BUSINESS AT THE SPEED OF THOUGHT
by
bill Gates
ALSO By BILL GATES
The Road Ahead
BUSINESS AT THE SPEED OF THOUGHT:
USING A DIGITAL NERVOUS SYSTEM
BILL GATES
WITH COLLINs HEMINGWAY 0
VMNER BOOKS
A Time Warner Company To my wife, Melinda, and my daughter, Jennifer
Many of the product names referred to herein are trademarks or
registered trademarks of their respective owners.
Copyright (D 1999 by William H. Gates, III All rights reserved.
Warner Books, Inc, 1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
Visit our Web site at www.warnerbooks.com
0 A Time Warner Company
Printed in the United States of America
First Printing: March 1999
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
ISBN: 0-446-52568-5
LC: 99-60040
Text design by Stanley S. Drate lFolio Graphics Co Inc Except as

indicated, artwork is by Gary Carter, Mary Feil-jacobs, Kevin
Feldhausen, Michael Moore, and Steve Winard.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I first want to thank my collaborator, Collins Hemingway, for his help
in synthesizing and developing the material in this book and for his
overall management of this project.
I want to thank four CEOs who read a late draft of the manuscript and
offered valuable thoughts on how to make it more meaningful for
business leaders: Paul O'Neill, Alcoa; Ivan Seidenberg, Bell Atlantic;
Tony Nicely, GEICO Insurance; and Ralph Larsen, Johnson & Johnson.
Details on the use of technology by business and public agencies came
from worldwide travel and research by Collins and by Jane Glasser.
Barbara Leavitt, Evelyn Vasen,and Ken Linarelli researched one or more
chapters. The book gained from the careful editing of Erin O'Connor
during manuscript development. Anne Schott served as combination
research assistant and project coordinator.
I want to thank Bob Kruger and Tren Griffin who offered thoughtful
comments on many chapters as the book progressed. And Steve Ballmer,
Bob Herbold, and Jeff Raikes for their thoughts about the book's
organization and focus. David Vaskevitch, Rich Tong, Gary Voth, and
Mike Murray helped shape important ideas. For their review comments
thanks to Mich Mathews and John Pinette.
Thanks also to Larry Kirshbaum, chairman and CEO of Time Warner Trade
Publishing, and Rick Horgan, VP and executive editor of Warner Books,
for their incisive feedback. Thanks to Kelli Jerome, who has now
managed the worldwide marketing of both of my books in a smooth and
professional manner, and to Lee Anne Staller for her help in sales.
At Warner, thanks also to Harvey-Jane Kowal, VP and executive managing
editor, and Bob Castillo, senior pro duction editor, aswell as Sona
Vogel, copy editor, for their editorial assistance.
With all the search capabilities provided by technology, the
researchers at the Microsoft Library remained an in valuable resource:
Laura Bain, Kathy Brost, Jill Burger, Lynne Busby, Peggy Crowley, Erin
Fields, April Hill, Susan Hoxie, Jock McDonald, Tammy Pearson, K.C.

Rich, Deborah Robinson, Christine Shannon, Mary Taylor, Dawn Zeh, and
Brenda Zurbi. For their general assistance, thanks to Christine Turner
and Gordon Lingley This work gained enormously from the assistance of
many people at Microsoft and others closely associated AMA with our
company. There are far too many people to mention here. I appreciate
your help and support.
Finally, Business @ the Speed of Thought was possible only because of
the commitment in time and energy of ,many of Microsoft's customers and
partners. We were all amazed and encouraged by the willingness of
customers to talk frankly about their successes and challenges, about
their business and technical issues. These customers are listed in a
special section at the end of the book.
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION Xiii INFOPLMATION FLOW IS YOUR, LIFEBLOOD
2 CAN YOUR DIGITAL NERVOUS SYSTEM Do THIS?

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Business at the speed of thought-BillGate