The Microsoft File: The Secret Case Against Bill Gates

The Microsoft File is a great read and an incredible work of investigative journalism. Published originally a few months before the Microsoft trial began, it turned out to be prophetic and revealed a goldmine of information that had been kept secret from the public. Rohm collected internal Microsoft documents including email from Bill Gates himself, to document her account of Microsoft's predatory activities over the past decade. Bravo ! Rohm is the Ida Tarbell of the information age. Her book is the current day version of Tarbell's masterpiece "The History of Standard Oil." Not to be missed.

This book purports to tell the reader how the world's leading software company REALLY became so big and dominant, and indeed we find that the reality is rather different from the PR myth. And yes, based largely on unnamed sources as it is, I find this book far more believable than any official Microsoft version of events, or any MS denouncement of the author's reporting for that matter. (Hey, think about it: no publisher would put out a book with THIS many serious charges against "the richest man in the world" and his company, if they weren't confident of the author's work!) Clearly exhaustively researched, the book provides detailed and engaging accounts of numerous business deals in which MS was a factor or an active player. So, we get to see just how underhanded MS and its top executives could be at times, often stabbing supposed business partners (Go and IBM, among others) squarely in the back. There are tons of fascinating relevations and new perspectives on a variety of events: the Apple stock purchase; the 'AARD' code in Windows 3.1; the FTC and Justice Department antitrust activities with regard to MS (or lack thereof); shifting a major computer manufacturer (Germany's Vobis) from DR-DOS to MS-DOS...the list goes on. The key to the book's success at accomplishing its stated purpose is the abundance of MS memos, email, and other documentation somehow dug up by Rohm, that tell "the real story" behind so much of what MS has done and is doing. In particular, we see Gates and other top executives making it clear that their goal is to dominate every market and freeze out all competition, NOT to "innovate" and make the best products as they like to claim publicly. I doubt "make Gates look like trash" was a goal for the author, but the picture of Gates that emerges sure isn't a pretty one. He's revealed as ruthless and ridiculously paranoid about anyone else who might actually market a competing product. Is the mighty MS afraid that others could very well make better products? Maybe that's the real reason they are so obsessed with stamping out competition, and continue their efforts to lock everyone into an all-Microsoft, all-the-time, world. There's plenty more interesting stuff where this came from...if the bits I mentioned sound the least bit intriguing, grab a copy of the book, I bet you won't regret it.

Before I read this obviously well researched book I was among those who thought that our government was "picking on" Mr. Gates and Microsoft. But my feelings on this matter have completely turned around after reading Ms. Goldman Rohm's written case against Microsoft. The true facts concerning such practices as intimidating PC manufacturers, using drastic price reductions to force competing companies to fail and other abominable ways of trying to corner the market are well documented in this fine book. The arrogance of Mr. Gates and his upper management comes through loud and clear. This book is easy to read and very hard to put down once it's started.

Much of what this book contains one already suspects, but to see it all in print and supported by references gives one hope that all is not lost, and that one day we can move beyond Microsoft.

This book defines an era through the dark glass of corporate life and the the computer industry. It's a fascinating and disturbing story. We follow the dangerous and oddly sad Bill Gates through the money fever of the late eighties to the present--standing on the brink of his own trial and our millenium. Rohm records this journey with an objective and dispassionate eye. Rohm's technique is wonderfully filmic--a series of quick cuts that catches the simultaneity of global events in the computer industry. The structure is dense, detailed, and multi-layered--a documentary style.It is an alarming story of our time. A courageous and important book.