Barbarians led by Bill Gates
by Jennifer Edstrom, Marlin Eller · first published 1998
80% recommend20% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Insider account of Microsoft's early days and internal power struggles, with entertaining anecdotes about how the company worked; recommended for readers curious about tech company history and culture.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
From the epoch-making 1983 Las Vegas launch of Windows to the ongoing Internet Explorer v. Netscape antitrust suit, this "developer's eye view" sets the record straight on any number of hotly debated - and often hotly litigated - turning points in the short but colorful history of the Information Age. How did Microsoft miss the Internet boat in the first place, letting Netscape capture the lead in Web browsers? How exactly did they - or didn't they? - rip off the Macintosh in the development of the Windows interface? What's the real story - the truth that eluded even GO Corporation CEO Jerry
Affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
Related books
2015–2023The Chip
T.R. Reid
Recommended by 3 · mentioned by 33 recommend · 3 mention3 recommend · 33 recommend
Showstopper
G. Pascal Zachary
Recommended by 17 · mentioned by 2217 recommend · 22 mention17 recommend · 2217 recommend
2016–2023Disrupted
Dan Lyons, Daniel Lyons
Recommended by 13 · mentioned by 2813 recommend · 28 mention13 recommend · 2813 recommend
2008–2024Crypto
Steven Levy
Recommended by 26 · mentioned by 3426 recommend · 34 mention26 recommend · 3426 recommend
2008–2026Microserfs
Douglas Coupland
Recommended by 48 · mentioned by 8448 recommend · 84 mention48 recommend · 8448 recommend
2008–2026Just for fun
Linus Torvalds, David Diamond
Recommended by 24 · mentioned by 4024 recommend · 40 mention24 recommend · 4024 recommend
2008–2026Where wizards stay up late
Katie Hafner, Katie Hefner, Matthew Lyon
Recommended by 86 · mentioned by 10986 recommend · 109 mention86 recommend · 10986 recommend
2007–2026Dealers of Lightning
Michael A. Hiltzik
Recommended by 74 · mentioned by 9674 recommend · 96 mention74 recommend · 9674 recommend
I'm so looking forward to someone from his timeframe write a memoir about Windows division of Longhorn/Vista/7/8 period. Something like Barbarians Led By Bill Gates. I bet Sinofsky's period would be as much polarizing.
on “Microsoft CEO Search: Stalemate” ↗…xenix on a 386 is an unusable dog or not, I've got an actual 386 about 6 feet away from me as I write this. I could even give you login if you want to live the pain. Windows 95 made compromises, read barbarians led by Bill Gates for a good rundown. It was never intended to be their network line (NT), but instead for traditional home computers. Internet explorer was super last minute that's why it was just licensed code from spyglass…
on “Windows 95 – How Does It Look Today?” ↗"Barbarians Led by Bill Gates" has a good overview of the internal power struggle over their online stagey at this juncture. They largely resisted the wider internet because it was already developed and based around Unix tools and…
on “Email from Bill (1993)” ↗There is a strangely titled book written by one of the early Microsoft employee called "Barbarians Led by Bill Gates" which describes authors interactions with Myrvold. It's a very enlightening and entertaining book to learn more about how Myrvold works. One of the incidence in this book is as follows: Myrvold one…
on “PlainSite Exposes 2,000 Intellectual Ventures Shell Companies” ↗According to "Barbarians led by Bill Gates" this was an intentional choice justified by studies of number of clicks required to perform some tasks. Great book, btw.
on “Screenshots from developers and Unix people taken in 2002” ↗…strategic vision to see that software was not only going to be a viable industry, it was likely to be the most valuable computer industry. It seems like he was good but not a spectacular programmer himself. Barbarians Led By Bill Gates is a great book about the relatively early days of Microsoft--early enough that the book describes some instances of programmers finding and replacing Bill's code with better stuff. IIRC there is at least…
on “Apps for which macOS applies compatibillity fixes” ↗I greatly enjoyed "Barbarians Led by Bill Gates," which was written by an early Microsoft employee and contains a bunch of great stories about the tech and business of Microsoft. Another one is "Dreaming in Code," which details the efforts of Mitch…
on “Ask HN: Recommendations on books and documentaries on tech companies/people?” ↗I'm not a hardcore gamer, but I enjoyed Masters of Doom. Barbarians Led by Bill Gates is an older book, but interesting to get a sense of MS was like in earlier times. Isaacson's Steve Jobs is obviously focused on Job, but gives a good sense of the companies he ran while he was there.…
on “Ask HN: Recommendations on books and documentaries on tech companies/people?” ↗There two books that people rarely talk about so these are hidden gems: * Hard Drive: Bill Gates and the Making of the Microsoft Empire * Barbarians Led by Bill Gates You really have to get past the title of second book. It's not really about bashing Microsoft or Gates but account of thirteen-year Microsoft veteran Marlin Eller that you perhaps never heard of. That…
on “Windows NT and VMS: The Rest of the Story (1998)” ↗…about the financialization and bullshit of modern tech life. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disrupted:_My_Misadventure_in_... For a 90s take on that theme, try this one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbarians_Led_by_Bill_Gates It's worth quoting how microsoft responded to some groundbreaking technology from Go computing by Microsoft putting together a fabricated circus claiming they had matched the technology: Eller's group…
on “Ask HN: What are you learning?” ↗Go read Jerry Kaplan's book "startup" about the issues or "The barbarians led by bill gates" Price, supply, competition, software availability - all the classic problems that plagues all the "might have beens"; from the Atari Jaguar, the BeBox, Amiga, etc. There's plenty of brilliant ideas…
on “MacPaint and MacWrite First Public Demo (1984) [video]” ↗"Barbarians Led by Bill Gates" gives the history of the first 15 years or so of Windows. "Fire in the Valley" a good history of the Silicon Valley through the original PC boom. "Exploding the Phone" a history of phone phreaking.…
on “The Joy of Computer History Books” ↗“Barbarians Led by Bill Gates” is required reading on the matter.
on “Was Windows 1.0's lack of overlapping windows a legal or a technical matter?” ↗…to create something quick that's workable doesn't really indicate that you're a good programmer. As far as never hearing anything about it, I based the statement on a couple personal accounts. But "Barbarians Led By Bill Gates: Microsoft From The Inside" has an account of at least one programmer calling Gates code terrible. The programmer in question co-wrote the book so you have to take it with a grain of salt but it seems…
on “How to Become As Rich As Bill Gates” ↗Maybe I'm just not aware of the evidence. The skullduggery in "Barbarians Led by Bill Gates" looks to be absent these days
on “From 0/10 to 8/10: Microsoft Puts Repair Front and Center” ↗