Introduction

Cast of Characters

1. DOUBLE BILL The feds could not be allowed to stand in the way of all the "cool" things he wanted to do.

2. FEDS Washington thought he smelled a rat.

3. BUGS The man took out a bottle with black powder and a little brush. He dusted the three devices carefully. No fingerprints showed up.

4. LABYRINTH Was it just a "head fake," a deliberate attempt to fool the market?

5. MICROCOSM "We're not stupid. We know how to walk a fine line."

6. THE TRIGGER "If you're going to kill someone... you just pull the trigger."

7. DISCOVERY "People were unwilling to commit, unwilling to work with us... despite the fact that everyone in sight said we had the only pen operating system around and it was a fine piece of technology."

8. TURNSTILE "Why take the risk with all the compatibility problems that DR DOS has had?"

9. AUNTIE MAME "Who at Microsoft gets up in the morning thinking about how to compete with these guys in the short term, specifically-cut their revenues?"

10. UPSTREAM "We suspect Microsoft's conduct is far more widespread than suggested here."

11. DISAPPEARING ACT Microsoft was offering to pay "virtually nothing," only the opportunity to "bask in the Microsoft orb."

12. MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION While the industry dallied, dawdled, and dozed, Microsoft was getting fatter and more powerful.

13. SETTLEMENT "I will not be two-timed by Bill Gates"

14. HARDBALL "If the places where we've identified the gold in these markets... [are] turned over to Microsoft's internal personnel...it's like handing Goliath a submachine gun."

15. LAST RITES "Jim: For all of what Lotus has been... both body and soul. Thanks."

16. BOMBS Gates made the covers of magazines all over the world for his gesture, which was seen as a huge act of generosity.

17. THE DONUT WHEEL Like some gleeful Cerberus, [Klein] was aiming the maw of the court order straight at Gates' trouser seat.

Acknowledgments

Index