Managing Enterprise Content: A Unified Content Strategy delivers on the title's promise--it provides a solid overview of content management including analysis, design, development, implementation, tool selection, and maintenance. The book is strongest in addressing big-picture issues--calculating a return on investment (ROI) for a project, what questions to ask in information modeling, and how to make a transition into content management.

The introductory chapters describe the basic content-management challenge--ensuring that content is consistent and accurate across an enterprise. Rockley et al. do an excellent job of describing typical departmental content "silos," where content is hoarded by each department and little or no reuse occurs. They describe how reuse can break down the silos, reduce the amount of content creation that needs to occur, and ensure that content is consistent across the enterprise. The chapter that describes how to calculate ROI on a content-management strategy is particularly strong. Several examples show the factors that go into such an analysis, and most readers will be able to perform their own assessments based on the examples provided.

In Part II, the book describes how to analyze an existing workflow and determine how best to establish a content-management strategy that replaces or modifies the current workflow. This is interesting reading, but suffers from a lack of illustrations. Many of the workflow proposals are outlined in lengthy, difficult-to-follow tables; they would have been much more effective with accompanying illustrations.

Part III focuses on design of an enterprise content-management system. There is good information here about information modeling, metadata, and the like, and this part will provide a useful overview to readers who are not familiar with these concepts.

The Tools and Technologies section (Part IV) of the book is problematic mainly because the information is too general. The authors provide lists of criteria and evaluation methods for tools, but they shy away from making specific recommendations. A series of case studies that describe best practices and implementation decisions given specific project scenarios would make the information presented here much more relevant. Furthermore, the book stumbles in discussing the rationale for XML as an underlying storage format. XML is emerging as the de facto standard for shared, reusable content. Managing Enterprise Content does a good job of describing how XML fits into content management efforts. But the authors overstate the case at the beginning of the chapter, when they attempt to differentiate between XML solutions and other solutions based on the idea that non-XML solutions require complicated scripting and XML does not. A cursory review of an XSL file would tend to debunk that statement. Nonetheless, an XML/XSL-based approach makes a lot of sense for other reasons, and the authors go on to describe its advantages in some detail.

Part V describes how to make the transition to a unified content management strategy. Here, the real-world experience of the authors becomes apparent as they describe implementation plans, likely problem areas, points of resistance, and strategies for avoiding and overcoming the inevitable problems. The chapter on collaboration does an excellent job of describing collaborative authoring and the required changed in mindset.

The publisher, not the authors, are to blame for some editorial and production problems in the book. There are numerous lengthy, complex tables that are poorly executed. The publisher should have made adjustments to the tables to make them more readable. The text itself reads as though it has not been copy edited--there are numerous grammatical errors, typographical errors, and awkward sentences. No writer produces error-free prose on the first (or fifth) draft; it is the publisher's responsibility to edit and polish manuscript text to produce final copy. Especially in books written for professional writers, it's disappointing to see this lack of quality control from the publisher.

Managing Enterprise Content: A United Content Strategy delivers the first comprehensive overview of enterprise content management concepts. It should be required reading for anyone involved in creating, managing, or publishing content.

-Sarah O'Keefe

Managing Enterprise Content is an excellent addition to the literature on content management. The focus on a unified, enterprise-wide content strategy makes this book a must for anyone in a company that is contemplating content management. That includes executives, managers, writers, and subject matter specialists, as well as tools and technology people.

An enterprise-wide strategy requires getting out of what Rockley and her colleagues call the "content silo trap." Anyone who works in a large company will recognize the content silos that Rockley and her colleagues describe and will identify with the problems that content silos can create. Managing Enterprise Content will help you move beyond those silos to collaborative authoring and a phased content management strategy for the company.

You don't have to be part of a large company to benefit from this book. With 22 chapters, an excellent glossary, and several appendices, Managing Enterprise Content provides sound advice for all types of enterprises.

Rockley is an internationally known expert in content management, content reuse, and the tools and technology for working with large volumes of information. This book draws on her extensive experience and knowledge of information modeling, workflows, metadata, dynamic content, and XML. Based on this extensive experience, Rockley helps you think through the options for different ways to do content management and with questions to ask vendors as you evaluate different tools.

