Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

World War 3.0: Microsoft, the US Government, and the Battle for the New Economy

Rate this book
The Internet Revolution, like all great industrial changes, has made the world's elephantine media companies tremble that their competitors-whether small and nimble mice or fellow elephants-will get to new terrain first and seize its commanding heights. In a climate in which fear and insecurity are considered healthy emotions, corporate violence becomes commonplace. In the blink of an eye-or the time it has taken slogans such as "The Internet changes everything" to go from hyperbole to banality-"creative destruction" has wracked the global economy on an epic scale.

No one has been more powerful or felt more fear or reacted more violently than Bill Gates and Microsoft. Afraid that any number of competitors might outflank them-whether Netscape or Sony or AOL Time Warner or Sun or AT&T or Linux-based companies that champion the open-source movement or some college student hacking in his dorm room-Microsoft has waged holy war on all foes, leveraging its imposing strengths.

In World War 3.0, Ken Auletta chronicles this fierce conflict from the vantage of its most important theater of operations: the devastating second front opened up against Bill Gates's empire by the United States government. The book's narrative spine is United States v. Microsoft, the government's massive civil suit against Microsoft for allegedly stifling competition and innovation on a broad scale. With his superb writerly gifts and extraordinary access to all the principal parties, Ken Auletta crafts this landmark confrontation into a tight, character- and incident-filled courtroom drama featuring the best legal minds of our time, including David Boies and Judge Richard Posner. And with the wisdom gleaned from covering the converging media, software, and communications industries for The New Yorker for the better part of a decade, Auletta uses this pivotal battle to shape a magisterial reckoning with the larger war and the agendas, personalities, and prospects of its many combatants.


From the Hardcover edition.

Audio

First published January 1, 2001

Loading interface...
Loading interface...

About the author

Ken Auletta

23 books95 followers
Ken Auletta has written Annals of Communications columns and profiles for The New Yorker magazine since 1992. He is the author of eleven books, including five national bestsellers: Three Blind Mice: How the TV Networks Lost Their Way; Greed And Glory On Wall Street: The Fall of The House of Lehman; The Highwaymen: Warriors of the Information Super Highway; World War 3.0: Microsoft and Its Enemies; and Googled, The End of the World As We Know It, which was published in November of 2009.

Auletta has won numerous journalism honors. He has been chosen a Literary Lion by the New York Public Library, and one of the 20th Century's top 100 business journalists by a distinguished national panel of peers.

For two decades Auletta has been a national judge of the Livingston Awards for journalists under thirty-five. He has been a Trustee and member of the Executive Committee of the Public Theatre/New York Shakespeare Festival. He was a member of the Columbia Journalism School Task Force assembled by incoming college President Lee Bollinger to help reshape the curriculum. He has served as a Pulitzer Prize juror and a Trustee of the Nightingale-Bamford School. He was twice a Trustee of PEN, the international writers organization. He is a member of the New York Public Library's Emergency Committee for the Research Libraries, of the Author's Guild, PEN, and of the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Auletta grew up on Coney Island in Brooklyn, where he attended public schools. He graduated with a B.S. from the State University College at Oswego, N.Y., and received an M.A. in political science from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University.

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
11 (12%)
4 stars
38 (42%)
3 stars
30 (33%)
2 stars
6 (6%)
1 star
4 (4%)
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
Profile Image for Dwayne Ackley.
88 reviews1 follower
January 10, 2009
Fantastic Book about Microsoft, it's competitors and the governments Anti-trust case in the late 90's, a case that changed Microsoft and the computer industry completely. David Boies is the hero of the book, building the case piece by piece and weaving a plot that showed Microsoft as a bully forcing competitors out of business.
17 reviews
Currently reading
February 19, 2012
Day 1: page 89 This book talks on a brief history of the computer, and the lawsuit between Microsoft and the government, with the almost-monopoly of Microsoft being sued for, well, being a market hog, and the stealing of business from Netscape when Microsoft introduced the free, better, Internet explorer. I expect the lawsuit will heat up and get more person

I picked this book from the library, due to its title, but ended up in something else, but I just continued reading because I was curious on what would happen.

I did not finish this book due to its length, and it started to get boring and old as you continue reading.

I think law students would enjoy this book, since it gives a real case scenario where they can practice their skills.
46 reviews2 followers
October 23, 2011
I listened to the audiobook and it's probably better that way due to the heavy legal terms. I really enjoyed this book and felt that it had a lot of insight about how Microsoft operated and how the legal teams chose to argue the case.
Profile Image for Christina.
11 reviews
July 27, 2010
This book was quite interesting but heavy going because of the amount of legal details included. Gives insight into the mindset of the top leaders of the company.
Profile Image for Mark.
Author 2 books19 followers
April 7, 2014
If you are into computer history(think soul of a new machine, hackers, etc) it's very good. If you dont know what those 2 books are dont bother reading it.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.