Just wanted to pop in and recommend a Bloomberg article from back in January:
It’s an excellent piece. Although, for anyone who’s watched Power On, there’s a fair bit of repetition, especially early in the article, but there’s enough new stuff that I don’t hesitate to recommend it.
Timeline wise, it’s basically a text version of the first three episodes of the doc. Content wise, there’s several differences. One of which is the inclusion of J Allard and Steve Ballmer, who apparently agreed to be interviewed for this article, but not the documentary. So you actually get to hear a bit from them about the Valentine’s Massacre, which I found interesting. Especially Ballmer’s side of it.
Another interesting difference is you hear a bit more about Microsoft’s early thoughts on acquisitions, like their interest in buying Square and Midway, and also get quotes from developers, like Todd Howard of Bethesda and Itagaki of Tecmo. And there’s a big section about the Bungie acquisition, with quotes from Alex Seropian and others. All good stuff.
Anyway, even if you’re familiar with the story I find it worthwhile.