If a company"s soul is defined by its employees, Cheryl Tsang"s Microsoft First Generation offers the definitive look at the way one of the world"s top corporations has really been shaped. In straightforward but perceptive profiles, Tsang introduces a dozen key individuals hired by Bill Gates and Paul Allen before 1990--when the primary focus was creation and development, rather than growth and maintenance. They are mathematician-programmer Bob O"Rear (hired two years before Microsoft relocated from Albuquerque to Seattle), technical writer Russell Borland, programmer Richard Brodie, senior vice president Scott Oki, chief information officer Neil Evans, CPA Dave Neir, Ida Cole (the first female VP), CD-ROM author Min Yee, technical manager Ron Harding, publishing-systems manager Russell Steele, Asian-business-development manager Paul Sribhibhadh, and senior diversity administrator Trish Millines Dziko. "The people who comprised Microsoft"s first generation were exactly right for their time. They were the pioneers," Tsang writes. "The founders of Microsoft were shrewd to have hired them, for the company"s monumental and continuing success would not have been possible without [their] exceptional work and passion." --Howard Rothman