Ann Rockley, in her book "Managing Enterprise Content", clearly demonstrates her infinite experience as a domain expert in the content management arena. Her book provides a comprehensive guide for effectively building a unified content strategy while differentiating content management technologies.

This book gives guidelines and concepts to follow for planning, developing, and implementing a successful content management strategy. It also identifies issues to be considered and provides a plan to identify an ROI for the project. There is something for everyone - authors of content, managers of content, and designers of the content architecture. The book is written in a well-organized manner and breaks each main topic of content management into its own part, enabling readers to easily follow the process. Within this one book, an entire strategy is laid out, along with recommendations for resources and tools.

"Managing Enterprise Content" is highly recommended for all organizations that truly want to understand the business benefits of managing the content life cycle.

"Net Results: Web Marketing That Works"

Review by Madanmohan Rao (madanr@planetasia.com) Bangalore, INDIA

One year after publishing, this book is still a useful read for Internet marketers and Web strategists. If you are looking for solid practical advice from a Web solutions company that has actually made the Net work for business advantage, then this guide by USWeb and Rick Bruner is for you.

Nine chapters and an appendix cover a wide range of issues from Web return-on-investment and information architecture to online contest case studies and audience development.

Staying away from the "get-rich-quick" hype, the book urges online marketers to prepare for the long haul. "Successful marketing on the Internet requires nothing as much as persistence. Relationships, unlike bits and bytes, require careful seeding, diligent nurturing, and constant attention," the authors urge.

According to market research firm Jupiter Communications, Web sites fall into three categories: brochureware (static sites not much more than an online brochure), show-biz (infotainment sites geared towards brand building), and utilitarian (which provide great customer convenience).

For products about which there isn't a lot to elaborate, or which do not cost much - such as soap and breakfast cereals - banner ads and online sponsorships would be suitable forms of online marketing.

Some companies in this category have gone beyond this level (such as the Coke site where users discuss and trade novelty bottles, or the GirlSpace site developed by paper products company Kotex). Detergent company Tide has a useful online "stain detective," with stain-removal remedies for different kinds of fabric types and colours.

On the other hand, utilitarian sites offer Web surfers a genuine service, such as package tracking on the Federal Express site.

The Web offers businesses a return on investment in six key areas: brand building, direct marketing, online sales, customer support, market research, and online publishing.

The makers of Lexus cars reported more purchase inquiries and actual sales generated by online ads via the Pointcast "push" news service, targeted at users in Miami. Fragrance Counter claims it is making a profit selling perfume online. Tower Records reports that its site could become the biggest and most profitable sales outlet in its chain of music and video stores.

"Customer service on the Web has moved beyond nice-to-have to must-have," according to Carter Lusher, VP of Gartner Group's Customer Service and Support Strategies division. "It costs 10 times as much for a company to acquire new customers as it does to retain existing ones," he said. Hence the need to improve customer service by any means necessary, online and offline.

Asking all users to register at a site (to collect demographic information) may work for some sites (which offer high-quality content, such as the Wall Street Journal), but it may turn away too many users.

Sites using pattern recognition and collaborative filtering software for personalisation services include Amazon.com and MovieFinder.com. Database-driven sites are well-suited for online customisation, such as TV Guide's site which allows for TV listings customisable by zipcodes or day of the week.

The Web is particularly useful for real-time marketing of short-lived offers, such as auctions of discounted tickets (used by airlines for flights that have not been sold out).

"The Web is infinitely measurable. Every Web marketer should be poring over their logs to see what's working and what's not," the authors advise.

Marketers should also be searching for links from other related sites (other than search engines), such as specialty hubs, or "uber-links" (prize links which perform better than most others).

In terms of innovative marketing, marketers can try sweepstakes, treasure hunts, trivia quizzes, interactive mysteries, writing, recipes, and photo contests. Yahoo conducted a spectacular "Find the Y" contest, featuring its site without the famous "Y" - but with cartoon character Dilbert.

Yoyodyne conducted a "Get Rich Click" sweepstakes, where users had to browse through sponsor sites to find the contest logo and win prizes. Amazon.com conducted an interactive writing contest with Pulitzer Prize-winning author John Updike.

