If you want a basic introduction to ASP, ATL, COM, MTS and ADO and how to put them together then this is the book for you.

When learning how to create an n-tier web application we must all start somewhere - and I would recommend you start here. Once you have experimented with the examples in this book then move onto the more focused books (ASP 3.0, Mastering COM and COM+, ATL Internals, etc).

The accompanying CD is ok, but does contain a mistake or two (which you will have to work out) and doesn't always exactly match the code shown in the book - but this should not cause you any problems if you have understood the written text.

As this is a basic introduction there are a number of topics it does not cover - OLEDB, threading for example.

For me though, this has been the clearest introduction to web programming for c++.

I'd like to thank the author for writing such
a brilliant book. Everything I wanted to know
as a beginner is there.

This book freaking rocks! I only wish I had found it back when I was learning ASP. It addresses all of the ASP issues that had me frustrated when developing an interactive site that is based around a database. I'm not finnished with this book yet but I have to give it a thumbs up now because of all that I have gotten from it so far.

This is a must buy if you are starting out or somewhat experienced with ASP, the COM information is a definate bonus as well. The examples are real-world and you will find the general information that Crouch gives on programming for the web invaluable.

The author has used her sources effectively to delineate the Intenet boom and its subsequent fall, by describing Yahoo's growth from a Stanford trailer into a media company. She has captured the frenzy of the late 90's and takes the reader through the numerous accquisitions and investments in Silicon Valley. At the same time the book is an overkill with the excessive information provided and at times reads like an encyclopaedia with figures thrown in liberally. The fact that Yahoo hasn't cooperated with the author is evident in several places. Overall its a good read

Like many other writers about technology companies, Karen Angel has simply read a lot of newspaper and magazine articles about the company, interviewed some knowledgeable outsiders (key insiders did not cooperate with her) and organized the resulting material in chronological sequence. If, like I, you are interested in learning the basic facts about Yahoo!, this book will suffice, but don't expect anything in the way of new revelations or searching analysis.

What comes across is a group of relatively bright young computer nerds who happened to be in the right place at the right time, decided that they were the Christ, and imploded from their own greed and hubris, professing all the while their personal integrity. Urrrppp!

Inside Yahoo! presents a blow-by-blow chronology of the birth, ascension and downfall of a company that - in terms of business model and stock price - was the archetype of the '90s dot-com. Readers will be hard pressed to identify any relevant fact or event from the life of Yahoo! overlooked by author Karen Angel. What is missed however, is meaty analysis: Did the hubris of Yahoo!'s founders contribute to the company's reversal of fortunes? Angel doesn't speculate. Nevertheless, we from getAbstract recommend her book for its comprehensive recounting of a business tale that truly captures the essence of the Internet boom.

Derek Galon has written The Savvy Way to Successful Website Promotion for small business owners who are looking for some effective ways to better promote themselves online through their own Websites. This book offers plenty of concise information on how they can get this accomplished.

This book features plenty of marketing and promoting tips, including finding a good ISP, advice on coming up with domain names, basic Website design considerations that will make Websites easy to find and display, special programming features that will attract attention, and developing Website content that will help online business people produce sales. A helpful glossary of Web terms is included at the back of the book.

Readers will find particularly helpful the concise instruction on programming. They will learn about linking, embedding keywords into their Web pages, and using banners. Readers will also learn about using mail lists and taking advantage of newsgroups. The tips and tricks outlined in the book are cute, clever, and will actually work. I chuckled when I read about embedding search engine key words by blending them into Web page backgrounds!

The author's emphasis placed upon using search engines is well-founded. This is a major step in drawing visitors to Websites. The brief overview of major search engines like AltaVista, Infoseek, HotBot, Excite, Lycos, and MSN will help readers learn the skills and strategies involved in preparing their Websites for submission. The process will be rewarding once traffic starts coming their way!

Written for the average business owner creating a Website or updating an existing one, this book will help them attain a good business image before the online community. It's written in a brief, concise manner for quick reading and implementation. It will help readers to start doing business online. Ideal for beginners!

