The Plot to Get Bill Gates: An Irreverent Investigation of the World's Richest Man, and the People Who Hate Him - Softcover

Gary Rivlin

Softcover

ISBN 10: 070438129X ISBN 13: 9780704381292

Publisher: Quartet, 1999

Synopsis

The Plot to Get Bill Gates brings a fresh perspective to the avaricious, bloodthirsty behaviour of business icons and to the personality of Bill Gates himself. The result is a funny morality play about big business at the century''s end.'

About this title

Review

Money and success do strange things to people, especially when they're not their own. Perhaps no better example of this phenomenon is Silicon Valley's obsession with Microsoft and its leader, Bill Gates, an obsession that Gary Rivlin examines with great relish and in great detail in The Plot to Get Bill Gates. Rivlin discovers a "king-sized obsession among one-dimensional workaholics" that's known in the industry as "Bill Envy," a phenomenon that has destroyed companies, inspired dozens of jokes (e.g., "How many Microsoft engineers does it take to change a light bulb? None. Bill Gates will just redefine DarknessTM as the new industry standard"), and for some raises the possibility of a wider conspiracy that pits Microsoft against everyone else--Silicon Valley, the Justice Department, even Ralph Nader.

From Gates's awkward adolescence to his position as the world's richest man, Rivlin takes a deep look into his character and uses him as a means to reveal the character of those that oppose him, a drama that he likens to that in Moby Dick. Unlike other books about Microsoft (The Microsoft File, How the Web Was Won, Barbarians Led by Bill Gates), Rivlin's tries not to take sides. Nevertheless, the Captain Ahabs (Ray Noorda, Scott McNealy, Larry Ellison, among others) come off looking less flawed, but certainly not as smart or as calculating or as dangerous as the white whale (Gates). While most of this material will be familiar to anyone who follows Microsoft and its competitors, Rivlin manages to keep the pages turning with dozens of entertaining anecdotes and stories about Gates and his enemies. The Plot to Get Bill Gates is a must for anyone who loves a good old-fashioned high-tech food fight. --Harry C. Edwards

From the Back Cover

"What a sweet book this is---so shrewd about the larger-than-life personalities who rule the world of computer software; so joyously written; so filled with both rollicking tales of the software wars and powerful insights about the nature of high-tech competition. I learned far more than I thought I would from reading The Plot to Get Bill Gates. And I had an awfully good time doing so."
--Joseph Nocera, editor-at-large, Fortune

"In gripping, fast-paced style, Gary Rivlin takes us inside the business battle of the new century, the relentless pursuit of Bill Gates by his powerhouse rivals. With meticulous detail and keen intellectual independence, Rivlin takes us on an amusing and provocative trip inside the world of Gates and various anti-Gates conspiracies. Rivlin is a resourceful reporter, a passionate writer, and a marvelous storyteller who offers a fresh and exciting look at today's cyber-barons."
--Clarence Page, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for the Chicago Tribune

"Gary Rivlin does for the nineties what Tom Wolfe's Radical Chic and Mau-Mauing the Flak-Catchers did for the sixties, memorably chronicling the pretension and foibles of era-defining individuals with a very sharp quill. The Plot to Get Bill Gates combines impressive reporting, original analysis, and a keen eye for telling details that illuminate a larger story of mass obsession. This is Melville updated for our times, with a Politically Incorrect twist of humor."
--Randall Stross, author of eboys

Edition details

• Publisher: Quartet
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 070438129X
• ISBN 13: 9780704381292
• Binding: Paperback