Marketers should also consider offline promotion schemes. For instance, USWeb helped "Star Trek" promotion by enlisting the support of cybercafes. A company called Zapworks promotes sites through mousepads distributed at cybercafes.

Public relations activities for corporate marketing are also being done online, by companies like PRNewswire and Businesswire. According to a 1996 MediaSource survey of more than 600 magazine and newspaper business editors, press releases accounted for 14 per cent of stories, while journalists generated 59 per cent based on their own sources.

An emerging trend is commission-based rates for transactions resulting from clickthroughs, as in Amazon.com's affiliates program. In this case, Amazon.com's banner ads contribute to brand recognition even if it does not lead to an actual sale.

Companies like PointCast, with a subscriber base of over 2 million users, also use interstitial ads. LinkExchange offers segmented targeting to over 10% of all sites on the Web (especially hobbyist sites), and shows more than five million ads a day.

Many of the tips outlined in the book are showcased in three case studies drawn from USWeb clients: Macromedia, Netiva and Women's Wire.

Intranet-application company Netiva chose to go with USWeb's recommendation of a compact quick-loading page, whose next level opened up a wide range of product information.

The Women's Wire site (www.women.com) approached USWeb for drawing traffic to its Stock Quotes and Fashion Wire features, via "grassroots" promotion on smaller sites and mailing lists. Macromedia turned to USWeb for promoting the launch of its Dreamweaver product.

Upcoming trends and challenges include the rapid pace of technological innovation and issues like online privacy.

"WebTV is going to be a hue force on the Web in the near future," according to George Lawson, creative director at USWeb. But it poses tremendous design constraints, due to colours vibrating on the TV screen.

In sum, this is a useful collection of tips, success stories, and reference information for online marketers. An online companion to the book would have been a welcome addition and could have helped extend the shelf-life of the book.

Net Results:Web Marketing that Works is the book I selected as the textbook for my graduate Internet Marketing class at San Francisco State University. It covers all aspects of marketing online. It is easy to read and understand. The information is comprehensive and on point. It has plenty of real world examples and resources for more information. Currently there is no viable textbook for the classroom because there is a lack of serious research on the internet. This book combines excellent Internet content and an easy to read style that makes it a joy to read. Kudo's to Rick Bruner for this excellent book. This is the third semester I have adopted it.

Many books about the internet are not very useful(can you say internet bull ! ) but this is one book that i am delighted to say is very useful. It provides real world examples and many case studies. Any internet professional that wants to do anything will benefit from this book. At Newdelhi.net we used some of these tactics and have had tremendous success since then.

Reading "101 Ways" is like taking a weekend intensive on increasing web traffic from a pro. I'm impressed with the number of useful ideas Thomas Wong has presented in his book. Extremely practical and beneficial. Hightly recommended.

Hi, I'm a web developer serving small businesses in the Chicago area. I learned of this book from my client Bob. Normally, my clients need some handholding. However, Bob seemed to know exactly what he wanted and could clearly articulate it. Out of my curiosity, I borrowed the book and read it through. Now, I'm here to get my own copy. 101 Ways impressed me for its comprehensive listing of web development and promotion strategies. I would gladly recommend it to all my clients because it would motivate them to send more business to me!!

I have to admit that I actually like this book. It is packed with simple yet practical guides for setting up a popular web site. I have read a few other web marketing books, and most of them are rich in principles but lacking specific action steps. 101 Ways comes with easy to follow instructions, which are immediately applicable. I find the idea to constantly test and measure your efforts particularly useful.

To test the author's own efforts, I did a search of "web marketing" in Yahoo! and I was surprised to see his Intesync site listed in the first category!! He proved to me that even with thousands of competitive sites, you can still find a way to be on top.

This book is imposible to put down! The real stories by the survivors themselves. As I read other books on the Titanic I often find myself wondering back to this book for references. I am planning to read the book again in case I missed anything the first time. I am not much for reading but I was still trying to find time to read it even if it was for a minute. The editors introduction to each interview is very informative and helpful! I wish they had had video cameras in 1912 just so I could witness the true thing but this book is definetly good enough. At times it is a very emotional, and at other times it is exciting when Senator Smith barks down an interviewee. This is where the legendary stories originated from. I would have given it 6 stars but... A must read for any Titanic buff!!!

