In 1998 — eight years before Sony introduced the Sony Reader, and nine years before Amazon introduced the Kindle — Microsoft founder and then-CEO Bill Gates was shown a prototype e-reader.

He rejected it.

“He didn’t like the user interface, because it didn’t look like Windows,” a programmer involved in its development tells Vanity Fair in an upcoming story about the “downfall” of Microsoft, scheduled to hit newsstands in New York and Los Angeles Wednesday, and natonwide on July 10.

According to the article, the group who built the prototype was assimilated into the division dedicated to managing Office software. Former employee Steve Stone complained that the group was no…
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Source: Mashable!