimate the effect in five. I think that's very true, and it means that most things you read today, including Gates' book, give only a very cloudy glimpse of the future. Beware books that tell you that in five years you WILL be trading stocks through your refridgerator and that you WILL be working out of your home because the 'Net will make offices obsolete. No one can predict the future of technology, not even the mighty Gates. And not just because the DOJ is polishing its wrecking ball for the big Microsoft breakup.
Rating: 
Summary: Answers for Business Owners/Managers Small and Large
Review: After reading just a few chapters in this incredibly insightful book I had already scratched down a few Ideas for my small company. His vision is almost impossible. However, he has shown to the world that is possible by practicing what he preaches at his own company. Every CEO, President, and Vice President should take a day off and read this book. It is not technical but it will get you up to speed on where your company should be and where it could be in the next few years. Though everyone has bad things to say about Bill G. His company didn't build itself and this book shows the brains behind the Microsoft Empire, not to mention he gives away money like its going out of style.
Rating:
Summary: Gates for our King!
Review: I would like to make William Gates King of the world. He has the deep humanity and vision to rule all of us like the enlighten way he has ruled over MicroSoft. Long Live the King! This book is a true insight to what we should all wake up and act upon. Why do people fight William Gates? Is it because they envy his will power and excelent windows operating system? I think so, and he is to much of a gentel person to shove this fact in their face. With William Gates as the gentle king of our little world we could all be thrilled to be conected to the super information data highway. I personelly would like to see what William Gates has in store for us, the info drivers on the Cross Town Express Way of the Library of the Content of the King of the Little World William Bill Gates. Read it or miss out.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful book for company owners
Review: I think that Mr.Bill Gates is very good at writing books.At first he gives examples from his company and suggests us to do the same in our companies.He tells what digital nervous system is and tells us to use it in our lives in our companies.He means to tell that being the first on the internet is very important and give examples of companies which take this as a principal.For example he gives Dell company as an example.He says that he built a site on the net and now it is doing half of its sells on the net.He says that soon we will use the internet as a normal thing and for example while going on the road we will connect to internet and chat in our own family chat rooms and maybe learn the shopping list.It will be very easy.It was so fascinating that I couldn't leave the book.I sat reading it for hours.I recommend it to you.
Rating:
Summary: For Professional Business Managers NOT Info Tech People!
Review: The people who don't like this book are IT geeks who arelooking for big vision from Gates. While it is true that Mr. Gatesdoesn't offer a revolutionary new IT toy in this book---he does professional managers a great service by providing a framework for using information technology to improve business. Good book, it gave me some great ideas!
Rating:
Summary: An extremely good book for IT people with business in mind
Review: I have read the book and I can say that it shows a great deal of importance from the IT world and business in practice. These were 2 different entities both had their aims, but today we must count on digital information to expand the business world. In my opinion it was a well written book and it glimses to the great man that revolutionalized the IT world
Rating:
Summary: prepare for millennium 3 with this book
Review: Gates does a fine job of explaining how digitalisation will impact an office near you, and does this in a language which is so simple that even the average fiftysomething of a 20th Century boardroom will understand the wake-up call. The case of Bill Gates explaining e-business to board of directors of a German financial institution is worth the book price by itself. This case concludes that three revolutionary business shifts are in motion: 1 Most transactions between business and consumers, business and business, and consumers and government will become self-service digital transactions. Intermediaries will evolve to add value or perish. 2 Customer service will become the primary value added function in every business. Human involvement in service will shift from routine, low value tasks to a high-value, personal consultancy on important issues -problems or desires - for the customer. 3 The pace of transactions and the need for more personalised attention to customers will drive companies to adopt digital processes internally if they have not yet adopted them for efficiency reasons. Companies will use a digital nervous system to regularly transform their internal business processes to adapt to an environment that constantly changes because of customer needs and competition.
Rating: 
Summary: Boring
Review: A truly boring CD book, it is a perfect cure for insomnia. The book desperately lacks in content. It is targeted at pre-Readers' Digest level. My advice: you get more content from articles in the average PC magazine AND it is a lot cheaper.
| 