I've slowly gathered more and more information about the Titanic disaster and this book gives voices to those old photos we've all seen. It truly is an unfolding of human drama and you can feel the frustration and tension in the questions and answers. I found myself reading the answers in a British accent! Not only do these transcripts add a personal dimension to the characters, but they also give first-hand accounts and facts, facts, facts. I love that!

For people wishing to know more about the Titanic aftermath, this is your book. This not fictions or guesses, this is the actual Official transcripts of the 1912 Senate Investigations.
Excellent insight to the first hand personal accounts by the people themselves gives you a clearer understanding of the domino effect that caused the disaster.

Excellent reference work.

This book was not only very interesting to read, but also had many areas which focused on the business values of implementing e-commerce environments. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the subject of Internet e-commerce. These authors have obviously been involved in some interesting work in this field.

This book is a very well written book, and easy to read, which provides a wide spectrum on many e-commerce initiatives.

The authors have captured many relevant subjects in the Internet commerce world. They have done a great job presenting very interesting topics, and contrasting these topics to many large businesses involved in this area.

The information the authors present on business initiatives required to achieve successful e-commerce environments is very useful. Contrasting the many companies, mergers, and other e-commerce collaborations I found to be very informative.

I would recommend this book to both business executives, and technical executives (and practitioners) interested in e-commerce. This book was well worth the investment and I look forward to future books by these authors: They seem to be very informed on the subject areas and they also seem to have many experiences in this areas, as described in the content of the book.

This book is well written and presents many industrial success stories on E-Commerce. The graphics in the book are excellent, especially business transformation graphics which show the typical models for many companies converging in the E-Commerce market.

I highly suggest to anyone interested in the topic of E-Commerce to purchase this book. Out of all the books on the market today, I find this book to be right at the top with excellent content on the subject. I am a senior business leader in a large global company, and have experienced many situations where the text in this book, maps into the problems which the biggest firms worldwide have experienced during E-Commerce business transformations.

These authors have obviously experienced the work challenges associated with Internet Commerce challenges. It is very clear that they not only are seasoned in this field, but also practitioners in the field, as well.

The Seven Steps to Nirvana: Strategic Insights Into e-Business Transformation

by Mohan Sawhney and Jeff Zabin

Review by Madanmohan Rao...

With a foreword by Dan Tapscott (author of “Digital Capital” and “Growing Up Digital”), this concise e-business guidebook is just what serious readers need in the “post-dotcom era” to sift through the confusing views and assessments of e-business out there.

Mohan Sawhney, e-commerce professor at the Kellogg Graduate School of Management in Northwestern University, is a prolific writer and speaker and serves on the boards of several startups; he was a keynote speaker at the India Internet World 2000 conference... Jeff Zabin is a writer and research fellow with strategy firm Diamond Cluster International in Evanston, Illinois.

The book also has an online companion... Referenced books include Leading the Revolution (by Gary Hamel), Intellectual Capital (Thomas Stewart), MetaCapitalism (Grady Means), ValueNets (David Bovet), and Enterprise E-Commerce (Peter Fingar).

The focus of the book by Sawhney and Zabin is more on the traditional old-economy “smokestack” industries than established technology players like Cisco and Dell. It is chock-full of case studies and anecdotes of successes as well as failures in e-business ventures of corporate America.

One chapter each is devoted to the seven steps which businesses must take in order to maximize e-business potential: broaden company and industry vision, chart incremental moves down the e-business evolution path, devise clever e-strategy, synchronise channels and internal departments, gear up e-infrastructure platforms, judiciously allocate financial resources and investments, and rally employees and partners around the e-business banner.

In retrospect, it might be said that the new economy was the best thing to have happened to the old economy, according to the authors, especially the shining examples they set for speed, innovation and pure adrenaline flow. “Unlike anything before it, the massive wave of entrepreneurial startups energized Corporate America to change,” they observe.

E-business can play a key role in four ways: cost reduction, revenue expansion, time reduction, and relationship enhancement. E-business plays not just to the bottom line but also to the top line, where it can lead to the transformation and reinvention of entire industries.

