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Summary: the title is a well done sumarize of that book
Review: This book is well made and I think is highly recommended to read. Are you thinking about opening a business or making your business better? This book has the hints you need; I believe; even if you don't have a business, this book will teach you something. You can see how good this book is; by helping you anderstand how to run a business today. Bill Gates helped himself advertizing and selling software! This is a good book for you to read, but you don't have to take my word for it.
Rating: 
Summary: not exactly visionary
Review: On the cover, Bill Gates is quoted with a statement that captures the essence of managing in the information age: "I have a simple but strong belief. How you gather, manage, and use information whether you win or loose." That is true but unfortunately, Business @ the Speed of Thought doesn't live up to its promise to "give you the information you need to win". Bill Gates looks at the world through a Microsoft technology perspective. He freuently starts with asking the right questions (What can be done to increase the corporate IQ?) but then provides only incomplete, technology focused, not exactly visionary answers. In essence his vision consists of how "Microsofts" products can help you". Read IT journals if you want technology visions or read "Survival of the Smartest" if you want to know how visionary companies gather, manage, and use information.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent
Review: Halfway through the book, I thought to myself that it was one of the best IT overviews I ever read. By the time I was finished, I had dramatic change in attitude. It is one of the best books ever written. It gave me keen insight into the direction that successful business is taking. It was absolutely invigorating. And, it gave me plenty of ideas to apply towards my career as a computer consultant.
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Summary: Business Competitive Advantage in 21th Century
Review: Business Competitive Advantage Map in 21th Century : 1.Internet:E-Commerce 2.IT(Information Technology):Data Wearhousing,Data Minering 3.Personal Line Service:Consumer Service,Consumer Satisfy
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Summary: A Real Snooze
Review: Nothing new here, and much of it is wrong-headed. First step, Bill needs a new ghostwriter for his next book... someone that can put a little snap in his verse. He keeps saying the same thing the same way.Second, his various claims that technology was the competitive advantage in his case studies is just flat wrong. For instance, the Japanese did not cave Detroit's head in because they had more computers and infrastructure, as Bill would have you believe. They had better business and engineering practices. That has been well-established in the business research press. The list goes on . . . A real disappointment that Bill put his name on this eighth-grade term paper.
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Summary: Takes Alfred P. Sloan's Classic into the Millenium
Review: Business @ the Speed of Thought will drastically change your life by forever changing the way to run your business. Bill Gates, the richest man in the world, begins his latest book by recommending another classic business text: Alfred P. Sloan's My Years with General Motors. He cited how Sloan forever inspired him (and generations of future CEOs) by sharing how "positive, rational, information-focused leadership can lead to extraordinary success." "If you read only one book on business" says Gates (besides his of course), " read Sloan's." We begin to see early on that Gates has brilliantly taken on the challenge of revamping Sloan's work for the digital age. He uses the legendary Alfred P. Sloan's tenure at the helm of General Motors from 1923 through 1956 as the first of many examples of how the gathering of actionable information is the only edge one has against one's competition. Gates wants CEOs to be appalled by how little they get in terms of actionable information from their IT investments. "The gap between what companies are spending and what they're getting stems from the combination of not understanding what is possible and not seeing the potential when you use technology to move the right information quickly to everyone in the company." Rapid, actionable information must flow quickly between the company and partners, suppliers, and consumers as well. Further, Gates feels passionately that "only [CEOs] could step up to the change in mind-set and culture necessary to reorient a company's behavior around digital information flow..." For the more technically inclined, a companion website with more detailed information and containing links to references made in the book is available [online]. Perhaps now, if you read only one book on business, the richest men in the world will soon waver between Sloan's and Gates' certain-to-be-classic: Business @ the Speed of Thought. Books For Tycoons, Media Moguls and Those That Love Them reviewed by R. J. Sloan
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Summary: Interesting/convincing but hard to apply in Philippines
Review: Easy to read and understand. Gates takes ideas in Reengineering the Corp. several steps further, specially in the context of information technology. It's hard to imagine however how many of his ideas would be applicable in developing countries like the Philippines. For one thing, success in setting up a digital nervous system requires a fairly educated population. His ideas may aggravate further the gap between rich & poor people in the country, between the educated and the intellectually challenged, among other things. Information technology (even pirated software) is still very expensive in developing countries -- as a ratio to the country's per capita income. MNCs are the ones that could very well implement Gates' ideas... but that's the spirit of free enterprise and I'm still for it. The book is still very helpful specially in planning for the future. It's one of those few books that paints a scenario of the future in a very plausible manner.
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Summary: Contrast of Opinion
Review: I haven't read the book yet.I was so excited about it before I read the comments written by other people. It's so amazing that the ranking goes from 1 to 5. This means logically that some readers are extremely underestimating the value of the content while others are overestimating it. Should I read it ? Yes , and , I will try to give an objective opinion. So..Discard my ranking for the time being
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Summary: Sometimes common sense is a wake up call
Review: Many of the ideas in this book could be considered obvious. A lot of the businesses that will fail in the digital economy will wish they had been aware of the obvious. So, what's different now? Read the appendix. It's Microsoft Windows DNA. It's the foundation for the next generation business computing architecture. Technological convergence and commoditization will make the possible...practical. Is Bill shamelessly plugging his product? I got the sense that his product is developed from the vision, rather than the vision from the product. Another plus to this book is the discussion of the human factors that need to be addressed for a DNS-caliber organization. I was convinced that businesses with employees who can use tools to respond in real-time or easily analyze a 1.5 million dollar savings will definitely gain a competitive advantage in the new economy.
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Summary: Mostly Fluff
Review: I am surprized that this book sits at the top of popularbusiness books. There are a few solid ideas and comments on thevelocity of information but the rest is pabulum. This book was written for 7th graders and I was expecting more.
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