The plot to get Bill Gates
Subtitle: an irreverent investigation of the world's richest man--and the people who hate him
By: Gary Rivlin.
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: Times Business
Published: 1999
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 360
Subjects: Gates, Bill, -- 1955-; Microsoft Corporation; Computer software industry -- United States; Competition -- United States
Description: "To understand the magnitude of Bill Gates, one must first understand the people who hate him, most of whom suffer from an acute case of "Bill Envy."" "The Plot to Get Bill Gates is the true, hilarious story of a loosely knit cabal of Silicon Valley's wealthiest and most successful leaders and their quest to defeat the richest man in the world." "Lead players in The Plot are Lawrence Ellison of Oracle, Scott McNealy of Sun Microsystems, Ray Noorda of Novell, Marc Andreessen and James Barksdale of Netscape, Philippe Kahn of Borland, and Gary Kildall (the unsung programmer who could have been Gates), with special guest appearances by venture capitalist John Doerr, consumer activist Ralph Nader, zealous attorney Gary Reback, and the Fraternal Order of Antitrust Lawyers. The author describes each man's ill-fated attempt at besting Gates, who seems to become bigger, hungrier, and more dangerous after each attack." "Rivlin also conducts an in-depth investigation of Gates himself, examining each crucial step in the ascension of the slop-shouldered billionaire with bad hair and unearthing the most telling details to explain why Gates is so rich and we aren't. (The short answer: monomania) Rivlin concludes with an illuminating analysis of Microsoft's latest upgrade of its CEO, Gates 3.1, which seems to be operating with fewer bugs than previous incarnations."--Jacket.
Notes: Includes index.
Table of contents: title: The great white whale. Captain Ahab's club; title: Nowhere, Utah; title: Five-card stud, jacks or better to open; title: Bill Gates for dummies; title: The big one; title: Opening the kimono; title: Call me Ishmael. The great Internet land grab; title: Bill envy; title: Animal house; title: Java high; title: The Borg; title: "Bill Gates is Satan"; title: What about me?; title: The silver medalist; title: Floating coffins. Resistancei̲sf̲utile.com; title: The Anti-Bill; title: The love song of Ralph Nader; title: Bill Gates 3.1; title: Appendix: a compendium of Bill Gates and Microsoft jokes.