Companies like United Technologies and Eastman streamline purchasing via e-procurement. Citibank leverages CRM for online initiatives, and Proctor&Gamble uses Web sites to improve information services quality for its products like Tide, Crest and Vick’s. Xerox harnesses the Web to lubricate its relationships with its numerous resellers. Consultancy firms and Fortune 500 innovators like GE use Intranet-based knowledge management systems to capture, codify and recycle the learnings gleaned from every project and every employee.

One of the key impacts of the Internet, Intranet and Extranet is to break down traditional barriers within the company between its departments, geographical units and employees, and on the outside to connect the company seamlessly with its customers, suppliers, distributors and business partners.

Companies have taken different approaches to achieve this synchronous state: for instance, Wal-Mart has named its online venture WalMart.com and opted for deep synchronization and integration, whereas K-Mart has called its online venture BlueLight.com which is synchronized at a selective level and is aimed at new customers with new offerings.

The Net has multiple effects on channels and brands: channel augmentation (eg. direct selling by Cisco and Dell), brand augmentation (eg. Web sites of Ragu sauce and Crest toothpaste), channel proliferation (eg. book sales), and channel deconstruction (eg. Travelocity and Expedia).

The vendor landscape – which is experiencing rapid convergence -- includes players in MRO procurement (Ariba, CommerceOne), SCM (i2, Manugistics), collaborative design (Agile, NexPrise), content and catalogue management (Vignette), configurators (Trilogy), integrated marketplaces (Ariba, CommerceOne, Oracle, VerticalNet), direct sales (BroadVision, Intershop, OpenMarket), logistics (i2, Yantra, GoCargo), payment (Verisign, iEscrow), CRM (Siebel, Kana) and customer analytics (E.piphany, Cognos).

“Despite the unbridled enthusiasm for the Net as a channel for direct selling to customers that besets many companies, the fact remains that most selling still takes place through partners,” according to Sawhney and Zabin.

The future, according to the authors, lies in collaborative commerce via component-based architectures (as with HP’s e-Speak and Microsoft’s BizTalk) – eventually creating ‘business operating systems’ for entire industries, such as Covisint in the automobile industry, Exostar for aerospace, Transora for consumer packaged goods, and Elemica for chemicals.

Due to a combination of fear and greed, many established players may have swung off course for some time on the investment front: such as Starbucks (which invested in Living.com, Kozmo.com, Cooking.com and TalkCity – but has re-focused now) and Nordstrom (which took a $20 million loss on Streamline.com).

By investing in other start-ups, companies can gain access to “windows into the future, borrowing eyes and ideas from innovative entrepreneurs.” Examples include Kraft Foods, which gained valuable learnings (if not earnings) about online impacts on grocery shopping via tie-ups with Webvan, NetGrocer, Peapod, Food.com and EthnicGrocer.com. Accenture Technology Ventures has invested in Asera, Jamcracker, Rivio and MarketSwitch.

CEOs, CIOs and heads of operating units within a company have a key role to play in catalyzing, motivating, skilling and externalizing of e-business vision and capability. Notable leaders in this regard have included GE CEO Jack Welch, Boeing CEO Phil Condit, Eastman CEO Ernest Davenport, and McDonald’s CEO Jack Greenberg.

The ultimate compass in the e-business journey, the authors conclude, has to be nothing other than the customer value proposition...

After reading to many books I found this one, and I could say right now I have a better knowledge of e-business.

I consider my best book about e-business.

If you are looking for a book that talks about e business strategies, I advocate this should be your choice. It's not just b'cas this book is from the guy who is rated as 10 most influential people in E-business, but b'cas he know his audeince very well.

I am sure irrespective of your exposure to e-business, this would change the way you think of e-business.

This book lays the foundation for people new to the operational side of a business. The book demonstrates and demystfies some of the myths surround e-commerce. There's good insight from prominent folks in the hi-tech industry who truly understand how to leverage the Internet.

This book was different. I like this book because, rather than just rehashing that the internet changes everything, it gave me ways to think about what might change next. And how it might impact my business. And how I might take advantage of that. I found that the examples were useful. Overall the book was easy to understand and thought provoking. I liked it. I ordered a few for my friends at other companies.

