Bad Boy Ballmer : The Man Who Rules Microsoft

Rating:
Summary: Dissapointing
Review: This book is a complete disappointment. The author has an interesting subject but provides little authentic insight on Steve Ballmer and instead fills the pages with irrelevant material and personal observations. As an example, in one chapter he lists the voting statistics for the 2000 presidential election, spends 4 pages describing a conference that he attended (that had nothing to do with Microsoft) and reports on an interview with the manager of the Seattle Sunglass Hut. He also makes a number of obvious mistakes, for example he describes Microsoft's Internet Explorer as a "search engine", so it is hard to trust the facts that he does present. The author's style is easy and engaging, and at first glance the book looks interesting, but unfortunately under that veneer there is little of real substance.

Rating:
Summary: Bad Book, Maxwell
Review: This is a slickly written, but ultimately empty book. The tone is more than a little paranoid. Mr. Ballmer is a businessman, successful and associated with Bill Gates. Therefore, there must be something evil about him. But what that is never gets stated. He curses, he knows Bill Gates. These are the principal charges leveled against him. The glib writing style can make you forget, for a while, that little is actually being said, and none of it is new. But, like most fluff, it doesn't stay with you once you're done.

Rating:
Summary: Extremely disappointing
Review: Very poorly written, frequently goes off on irrelevant tangents, clearly biased against Ballmer, MS and Bill Gates, and full of factual errors. His attempts to describe technology are laughable.