Bill Gates:Sultan of Software

Rating:
Summary: Lots of spin but worth the price
Review: As with most of the "Biography" series they put a heavy spin on their reporting. Luckily it favors the subject. This starts off with grandparents and works their wan down to almost this minute. The pictures and other visuals form living locations and friends help you understand what goes into making the Microsoft Empire.

Unfortunately it makes you thing that Microsoft and IBM who were both latecomers to the micro computer field, are the only players in the microcomputer business. In reality IBM was a latecomer and had their machines manufacturing farmed out because they had no expertise. They approached Digital Research for the operating system, as CP/M from Digital Research was the universal operating system for ALL small computers.

You may want to look up books on CP/M before viewing this tape. One book is "CP/m and the Personal Computer" ASIN: 0201103559. Anyway They Digital Research did not trust IBM. So IBM or Bill purchased a CP/M work alike knockoff from a person down the street. Ever sense the original purchase they have incorporated UNIX work alike code to change this MSDOS system to a single user UNIX work alike.

Rating:
Summary: Very Inspirational
Review: I thought this was a very inspirational riches to extreme riches book on Bill Gates. Interviews from everyone except Bill Gates on Gates and Microsoft; from the beginning to the present release date. There were a lot of traditional Microsoft euphemisms, but good nonetheless.

Rating:
Summary: An Informative Viewing
Review: This video contains most everything one needs to know to have a basic understanding of the Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates. It chronicles his entire life to the date of filming. My favorite part was the heartfelt interviews with the father of the genius. What Bill Gates has accomplished with his life, is pretty amazing for a man still fairly young. The big question that looms over most of the philanthropic world, is what is Bill Gates going to do with the rest of his life? Possible answers to that question are addressed.

Rating:
Summary: The emphasis on the personal side of Gates
Review: Without a doubt, Bill Gates will go down in history as one of the most influential people of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. In this tape, he is rightfully compared to industry titans such as Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford and John Rockefeller. Each of these people led an industry that was essential to the development of the American economy. Certainly, computing should also be included in this category.
Although some of the events in the life of Microsoft are covered, the majority of the minutes are devoted to the personal life of Bill Gates. He was born into a wealthy family where competition was an essential activity, and it is clear that this is where he acquired his intensely competitive nature. It is hardly a surprise that Trey, which was his nickname, was at times difficult to handle. While he was fortunate in that he was able to work with computers at an early age, it is unreasonable to call him lucky. Clearly, even as a child he exhibited extraordinary vision, something that he retains as he reaches middle age. This is the primary reason why Gates was able to achieve much of his success. All indications are that he is a devoted family man as well. He is shown with his wife and child and there is no question that he is a doting dad.
While all this is interesting on the human level, that is not why we are interested in biographies of Gates. Our interest in him is due to his leadership of Microsoft, a company both admired and reviled. Nearly everyone in industrialized countries is affected by the decisions made by the Microsoft leadership, so we are interested in his business activity and how those decisions are made. This is where the tape is the weakest, as we do not learn enough about the professional side of Gates.
However, overall the tape is worth viewing. We are all the consequences of our childhood and so, to understand Gates and what he is, we start by looking at how he was raised. To out-compete someone, you need to learn about their personal characteristics and from this tape, you can learn some of the fundamentals of the richest person in the world.