I just read the book "Accidental Empires" by Robert X. Cringely that was the
basis for the PBS movie, "Triumph of the Nerds." The book deals primarily
with the early personalities who were instrumental to the success of Apple
and Microsoft. It is very liberally sprinkled with Cringely's ideas of why
the major players were successful as well as the mistakes they made. I
found it a bit disappointing in that very little mention is made of CP/M,
its history, or the associated people, companies, and machines. However a
lot of Apple and Microsoft history gets included and I found the anecdotes
to be most interesting! I wouldn't call it a "must read" but rather
something that gives one authors perspective on the happenings and sometimes
behind the scenes events that created this industry.