E-Volve-or-die.com is loaded with tons of ideas to help you build your e-business and information on how to create strategies that are the most critical for e-volving towards the future. He is very connected to e-commerce management and you can tell in his writings in this book. This book goes into all different aspects of ECM in detail and is a great book for a complete overview of where e-commerce management is now and where we are heading. Recommended to all interested in e-business or just curious about the Internet Age.

This book covers a lot of ground regarding creating a successful business in the new "new" economy. On one hand, it explains the technologies that go into e-commerce and m-commerce. It describes the basic network architectures and protocols such as TCP/IP, WAP and iMode. In this vein, it also talks about the evolution from the Plain Old Telephone System, and its implications. On the other hand, it covers all known business models in the Internet space, such as ISP, ASP, ERP, CRM, Network Services Providers, Content Providers and Other Providers. It, then, relates how these models apply to m-commerce. Then, the book turns its focus on the fundamentals on what makes any business successful; managing one's resources, quality of service, managing customers, generating value, and generating and collecting revenue. Not to leave any stone unturned, the book also addresses the regulatory aspects of the telecom industry, from Wireless 911 to the Telecommunications Act of 1996. This is a comprehensive overview of an industry that seems to hold great promise. The book is presented in crisp language, in completely accessible terms. This is a great book, and I highly recommend it to both technology and business managers.

The author clearly establishes the fundamentals of the technology and business basis for the current state of the telecommunications industry, both the traditional telco sector and the newer Internet sector. He then elaborates on the most recent activities in the Internet community, accurately highlighting the successes and shortcomings of this tumultuous industry. All the while drawing concrete analogies to the more readily accepted and familiar wireline services.

The author's detailed understanding of E-Commerce, coupled with his experience in both the wireline and wireless industries is obvious as he parallels the evolution of E-Commerce to M-Commerce with the evolution of "plain old telephone service" to the "digital age" of telecom. These parallels serve as a warning sign to the potential pitfalls of the M-Commerce evolution, and challenge the reader to truly explore the opportunites, rather than following blindly - repeating the mistakes of the past.

Finally, as a veteran of the telecommunications industry with well over a decade behind me (split evenly as a member of the carrier community and the vendor community), it is refreshing to see an author of a highly technical and business oriented book not loose sight of the "end goal" - the Customer. The author takes the time to point out that neither technology nor business issues drive the industry; the customers' needs and ultimate satisfaction are the true drivers, and anyone wishing to be successful in the M-Commerce arena must never loose sight of this fact.

I have, and will continue, to recommend this book to anyone expressing a desire to truly understand the future of M-Commerce and its historical basis.

M-Commerce Crash Course is a well written book, the author clearly understands the subject and is able to convey this understanding to the reader. P.J. Louis is able to parallel the evolution of m-commerce to the evolution of telecommunications and e-commerce. Yet, the book is not so technically in-depth to loose the average business person.
This is an excellent book for any business manager to read and understand the world of M-Commerce. It will provide an solid foundation to the understanding of M-Commerce without wasting time trying to research the information yourself. In addition, you are provided with the author's expertise in the field. He provides very descriptive examples of the subject matter, which helps to clarify the information.
In business today, it is necessary to make rapid decisions based upon your knowledge and experience. This book provides you with the necessary information to help to build a solid understanding of M-Commerce. In turn, this will help you to make good business decisions.
There is only one issue that isn't touched on in this book, but it isn't talked about in other business books either. This is the issue of software quality. This is an issue that has been overlooked by both big and small businesses. If Mr. Louis were to address this issue of the importance of software quality, then this book would be very thorough in its coverage of M-Commerce. Despite this, I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in expanding their knowledgebase. This is an exceptional book for any non-technical manager to read and understand what M-Commerce is about, before making any decisions. I look forward to reading Mr. Louis's other books.

