Summary: The Road Ahead

Review and Analysis of Gates' Book

BusinessNews Publishing

• Publisher: Must Read Summaries
• Year: 2016
• eBook ISBN: 9782511018736
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: IT Industry
• Index: Business

The must-read summary of Bill Gates' book: `The Road Ahead: How the Emerging Technologies of the Digital Age Will Transform Everyone's Lives`.

This complete summary of the ideas from Bill Gates' book `The Road Ahead` explains how the emerging technologies of the information highway have the ability to transform the life of every person on the planet. In his book, the author highlights the twelve points that will feature in the road ahead and why you should be prepared to face them.

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To learn more, read `The Road Ahead` and understand how the information economy is set to change the way we do business, work, learn and communicate forever.

Summary of The Road Ahead (Bill Gates)

1. A REVOLUTION BEGINS

Main Idea

Worldwide, many thousands of companies and governments are committed to the same vision - of being able to interconnect every home and office to a high-speed network which can access vast amounts of information. Many individuals and companies are basing their futures on making that vision a reality.

The free exchange of information around the world on a high-speed high-capacity network will completely restructure the established order of global commercial enterprise and business.

Supporting Ideas

The term ‘‘information superhighway which has been popularized extensively by the media was first promoted by Senator Al Gore (prior to his becoming Vice-President of the United States of America).

The problem with using a highway for a metaphor for the ready access to all types of information is that it emphasizes the infrastructure rather than the benefits. In the final analysis, however, the mechanism for delivering information takes is far less important than considering the changes which will take place when every person on the planet has ready access to vast amounts of information.

A more accurate metaphor for the coming information age would be to visualize the world’s largest department store or a vast stock exchange, many times larger than the New York Stock Exchange. The global information market will combine in one place a limitless number of means of exchanging goods, services and ideas. Information stored in a digital format will become the most widely accepted medium of exchange.

On a practical level, the global information market will impact on every human activity, giving people much broader choices in everything they do.

Just as the development of the printing press by Johann Gutenberg in 1450 changed Western culture forever, the coming information age will transform the culture of every country in the world just as dramatically. This transition will not happen overnight - it will take decades for the information infrastructure to develop and reach the mass market.

Bill Gates and Paul Allen managed to build Microsoft from a two-man shoestring operation to a company with 17,000 employees and $6 billion in revenues mainly by having the vision to ask: ‘‘What if computing were nearly free?” In that situation, software becomes vitally important, and Microsoft always worked on the business premise that software is the difference.

At the present time, the relevant question to be considering is: ‘‘What if communicating was almost free?” The person or company who can best answer this question at present stands a very good chance of being able to best position themselves for commercial success as the global information economy evolves and matures.

Key Thoughts

“Little by little, the machine will become a part of humanity.”

– Antoine de Saint-Exupery

2. THE BEGINNING OF THE INFORMATION AGE

Main Idea

The information age will be noted for the development of high-speed, low-cost machines which can process and transmit information to any place on the planet. The genesis of the information age began when computers were developed.

Supporting Ideas

Periods of history (such as the Bronze Age and the Iron Age were named for the emergence of new materials used in tools and weapons. Yet, the concept of an Information Age seems vague simply because information isn’t as tangible and measurable as the materials which have previously been used.

Already information is becoming vitally important - even as the cost of possessing and transmitting usable information continues to drop. In the present economy, the possession of information at a critical time can completely dictate the economic fortunes of a person, a company or even an entire country.

Most of the information currently being produced is being stored electronically. It may be printed on paper for ease of distribution at the present time, but most of it is now stored in computer databases. Information stored that way can be recalled, compared and re fashioned at will.

Some of the key milestones in the development of computers which laid the foundation for the information economy are:

1642 : The 19-year old French scientist Blaise Pascal invents the mechanical calculator.

1830s : British mathematician Charles Babbage develops the ‘‘Analytical Engine’’ - a steam po...

Table of contents

• Title page
• Book Presentation
• Summary of The Road Ahead (Bill Gates)
• About the Summary Publisher
• Copyright