I will review the link between 1+p dimensional maximally supersymmetric Yang-Mills and the black hole thermodynamics of Dp-branes via the gauge/string correspondence. The finite temperature behaviour of Dp-brane supergravity black holes looks very alien from the perspective of the dual strongly coupled Yang-Mills. However, I will argue that in a natural set of Yang-Mills variables, the classical moduli (which unfortunately are still strongly coupled), certain features of these thermodynamics become quite transparent.