Speeding the Net: The Inside Story of Netscape and How It Challenged Microsoft

By Joshua Quittner and Michelle Slatalla

Book Overview

Combining the hacker savvy of Tracey Kidder's Soul of a New Machine with the riveting drama of the first great corporate conflict waged on the turf of cyberspace, Speeding the Net is the story of how a crew of talented computer jocks at the University of Illinois turned the computer world upside down by creating the essential tool for navigating the World Wide Web -- the web browser.They created it for fun, but after Silicon Valley visionary and entrepreneur Jim Clark showed up in the middle of a snowstorm and hired them on the spot, they were soon part of one of the most dramatic initial public offerings (IPOs) in the history of Wall Street, had built their company into a dollar 2.2 billion business, and were forcing Bill Gates's Microsoft to reevaluate its entire business strategy. Speeding the Net gives an inside account of the ensuing cat and mouse game between Netscape, which held an early lead in the so-called browser wars, and Microsoft, which has always been notorious for zeroing in on its opposition -- and crushing it. Win, lose, or draw, however, Netscape's corporate culture of speed -- developing new programs and bringing them to market in under six months, then giving them away for free -- has already transformed the way Silicon Valley does business and the way the world communicates.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0871137097
• ISBN13: 9780871137098
• Release Date: January 1998
• Publisher: Grove/Atlantic
• Length: 323 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Wonderful!

This is a great book! This is my generation and I wish I was a part of this exciting company in it's hay-day. I found it hard to put this book down since the story was written in such a way that actually got my adrenalin pumping. These guys were doing what they loved to do, were dedicated to getting it done regardless of the hours and were all paid handsomely in reward. I hope some day to be part of such an exciting company.

A good read for just about everyone

The book gives interesting details about every person remotely involved in the making of Netscape (and Mosaic), and although it's non-fiction, it's exaggerated and humorous enough to be entertaining. You definitely get your money's worth. Oh, and it's educational, too!

The Fascinating Challenge

I think anybody who wants to understand why yhe Internet became a defacto should read this book and see how Netscape lead the industry. I was able to combine all the developments I had been reading about. You also explore the challenge of a start-up from the programmers point of view.

What the People Want-Better Products

This book tell how the creators of the browser left the college environment because it was too bureaucratic. What Andresson and CO came up with when they invented the first user friendly browser enables you to do what you are doing now-purchasing books online. The applications for the internet are still expanding into how Andresson and his crew of visonaries thought they would. The book shows how they knew that Microshite would eventually catch on to the new business and either try to buy them out or crush them by simply tying a copycat piece of software (internet exploder)to its Windows operating system. The book is clearly written and relatively jargon free. Software concepts and their practical applications are explained so the non-techie can understand. Speeding the Net has you rooting to for Netscape. The sequel Speeding the Net and beyond should have a happy ending as Netscape continues to hold up well under the Microsoft onslaught. When you read about the incredibly smart, idealisitic and innovative people @ Netscape, you realize why Netscape is still in business. A fascinating and well told story of the real American Dream.

A must-have if you're sick of canned media coverage

My only complaint with this book is it wasn't long enough. I read it in two sittings, taking one break to eat. It was very readable and incredibly interesting.The most important point of the book, in my opinion, is what I scream at the TV set every time our know-nothing government officials fight about whether MicroSloth can put an IE icon on the Win 95 desktop -- that point being that it is entirely impossible to compete with a company who writes both the operating system and the products that run on it, and the anti-trust lawsuits are completely missing the point.This point seems to be lost on the general public and our government. The book offers numerous concrete examples of how Gates & Co. use their inside knowledge of the Windows OS to write programs that outperformed Netscape, while at the same time withholding that information from Netscape for months on end.This book should be required reading by all the Department of Justice folks.