Barbarians Led by Bill Gates

Barbarians Led by Bill Gates is a timely but uneven behind-the-scenes peek at the software-industry leader, Microsoft Corp. Although individual incidents, such as Microsoft's foray into a pen-based interface, are worth noting, they don't add up to a substantially new perception of the company. It's a story we've heard before. Perhaps Barbarians loses focus precisely because it tries to adopt such a broad perspective toward its subject. The book's prose doesn't help; the wooden writing is obvious from the resounding thud made by jokes such as "Beware of geeks bearing gifts." -- UpsideAlthough readers not particularly enamored of computer culture will be bored silly, for those interested ... Edstrom and Eller dish up the dirt.... While the book can be entertaining, the sound of large axes being ground becomes quite noticeable. -- The New York Times Book Review, J.D. Biersdorfer