This book provides a very detailed look at the inner workings of Microsoft. It describes the battles within the company to determine how to change in the face of the internet revolution. The author provides tremendous detail, much of which is taken from email correspondence made public by the antri-trust case. Some of the detail may be a little dull for some. My major problem with the book is with the author's premise that Gates has "broken" the company by not adapting to the internet quickly enough and instead focused on protecting and extending the windows dynasty. Nobody has really figured out how to make money off the internet, so why blame Microsoft? Gates did protect the Microsoft cash cow (windows). The internet has not made windows extinct, at least not yet. I think a little time is required to see if Gates' strategy was the right one or not. However, still a very worthwhile read for any interested in Microsoft and the PC industry.

David Banks does a masterful job of telling the story of the internal battle between Windows and Internet Explorer. It is insightful story over the struggle for strategy. Written in the tradition of the Wall Street Journal Bank's paints colorful vignettes of the key personalities and imbues the struggle between these two groups with drama.

However one of the interesting ironies of the business press is that journalists confuse themselves with their subjects. (I know of very few who went from covering a beat to running a company.) Unfortunately the more famous the publication you write for, the less you seem to remember that. This book simply fails when Banks puts on this business analyst hat. Luckily when you hear the scraping of the soapbox those pages are few and can be easily skimmed.

If you're interested in an internal history of Microsoft during the browser wars, buy this book.

Books about Microsoft a dime a dozen and often obsolete by the time they hit the bookshelves- especially this year's books looking back at the anti-trust trial. This book is different in focusing on internal conflicts inside Microsoft the past year or two. The main question is how to move past the mature Windows product family into the InterNet world. Here the book depicts battles between window-centric "conservatives" and net-centric "radicals". Also are reasons for the vigorous thrust into the entertainment market that will be important in late 2001.

Bank claims Bill Gates was pushed out of power by those who thought he was leading MicroSoft down the wrong business track. Thought the book is not about the anti-trust trial per se, it draws much of its material from the volumous email evidence exposed at the trial.

I personally was comforted by the fact that high-and-might Microsoft has the same internal infra-structure battles as the software company I work for. And a few misteps here and there won't necessarily kill a company.

"This is the hardcopy version of the excellent e-book the "Tools of the Trade." Everything you need to know about execution. Including SuperSoes, SelectNet, Soes, all ECN's . It is the best reference manual I've ever seen. Don't know why they decided to publish in paper. Author is former market maker etc," is what another reviewer said.

I agree 100%. But they didn't mention the chapter on market making: what the market makers really do, how they do it, and how to spot it. Most interesting take on the subject, and the only useful description I've seen. Or that it covers all the special things the ECNs are capable of, like hidden orders- and how to use them for maximum gain. This book is chock full of all the information I've been looking for - for years. Most, if not all of it, is available nowhere else. Why didn't somebody think of it sooner? Wish I knew all this BEFORE I started trading direct. Would have saved me some lo$$e$ :)

This is the hardcopy version of the excellent e-book the "Tools of the Trade." Everything you need to know about execution. Including SuperSoes, SelectNet, Soes, all ECN's. It is the best reference manual I've ever seen. Don't know why they decided to publish in paper.,. Author is former market maker, used to head MB Tradings' trade desk. You can see him at all the trade expos -gives talks about execution. Knows his stuff. Wish I had the book when I started trading direct! Would have saved some of lo$$e$ :)

Book was published in January this year - so graphics are all in fractions... But - information is comprehensive and in depth like no other book on Level 2. The approach of this book is "how to get the best fills, in every market condition." It applies to all trading styles. Imho, book succeeds where no other does. Complete, unique, and accurate descriptions of all execution systems, in lay terms. When to use which routes, and why. Including Supersoes, how it works, when it works, and how to use it (and when not to use it). If you want to learn the specifics of how to get the best fills, this book will help like no other I've seen. Straight and to the point, with no b.s. promoting any brokers, services, etc. Just great info.

Only complaint is that graphics are in fractions, and that is annoying. But all of the ideas and strategies are current and comprehensive. Like I said earlier, it has a complete description of how to use Supersoes. Overall, best coverage of execution and level 2 interpretation I have seen. I learned a number of things, and I've been trading "direct" for two years. I am a swing trader, and most of the books dealing with level 2 cover the subject in such a way that it simply doesn't apply to what I do. This book does; the approach to execution is accurate accross all time frames, not just scalping. So the book was a very pleasant surprise.