Pride Before the Fall: The Trials of Bill Gates and the End of the Microsoft Era

Rating:
Summary: An excellent analysis of the case
Review: Heilemann has done a fabulous job with this book. The Wired article was really gripping and the full length book is just as difficult to put down! It really makes you wonder what they're thinking in Redmond - at the end of the book I couldn't help feeling that Gates (as Heilemann presents him) seems a lot like Mr. Burns in the Simpsons episode where Lisa teaches him about recycling and he ends 'recycling' all the fish in the sea for livestock feed. He couldn't figure out why he was wrong and Gates seems to have the same difficulty.

Rating:
Summary: very good, but very short
Review: Pride Before the Fall is an excellent account of a company brought to its knees as much by its megalomaniac founder Bill Gates, as by the brilliant David Boies and the DOJ. Yet with all the overwhelming evidence of its guilt as outlined in the Findings of Fact on the case, as well as the "avowedly pro-Microsoft economists, culled from a list provided by the company itself - who flayed the firm for not conceding the obvious: that it did indeed try to eliminate competitors; that it was indeed a monopoly." Yet astonishingly, to this day Microsoft continues to believe, in the words of its CEO Steve Ballmer, "We have done nothing wrong." HELLO? Heilemann is by no means a Silicon Valley Microsoft-Basher. He also chronicles the ways in which the valley's elite (Sun,Intel,Apple) clandestinely provided witnesses and encouragement for the DOJ's attack on Microsoft. This case really has nothing to do with inhibiting Microsoft's abillity to innovate(as their PR spin doctors would like you to believe)but rather Microsoft's behavior and lack of contrition. A good, quick and balanced read.

Rating:
Summary: The Trial Book To Read
Review: PRIDE BEFORE THE FALL relays the trials of Microsoft from a different point of view than Auletta's account. Heilemann's access to the key players, many of whom are unknown to the general public and received nary a headline, is just excellent. If you're going to read only one book about the Microsoft trials, this is it.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent analysis of the case
Review: This book is more of a whine session than an informative look into the microsoft case. Poor writing and questionable facts make this book impossible to read. Save your money!

Rating:
Summary: Save Your Money
Review: This book was more than "based on" the Wired article, it was the Wired article. I read both the article and the book, and in my opinion there was very little added to the book. I would suggest buying the Wired Magazine that had this article, ... .

Excluding that, the book was well written and entertaining, but somewhat disappointing. The amount of access the author had provided great visibility into the trial, but I felt the author squandered that information. There was very little analysis, and often the author missed humorous/interesting snippets that other books/articles had picked up (e.g. in "The New New Thing" and Upside's news coverage of the trial).

This book felt more like a synapse or a chronology, and it left me wanting more...

Rating:
Summary: A Clear (and Witty) Showing
Review: This brilliant and thorough account of the complicated dynamics of US
v. Microsoft ought to be read by everyone who uses a computer. Despite
its unfortunate and misleading title, this is a book that first and
foremost explains in detail what Microsoft did that was unlawful and
what was done about it. Heilemann introduces individual after
individual on the many sides of the case - Bill Gates, Joel Klein,
David Boies, Steve McGeady, Bill Neukom, Garth Saloner and the rest
- offering a critical picture of motive, drive, method, and
specific contribution to the outcome (as of November 2000). The book
succeeds by its resistance to the usual (and in this case wrong) David
v. Goliath or organizational determinism metanarratives. Instead, it
is a story of a loose-knit organization of Davids fighting the Borg
that chronicles the complicated reasons that the Davids themselves
never became a Borg. Heilemann's achievement is no less extraordinary
because it is done simply and adroitly through his choice of language.
First, his folksy style (tangling "like a pair of scorpions in a
sock") sustains his focus on the organic even while he walks us
through the technological specificities of integrated browsers,
operating systems, and platforms: a tale peopled with pudding-bowl
bangs and cowlicks refuses to be intimidating. Second, the comingling
of earthy figures of speech and and computer-speak (an acronym such as
API is simply a metaplasmus, while the product name `Windows' is
patently metaphoric) serves to remind the reader that while the market
circuitry is new, the human story is not. Heilemann's book is an
excellent read.


Rating:
Summary: A Clear (and Witty) Showing
Review: This brilliant and thorough account of the complicated dynamics of US
v. Microsoft ought to be read by everyone who uses a computer. Despite
its unfortunate and misleading title, this is a book that first and
foremost explains in detail what Microsoft did that was unlawful and
what was done about it. Heilemann introduces individual after
individual on the many sides of the case - Bill Gates, Joel Klein,
David Boies, Steve McGeady, Bill Neukom, Garth Saloner and the rest
- offering a critical picture of motive, drive, method, and
specific contribution to the outcome (as of November 2000). The book
succeeds by its resistance to the usual (and in this case wrong) David
v. Goliath or organizational determinism metanarratives. Instead, it
is a story of a loose-knit organization of Davids fighting the Borg
that chronicles the complicated reasons that the Davids themselves
never became a Borg. Heilemann's achievement is no less extraordinary
because it is done simply and adroitly through his choice of language.
First, his folksy style (tangling "like a pair of scorpions in a
sock") sustains his focus on the organic even while he walks us
through the technological specificities of integrated browsers,
operating systems, and platforms: a tale peopled with pudding-bowl
bangs and cowlicks refuses to be intimidating. Second, the comingling
of earthy figures of speech and and computer-speak (an acronym such as
API is simply a metaplasmus, while the product name 'Windows' is
patently metaphoric) serves to remind the reader that while the market
circuitry is new, the human story is not. Heilemann's book is an
excellent read.


Rating:
Summary: Engrossing, thoroughly informative, very well-written
Review: This is an extraordinarily lucid, crisply-written account of the Microsoft trial and the circumstances leading up to it. Heilemann sets the scene with masterful depictions of the environment in Silicon Valley and especially at Microsoft, as well as of the various characters involved. Be aware, however, that this fascinating charting of Microsoft's rise to power and the complicated road to eventual government prosecution takes up almost 2/3 of the book. The subsequent trial scenes, while highly entertaining, may seem short by comparison.

Heilemann covered the case as a reporter and interviewed practically all the major players. The result is a balanced, even tale in which Heilemann remains mostly objective but is still able to comment critically and insightfully on the happenings. The story, even with its high level of depth, is propelled quickly by Heilemann's sophisticated writing, replete with erudite metaphors and colorful quotations.

Any recent books about the Microsoft case are handicapped to a certain degree because the appeals process is not over and a final remedy, yet to be determined. Still, this book provides an excellent foundation for understanding future developments in the case, as well as simply a great read. Heilemann truly makes the trial, and the world, of Microsoft, come alive.