Hard drive
Chronicles the career of "Chairman Bill" Gates, the computer whiz kid who commands the powerful Microsoft computer software empire.
Stats for nerds
11recommend
19mentions
16people
2010–2025years
68% recommend32% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- I recommend reading "Idea Man" [1] by Paul Allen, Microsoft's cofounder, to understand the deep and early involvement he and Bill Gates had with computers.
I also recommend Hard Drive (1992) [2] for a deeper look into the business side of Bill Gates.
Regardless of any negative opinions about him, I believe Bill Gates was/is in a league of his own.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idea_Man
[2] https://www.amazon.com/Hard-Drive-Making-Microsoft-Empire/dp...
- I read Hard Drive by James Wallace and Jim Erickson a couple years ago. It was written between Windows 3.1 and 95. Super interesting to read Microsoft history from the perspective of that time period. I loved it.
- Microsoft success cannot be explained by the old story with IBM. Obviously Bill Gates has/had amazing skills, was lucky to born in a rich family, to be in the IBM deal, etc. All condiments that does not explain the Microsoft success until today. I think Microsoft has a record of unsuccessful projects while being successful as a business, as you say they don't use their own UI offerings and had zilliones but look at their balance sheet...
If it were by the original IBM tale, Xerox and others dead companies were thriving. I recommend to read "Idea Man", Paul Allen (Microsoft cofounder) autobiography. You will realize there was an incredible Bill Gates before the IBM deal. Also check the non-official chronicles of Bill Gates in "Hard Drive: Bill Gates and the Making of the Microsoft Empire" [2] (1993).
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idea_Man
[2] https://www.amazon.com/Hard-Drive-Making-Microsoft-Empire/dp...
- The author missed the Fred Wilson's MBA Mondays Archive [1] which personally was a great resource in the quest for my "business success" (whatever it means). There is a more organized and illustrated edition here [2]. BTW, I always return to some articles such as "Commission Plans" for Sales [3].
Regarding books: - Only the Paranoid Survive by Andrew Grove (Intel) [4]. It is always in my "pocket". It is real experience with pain points from a top CEO, not an academic exercise.
- Other books that are not focused on business but are more "epistemological". For example, "How Life Imitates Chess" by Garry Kasparov [5]. I don't know who created this title for the book though. Many autobiographies, in general, or good business biographies such as "Hard Drive: Bill Gates and the Making of the Microsoft Empire" [6].
[1] https://avc.com/category/mba-mondays/
[2] https://mba-mondays-illustrated.com/
[3] https://avc.com/2010/08/commission-plans/
[4] https://www.amazon.com/Only-Paranoid-Survive-Exploit-Challen...
[5] https://www.amazon.com/How-Life-Imitates-Chess-Boardroom/dp/...
[6] https://www.amazon.com/Hard-Drive-Making-Microsoft-Empire/dp...
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- - Build by Fadell
- Hard Drive by Wallace
- The Inmates Are Running the Asylum by Cooper
These three books are some of the best books in their respective categories. All three are about product design in a way. Build is about the development of the iPhone and Nest. Hard Drive is about the early history of MS and about the stunts Gates pulled to win. Inmates argues that programmers tend to hijack the product design process because they can (programmers write the code after all), and that products suffer as a result.