I saw all the comments here, but believe that this book shows all techniques available to a lone webmaster. All these techniques (as far as I know) are used by Web promotion services, charging big bucks. Thanks to the author I was able to do all that job myself, and now I really see the results. So, thumbs up! I don't care if there is a spelling error or not. Contents matters to me - and it is there. I would say that on top of all standard techniques described (yes, some of them are already known from various computer-related papers), there is several valuable and little known recommendations. I simply use them, and my site gets better. Isn't it enough? For me - it is just what I was looking for... Have problem getting visibility on-line? This may be your solution... It was mine. I recommend it. (PS. I only wish I had this book before I did the setup of my Web site. Didn't know beginnings are that important)

I have so enjoyed reading the book. I can't seem to put it down. The information is clear and to the point. Much more than I expected. I also like the author's personality in the book. Thanks for taking the time to think about the little guys.

Jane Jacobs - Systems of Survival

We deserve better from the woman who brought us "The Death and Life of Great American Cities." Systems of Survival is, more or less, Jacobs' explanation of how the world works: a celebrated urban sociologist using all the insight she has gathered over the years to give us her interpretation of the foundations of commerce and politics. Sounds great, doesn't it? Except it isn't.

Turns out that Jacobs' vision of commerce and politics comes down to "how we get stuff", or, in other words, the titular systems of survival. There are only two systems and they are pretty simple, either we take stuff ("guardian" system) or we trade for it ("commercial" system). Each system also comes with its own dictates, such as "Shun force" and "Compete" (the trading system) and "Exert prowess" and "Be ostentatious" (the taking system). The problem is that these systems that Jacobs deals with are little more than the "traditional/modern" society dichotomy that has been around for years and years. Consequently these systems aren't all that groundbreaking.

This wouldn't be so much of a problem except that about one third of the way through Jacobs circles the wagons and refuses to add anything new to the mix. Instead of taking these systems to the limits and covering some new ground Jacobs simply keeps chasing the same ideas around and around. More specifically, once we learn that the guardian system is good for some things (like administration) and the commercial system is good for others (like distributing goods) but that a combination of the two systems never works out, the book more or less stops generating ideas. Of course this excludes several questions: why do some societies have systems performing the "wrong" tasks, how have and how will these systems change over time, how do these contradictory systems coexist, what regulates them. Also, what about ideas that aren't covered by the two systems? There are a lot of questions implicit in Jacobs' thesis, most of which go unanswered.

Perhaps as a footnote to all this is the oddity that Jacobs chose to write this as a "Socratic" dialog. The dialog is chunky, the characters one dimensional, the plot is completely absent; clearly the book would have made more sense as a work of non-fiction.

Systems of Survival is a decent read if you know next to nothing about sociology. If you don't fit that criterion but you still want to read it, I'd recommend getting this book from the library and skimming it.

An excellent, thought provoking work, some examples from 1980's are interesting as we see the same patterns unwinding in Enron's and similar catastrophys.
I have to disagree with her that these are the "ONLY" systems, there is a mass of humans that unlike the written about, self chosen leadership of the world, would appear to operate with a philosophy of "don't risk on prowess or venture", try to avoid attention or be unnoticed, hourd and squirrel away... These are often the peasant/prol/workers that serve the groups described use, manipulate and even claim to own but from an eco/eco point of view, they have a functional syndrome for survival. The fact that they "take and trade" resources dosn't pull them fully into the ethical system of either Gardians or Merchant/Traders. They might also be be characterized by concerns over "reciprococity" which often plays out differently than Honor, or Negotiation.
A somewhat reality grounded book about ethics with an interesting Aristotolian concept.

I have seldom read a more thought-provoking, stimulating, and fascinating book than this.

The author uses two techniques that are particularly useful in conveying this rich material - Socratic dialog, and inductive reasoning. The wealth of examples and the detailed analysis are compelling, yet as a reader you feel free to disagree, to question, and to challenge the ideas being presented -- all good exercise for the mind.

The book's thesis is discussed elsewhere. Suffice it to say I find that thesis highly persuasive, and I plan to put it to the test in coming months. I recommend this book highly.

This book has two parts with a weak relation that binds them. The academic focus of the book is about culture, marketing and consumerism. The second part is a detailed look at WDW, particularily the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and MGM. This book is pre AK. The binder is that disney is a company, that sells a product. If you think this book is interesting keep in mind if you do not want to read purely academic lecture on commerce, that could relate to Kleenex just as well as it does Disney, you are getting twice as many pages as you desire. One note is if you do not read at a high level (well above the NY Times) the vocabulary is difficult. For the Disney material alone this is definitely a 5 star book (I especially liked the details about setting up Reedy Creek), but the references from Adam Smith and Marx among others disrupted the worth of the book, hence a three.

