ABSTRACT

In one of the “Bill” meetings, probably on June 6 or 7, the xBox team arrived with two items. One was prototype of what a Microsoft console might look like. Between March and June 1999 several “Bill” meetings took place in which competing visions for Microsoft’s game system strategy vied for Bill Gates’ approval. In its way, each successive meeting was a go/no go situation—convincing Gates at each occasion that the ideas being put forth were at least worth pursuing further. An unofficial group of people from different divisions at Microsoft—DRG, DirectX, and Windows. Along with a strategy of diversion and political infighting, they were actively seeking allies, talking to key people around the company, gaining their perspectives, addressing their concerns, and securing their support—people like Rick Rashid at Microsoft Research, Ed Fries, Robbie Bach, Stuart Moulder, and others.