Gates examines the development of personal computing and argues that expanding digital networks will create an “information highway” connecting people, businesses and institutions. He explains developments in computer hardware and software before considering how interactive networks could change communication, entertainment, education, commerce and working life. The book also addresses issues including privacy, security, electronic publishing and unequal access to technology.

The first edition, published in 1995, treats the contemporary Internet largely as a precursor to a more advanced information infrastructure. The substantially revised 1996 edition responds to the Internet’s rapid growth and gives it a much more central role, acknowledging that networked computing was developing faster than Gates had expected. Across both editions, the book combines explanations of computing with predictions about its economic and social consequences, presenting technological change as an ongoing process whose effects would extend well beyond the computer industry.