CODE 466
Hard Drive: Bill Gates and the Making of the Microsoft Empire
J Wallace & J Erickson (1996)

This biography chronicles William Gates' rise as the most powerful player in the computer industry--a man who has revolutionised the software industry with the incredible growth of his Microsoft company, that now threatens gigantic IBM. Reveals Gates' personal quirks and idiosyncrasies that helped fuel his fierce competitive spirit. Interviews Gates' closest friends, associates and former employees, and details IBM's as well as Apples' efforts to topple his Microsoft empire.

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CODE 467
Under the Radar: How Red Hat Changed the Software Business - and Took Microsoft by Surprise
R Young & W Goldman Rohm (1999)

Under The Radar provides an insider's view on the Open Source Movement versus the development of proprietary software, and how businesses are being influenced today by this phenomenon. Shares insider deal-making in the context of the history of Red Hat and its competitors. Covers the different factions surrounding the development of Linux. Discusses the impact of the Open Source Movement on the Windows platform. Provides insider information on how Red Hat Linux is affecting the business models of successful companies such as Compaq, Dell, HP, IBM, Netscape, Intel, and other Fortune 500 companies.

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CODE 468
On the Firing Line - My 500 Days at Apple
Gil Amelio (1999)

This is Gil Amelio's recollection of what happened as the occupant of Apple's hot seat. It's a revealing story of how a proven high-technology turnaround artist took on the biggest challenge of his career. Nothing could have prepared Amelio for the chaos that greeted him when became CEO. First there was the reversal he suffered at the hands of the in-house legal staff from day one that rendered his highly touted compensation package a sham. Then, rapidly, came the spiralling maelstrom of problems - financial, organizational, and creative - that threatened daily to sweep him and Apple into oblivion. Amelio exposes a company that continually undermines its own best efforts.

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CODE 469
Only the Paranoid Survive: How to Exploit the Crisis Points That Challenge Every Company
Andrew S. Grove (1999)

Under Andy Grove's leadership, Intel has become the world's largest chipmaker, the fifth-most-admired company in America, and the seventh-most-profitable company among the Fortune 500. You don't achieve rankings like these unless you have mastered a rare understanding of the art of business. Few CEOs can claim this level of consistent record-breaking success. Grove attributes much of this success to the philosophy and strategy he reveals in Only the Paranoid Survive--a book that is unique in leadership annals for offering a bold new business measure, and for taking the reader deep inside the workings of a major corporation.

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CODE 470
Odyssey - Pepsi to Apple
John Sculley (1994)

John Sculley reveals the key events and marketing techniques that catapulted him from being head of Pepsi-Cola Co. to leader of the most innovative company of all - Apple Computer. As Pepsi's vice president Sculley launched, and won, the Cola wars. Then he astounded the business world by rising to a challenge from Steven Jobs, founder of the high-risk Apple computer company. "Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water, or do you want to change the world?" Odyssey is Sculley's vividly told account of the series of successes and disasters that marked Apple's transformation from entrepreneurial upstart to one of America's best-run corporations.

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CODE 473
AOL.com
Kara Swisher (1999)

Reveals how America Online became the world's biggest Internet service. In AOL.com, Wall Street Journal reporter Swisher provides an insider's account of how a small computer games service became a multibillion-dollar powerhouse serving more than 12 million subscribers. Going beyond the headlines, Swisher puts readers in the passenger seat of one of the most gut-wrenching roller coaster rides any company has ever taken. The key to AOL's success has been CEO Case's vision of what an online service could be -- not just a shopping center or a business tool, but a real community.

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CODE 474
The Plot to Get Bill Gates - An Irreverent Investigation of the World's Richest Man ... And the People Who Hate Him
Gary Rivlin (2000)

This book is the true, hilarious story of a loosely knit cabal of Silicon Valley's most successful leaders and their quest to defeat the richest man in the world. Lead players are Lawrence Ellison of Oracle, Scott McNealy of Sun Microsystems, Ray Noorda of Novell, Marc Andreessen and James Barksdale of Netscape, and Philippe Kahn of Borland. The author describes each man's ill-fated attempt at besting Gates, who seems to become bigger, hungrier, and more dangerous after each attack. Rivlin also conducts an in-depth investigation of Gates himself, unearthing the most telling details to explain why Gates is so rich and we aren't.