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Gates Hastily Revises 'The Road Ahead' After Underestimating the Internet
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Bill Gates's 1995 bestseller 'The Road Ahead' is now remembered partly for what it got wrong: the first edition centered on a coming 'information superhighway' and mentioned the internet only in passing, reflecting Microsoft's early bet on its proprietary MSN service. As the open internet exploded, Gates reversed course fast — issuing his 1995 'Internet Tidal Wave' memo and substantially rewriting the book for its 1996 paperback, adding some 20,000 words to acknowledge the internet was transforming everything faster than even he had anticipated. It stands as a notable case of Gates being slow to see a shift, then pivoting hard.
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