ROADAHED.TXT

The problem with reviewing Bill Gates' new book -- once you've finished
chuckling at the stories going around about the poorly executed CD-ROM that
comes inside -- is that there's little in the book to push against or argue
with. It's full of statements like "It will be possible for a software
program to fabricate scenes that will look as real as anything created with
a camera" and "Over time -- longer in less developed countries -- we are
likely to see computers installed in every classroom in the world." It
even reprints Steiner's hackneyed New Yorker cartoon in which one dog tells
another, "On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog." As you read it, you
want to say "duh" or "nope" on occasion, but never "whoa!," "cool!" or "no
way, loser!"

The major problem, though, is that there's little of Gates in the book.
Sure, he writes 15 pages or so up front about how he, Paul Allen and Steve
Ballmer cranked things up in Albuquerque, and he describes how he gets a
woody when he thinks about the possibilities technology opens for all of us
(albeit in milder terms, of course). But most of the book is filled with
the requisite explanations of operating systems, cell relay communications,
bulletin boards and cable modems. They're necessary if it's to be readable
by ordinary mortals, but the explanations get in the way. After a while,
you feel like you're reading "Superhighway for Dummies," not a leader's
vision of where it's going to go.

So where is Gates? What's happened to him in his negotiations to reinvent
the world? Does he agree or disagree with his peers about what kind of
gravel and tar they should use on the superhighway? About how many urinals
to put in the rest stops? And how about some dish about the meetings he
constantly has with captains of industry and other world leaders? Surely
some of them have invited him to take part in vodoo ceremonies or have
ordered women for him at dinner. Being that large in the public eye has to
have some amusing consequences.

More than amusing anecdotes, I'd like to know what Gates believes about
people. Does he think we're mostly too dumb to see and seize opportunities
in front of us? Does he think we're smart and social but that our society
forces us to conform and controls all the tools? Or does he think database
marketing is the normal extension of traditional media, and that we'll all
be quite happy in a few years when they take the "Under Construction" signs
off the virtual overpasses? And say, what about that darned Exon bill and
access for the poor?

Smaller, more personal things would be useful, too. OK, so you like
trampolines; so do I. But do you post much on bulletin boards or cross-
dress in MUDs, or do you focus entirely on spreadsheets and e-mail? Aren't
you just drowning in e-mail? And what happened to you that convinced you
the Internet was a real phenomenon rather than a passing fad? After all,
you were ready to make the cable TV, fax, and copier industries use a
Morris Mini Minor version of Windows not much more than a year ago. What
made that a bad bet? Most of all, I'd like to know if Gates thinks we'll
ever really get away from eight-character filenames.

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