This is not a tell all/behind-the-scenes gossip book. It reads like a business venture case file with some interesting bits of Disney design and innovation thrown in. The author gives equal wonderment to the imagineers' genius as to the company's business decisions.

Also, this book was the catalyst for a to take a side trip to Celebration, Florida after our last Disney vacation in Dec 2001. The book peaked our curiosity to see Walt's real/intended version for a prototype community of the future.

I keep hoping that Fjellman will update his seminal book to encompass all that has happened in the last ten years; I'll be the first in line when he does. I wrote my MA thesis at NYU on Disney using Fjellman as a prime source, and have used various chapters from Fjellman's book to teach graduate classes in museum studies, design, and architecture. Students in many fields find a lot to think about, discuss, debate, and apply to their thinking.

Witty, engaging, balanced, factually accurate, yet still with a point of view... a great book all around. Other reviewers who complain about the writing level, or some of the more obscure academic theorizing, are missing the point. For a truly academic piece of literature, it is written in incredibly accessible, engaging, and clear style. Highly recommended.

There are a few books out there that make you think. John Dewey's "How we think", Kuhn's "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions" and a book on the history of IP by an Australian writer whose name and book title elude me at the moment are three books that have stimulated my thoughts. This book would be the fourth.

It could be that I'm a "shallow Hal" but I have to agree with the other review on the point the author raised in connection with Herbert's "Dune".

As we gather more information and as Sandisk (or someone like them) begins to offer terabyte storage to the everyday consumer, we will see more tracking.......and I fear, that in conjunction with XML, ......knowledge will increase.

Read the later part of the Book of Daniel in the Old Testament to see what I am referring to. Next, go to the Maxwell Air Force base website and look up their link page to critical thinking. Take a while to learn some things about critical thinking and then read this section in Daniel and this book by Hunter.

Most importantly.......THINK FOR YOURSELF AND DRAW YOUR OWN CONCLUSIONS.

McNealy is right. The frogs are already in the pot (loss of privacy) and most will never notice that they are being boiled until it's too late.

Hunter has done us a favor by raising this issue in the manner that he did.

I bought this book when it first came out and then recently read an insiteful, positive interview with the author of World Without Secrets in the Sunday New York Times. My feelings about the subject matter in the book were similar to that of the reviewer.

Interestingly, the article and the book cover lots of privacy issues concerning Amazon.com. Issues that everyone who buys a product on Amazon (or anywhere online) should be aware: especially the policies of sharing information about customers with companies that want to sell goods and services to us (junkmail!) Of course, other companies are discussed, which, in the end just frightens us even more about the amount of information about each of us that is so readily accessible to anyone who wants it.

The NY Times reviewer states: "Mr. Hunter is right to argue that if Americans aren't involved in resolving these (privacy) issues, the issues will be resolved without them." Hunter says:"The amount of electronically stored data about individuals is massive, detailed, and growing. We don't yet know how to manage a world in which everything can be linked to me, wherever I am."

With his background as a top security expert, Hunters words will shake up any beliefs you may have left that ANYTHING is private anymore.

"World Without Secrets: Business, Crime and Privacy in the Age of Ubiquitous Computing" - Reviewed by Stephen Lafferty

The title of Richard Hunter's book refers to the growing availability of information about the personal lives of consumers living in capitalist democratic states. The book begins with the assumption that "very little of consequence can't and won't be known about anyone or anything". Hunter approaches the subject of the erosion of personal privacy from two angles: the business and the governmental/police justifications for retaining information on individuals. His argument, that citizens in democratic countries had better take responsibility for the power of surveillance technologies while they still can, emerges from the discussion of the increasing possibilities for deriving behaviour patterns from recombining archived data.

Hunter's first point, that people adapt at a slower rate than the
introduction of new technologies, is underlined using examples of
Amazon.com and Acme-Rent-A-Car of Connecticut. Neither set of
consumers, when they began relationships with either company, realised that information collected about their shopping habits and movements would be sold to third parties or used for law enforcement purposes.

Hunter then goes on to demonstrate how organisations that create and retail information, such as Microsoft and record companies, are responding to threats being posed by self-organising groups using the Internet to communicate. Hunter calls these groups 'Network Armies' and provides an analysis of how such groups coalesce and fight their cause, using examples of the Open Source software movement and Linux vs. Windows, Napster and digital distribution of music and the anti-capitalist protestors in Seattle and Genoa.

