Overdrive: Bill Gates and the Race to Control Cyberspace

by James Wallace

Praise for Overdrive

Gates and the Race to Control Cyberspace

"James Wallace offers many tales of . . . temper tantrums, antitrust tussles with the Justice Department, and general dirty tricks Microsoft has allegedly played on its competitors." -The New York Times Book Review

Praise for James Wallace's

Hard Bill Gates and the Making of the Microsoft Empire

"A stupendous success story. This is the most informative book yet on Bill Gates and Microsoft." -the Washington Post

"Remarkable . . . This book will make you wonder why you didn't buy Microsoft stock when it went public." -The Wall Street Journal

"An engaging, almost classic tale of a boy who finds power in gadgets and then won't let go." -Los Angeles Times

Genres: Business, Biography, Technology, Nonfiction, History, Programming

315 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

James I. Wallace, Ph.D., has spent his career practicing as a clinical psychologist, educational psychologist, and sport psychologist. He has practiced golf a lot, too, with little success. He has earned his knowledge of aikido by serving as the chief instructor (Sensei) of two dojos in Southern California and one in Ithaca, NY, before running the Colgate University Aikido Club in Hamilton, NY, the past quarter of a century. He lives there with his wife, Colgate University Professor Ann Jane Tierney, and he teaches P.E. courses in wellness, as well. They have two young adult daughters, Jasmine and Gemma, striving to live well in Virginia and Colorado, respectively.

In addition to his more recent book, Holy Rollers, Dr. Wallace is the author of a nonfiction book about the physical and mental aspects of athletics, [Book:On Target: Comparative Challenges of Sports & Games|31917960], along with several magazine articles about aikido.

Reviews

[Achtung Englander · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is almost a direct follow on from Hard Drive by James Wallace as it picks up the Microsoft story several years where that book ended. It is a good entry for those who want to find out about the browser wars between Netscape and Internet Explorer but the book was published in 1997 and is when the story really got interesting.

Wallace does get bogged down in the details of the several lawsuits and antitrust proceedings that Microsoft went through as its competitors like Oracle and Novell tried to reign in the juggernaut Microsoft had become. They feared that Microsoft would monopolise the desktop space and crush innovation. While this may be interesting for some, this reader found it boring. Similarly the chapter on Bill Gates marriage, but then again the book sub title is Bill Gates and the Race to Control Cyberspace - so I guess these areas of subject need to be covered.

The book really shines when Wallace gets on to the subject of the internet and the speed to get to market first with an internet browser. The style of writing is easy and informative.

[Joaquin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entré esperando la guerra de navegadores y me encontré con un libro más volcado en el arranque de MSN y en el desgaste de los pleitos antimonopolio; el cambio de foco me dejó frío.

Overdrive sigue a Gates y a Microsoft en la mitad de los noventa y apuesta por explicar cómo la compañía quiso construir su propio carril de Internet con MSN mientras lidiaba con la presión del Departamento de Justicia y el escrutinio público. La batalla técnica de Internet Explorer aparece, pero como telón de fondo; la narrativa principal se queda en la política corporativa, la estrategia defensiva y el impacto legal.

El problema, para quien buscaba el duelo Netscape vs IE con detalle, es claro: el foco se desplaza. Falta profundidad técnica sobre el desarrollo de IE, sobre cómo se ganaron cuotas de mercado o sobre la integración con Windows; en cambio abunda la crónica de pasillos legales y la cronología de la causa antimonopolio. El resultado es una lectura que informa, pero no sacia a quien quería la trinchera del browser war.

Lo recomiendo a lectores interesados en la cocina ejecutiva y regulatoria de Microsoft en los noventa; menos a quienes quieran la anatomía táctica y técnica de la batalla de navegadores.

[Dolores Marconi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read the book less than a year after it was published and just looked in the book and found a couple of S.F. Chronicle news clippings about Microsoft folded inside! The title is "Microsoft Has Mixed Day of News" By Julia Angwin: MS hit with a lawsuit from Sun Microsystems as Windows 98 is about to be released. Sun asked Windows to Clean up the "polluted" version of Java and Include the actual version! Other news was a federal appeals court ruled that the injunction against Windows 95 will not apply to Windows 98. All I remember is that I was on publishing news and magazine print on Macs and Windows was not even set up for print publishing houses until XP finally came out.

[Craig McCallum · Rating 5 out of 5]

I especially like the fact that I'm actually quoted in the book!

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent. (This review was written in July 2011, a few years after reading the book.)