In a study complete with CD-ROM, the founder of Microsoft presents his vision for the future in which he sees the digital technologies of the coming years changing the way we buy, work, learn, and communicate. Reprint.

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"The Road Ahead" is very much primarily an easy-to-read IT textbook. This book tells you what lies ahead in the future for everyday living world of computers. Will everyone in the world have access to computers in our future? Will everyone gain access to the Internet? Will we be able to walk in a store and pick out whatever we want to, and walk out of the store without being a shoplifter? Read this amazing book and find out the answers to these questions and more.

It also includes CD-ROM containing the complete text of the book, a dictionary with multimedia hyperlinks and an interview with Bill Gates. It is still extraordinary. This CD-ROM illustrates the future of electronic publishing.

I interviewed Bill Gates in 1990 when he visited Moscow for the first time to introduce the very first Microsoft product in Russian language. It was MS-DOS 4.0. Then I wrote several books on MS-DOS and IT for beginners.

Bill Gates was worth "only" $2.5 billion in 1990. It is estimated that hundreds million people today have personal computers in their home. Over ninety-five percent of them are operating Windows Operating Systems. Today Microsoft really enjoys the self-made monopoly. Although many people don't like Bill Gates personally because he's so rich, I wish good luck to Microsoft Corp. and the Microsoft team. And at the same time I also wish good luck to all young entrepreneurs who will start their companies and deprive Microsoft of its reins eventually. This is the capitalism, ladies and gentlemen! This is a great system with opportunities for everyone with guts.

This is a must have book for anyone pursuing a career in computers, the computer hobbyist and the Mac users, too. Get this book today and have it in your library. I highly recommend it, especially to people new to computers and the digital revolution.

6 of 6 found the following review helpful:

Gates' dreams...Jun 13, 1999

I bought the book couple of days ago and it didn't take me much time to through. What genuinely surprised me is the number of Mr. Gates' thoughts about the Info Highway that came true: customizable portals, fight for broadband between phone and cable companies, online auctions and etc. I don't recall any other so called "visionaries" and "experts" talking about it in back 1995...

Many people don't like Gates because he's so rich, but I think that he and all Microsoft (yes, MS is not Bill Gates alone!) team deserved it for all their hard work and vision. I think that Bill Gates' success is that Microsoft managed to create the world where its products are the most needed ones to allow his company to stay on the top... He and his team deserve full credit for this feat.

At the same time I wish good luck to all young entrepreneurs who will start their companies and deprive Microsoft of its reins eventually. This is the capitalism, a great system with opportunities for everyone with guts.

16 of 20 found the following review helpful:

Homemade SuccessFeb 17, 2000

The Road Ahead is a novel about how computer technology effects our lives. The book explains how Bill Gates was introduced to computers at the young age of 13 (a rarity in 1969). He also practicly designed software for an entire computer terminal at age 13 1/2. Bill's obsession carried him through grade school and then through high school. Eventually, he got into Harvard University. While in Harvard he designed more advanced software for a brand new computer he saw in a magazine. When Bill tried to give his software to various companies they rejected him. Discouraged, Gates dropped out of Harvard after his sophomore year. After dropping out he decided to star his own company. Perhaps you have heard of it, the most successful homemade software company in the world, Microsoft.

Bill Gates is obviously the most important character in the book. He is a persistent and determined man. He is very bright, and his life revolves completely around computers. Because of Gate's hard work, he is one of the wealthiest men in the world.

I would recommend this book to everyone. I feel that people can easily relate to this wonderful story. The theme is, when you have a goal, you can reach it with work, and lots of it. This definitely applies to everyday life. Although Bill is a billionaire, he still handles himself like a normal person. Bill Gates is classy, intelligent, and respectable. He is truly quite a man!

8 of 9 found the following review helpful:

The cover is the best part...Nov 06, 1999
By Alissa Mower Clough "teleny"
All right, maybe I'm misjudging it. The CD is entertaining. This isn't a revolutionary tome written by a techno-visionary inventor, it's more a nice little pamphlet introducing people to Our Friend, Mr. Computer. Having read it 4 years ago, I found it just as vapid as Donald Trump's Art of the Deal: you find the same self-congratulation packaged as wisdom, but since Trump never claimed to be doing anything new, it's even worse. You get a techno-primer on such things as the binary system, a cute picture of a boy Gates fooling with a PDP-8, a lot of talk about his way-kewl house, and a CD-ROM showing off what life is going to be like in a Windows-centric future. Rereading it, it's amazing how much this "visionary" got wrong: stick to bridge, Bill, you're better off.

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