Barbarians led by Bill Gates

by Jennifer Edstrom

From the epoch-making 1983 Las Vegas launch of Windows to the ongoing Internet Explorer v. Netscape antitrust suit, this "developer's eye view" sets the record straight on any number of hotly debated - and often hotly litigated - turning points in the short but colorful history of the Information Age. How did Microsoft miss the Internet boat in the first place, letting Netscape capture the lead in Web browsers? How exactly did they - or didn't they? - rip off the Macintosh in the development of the Windows interface? What's the real story - the truth that eluded even GO Corporation CEO Jerry Kaplan in his own book - of how Microsoft came from behind in pen computing to drive GO out of business? And how did Microsoft get all those "Windows" pillowcases all over Las Vegas in their first, half-million-dollar launch of the product that didn't exist?