BKOVRDRV.RVW   980220

"Overdrive: Bill Gates and the Race to Control Cyberspace", James
Wallace, 1997, 0-471-18041-6, U$24.95/C$34.95/UK#16.99
%A   James Wallace
%C   5353 Dundas Street West, 4th Floor, Etobicoke, ON   M9B 6H8
%D   1997
%G   0-471-18041-6
%I   Wiley
%O   U$24.95/C$34.95/UK#16.99 416-236-4433 lwhiting@jwiley.com
%P   307 p.
%T   "Overdrive: Bill Gates and the Race to Control Cyberspace"

Although it occasionally refers to earlier episodes, the book
concentrates on Gates, and Microsoft, from 1992 (where "Hard Drive",
[cf. BKHRDDRV.RVW] left off) until 1996.  Since this period of the
company's existence was marked by lawsuits and investigations by the
US Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department, it is very timely
as a backgrounder to the current legal woes at Microsoft.

The book covers a lot of ground, moving from topic to topic in a
logically connected style that makes the reading flow easily.  The
stories are very personal, in that they trace friendships and enmity
across companies, products, people, and events.  A number of the
stories are a kind of trivia filler, developed in a paragraph and
never heard from again.  There are also some journalistic discoveries
about the world's richest man.  It makes for an interesting read,
although sometimes the reader gets caught in an analysis of whether
this item is important or not.  Most of the time the text is quite
authoritative, faltering mostly when the author is probably being most
careful, such as when there are conflicting accounts of the
involvement of a given individual in a given incident.

Wallace's work is well-researched and witty, but not always
technically informed.  The Internet is half of the subject of the
book, and yet Wallace seems unaware of the explosive growth the
Internet enjoyed even before the availability of the World Wide Web. 
Also, Tim Berners-Lee did not just invent HTML (HyperText Markup
Language): arguably his larger contribution was the HTTP (HyperText
Transfer Protocol) specification which governs the interaction between
Web browsers and clients, allowing HTML to function.  Once again, this
lack of accuracy in detail will raise flags in the technical reader as
to the veracity of other parts of the account.  Those who know
something of the history of personal computers, however, will find
sufficiently faithful retailing of other occurrences to restore trust.

copyright Robert M. Slade, 1998   BKOVRDRV.RVW   980220