The discussion then moves on to identifying social groups within the 'world without secrets'. Hunter and a team of researchers at Gartner identify four groups: 'Network Armies', the 'Lost and the Lonely', 'Conscientious Objectors' and the 'Engineered Society'. This analysis implies that the world without secrets is inevitable and the area of society to which you belong depends upon whether you support or oppose the authority of the leadership that passes legislation to eliminate barriers to information flow.

The last two chapters are dedicated to discussion of war when all
enemy movements are known; and the possibility of a war in cyberspace.

Parts of this book were written on or after September 11th 2001 and Hunter considers the development of terrorist network armies and the response that an 'engineered society' can make to such attacks. The New York Electronic Crimes Task Force is used as a model network army for terrorist threats from cyberspace, an Internet version of Interpol with intercontinental crime-fighting agreements.

Richard Hunter believes that a world without secrets is inevitable.

He urges his readers to take responsibility for the ways that
technologies are implemented through democratic means, such as
building in limitations for information usage by the authorities.

This book makes a compelling argument for educating both the
authorities and the public about the type and uses of recorded
information and is an excellent introduction to contemporary
attitudes towards and policies of surveillance. Readers who are
interested in the freedoms that they enjoy in their societies should read this along with Simson Garfinkel's 'Database Nation' and Michael Caloyannides 'Desktop Witness' and be careful about to whom they give their personal information.

I agree that this book would have been more interesting if read before Mystery, but now the mystery is gone.

This is good stuff just the same.

Lots of good points that are useful in a classroom.

In many ways, I am disappointed that I read this book after reading de Soto's other book, "The Mystery Of Capital". Both this and his other book largely contain the same ideas, but "The Other Path" focuses more intently on de Soto's experiences in Peru rather attempting to answer a very broad question. Because "The Other Path" focuses on squarely on Peru, it can more completely chronicle how his ideas have been used to better the lot of poor Peruvians, and have contributed to the defeat of Sendero Luminoso.

I would have preferred it if the book did not purport to be a general answer to terrorism. While his ideas are very applicable with respect to Maoist revolutionaries attempting to (in theory) uplift the poor, they seem less relevant to "non-economic" terrorists, such as certain rich scions of Saudi families that fly airplanes into buildings, for example. But that is a minor point.

I enjoyed this book but was spoiled because I first read "The Mystery of Capital" and then this. This book's stats are somewhat outdated because so much has happened in the last 15-20 years, which takes away from the crispness of the argument, but the argument is still apparent and sound. Although I agree that eliminating government red tape to let more people become a part of the economic system and therefore become plugged into the benefits of the system (eg, a legal work address for customers to reach you at, legal recognition so to advertise, etc.) and thereby allow government to collect more taxes so to (hopefully) put more money toward fighting social problems; I hope de Soto agrees that the economic answer to terroism is not the only answer. Stregthening the economic infrastructure is a strong part of the answer, but much more is also needed for some people to not desire to kill other people, and that may be something which can never be had. Although I would say "The Mystery of Capital" is a must read, this is nonetheless a great supplement to "The Mystery of Capital".

In general, this book is rudimentary. I acquired most of the information from my Internet-based experience in a non-marketing role. It might be nice and well for people new to eBusiness, but for veterans it holds mostly "well, duh" information.

For anyone that wants some real insight without the clutter of basic Internet marketing mechanics, check out the book MindControlMarketing.com by Mark Joyner.

The author is obviously very knowledgeable and a good business consultant, but I found the book spent too much time telling the reader to make sure he/she had a unique selling proposition and unique business that wouldn't go against the big companies in the industry. I think this is useful information, but not for this book, I would have rather seen it appear in a basic "how to" business book for small companies.

He does give some very useful information about Internet marketing and talks about applying generally accepted marketing principles to the Internet, which are ok.

I think the title fits when it says "planning" strategy and helps the user to just that, but stops short of giving really concrete information to act on or execute the plan once it is done.

Overall I think the book was just average. Not terrible, but not really great either.

Too many Web marketing books focus on how to get your site listed in search engines and attract the masses without a good marketing and site development plan. Dr. Wilson's planning book is timely for those Web site owners who really want to be successful in doing business on the Web.

The following approaches are needed for a business to go online:
1. Define the purpose of building your Web site
2. Identify the target audience and competitors
3. Create a strategic marketing plan
4. Develop and promote the Web site according to your plan

Dr. Wilson's book covers all the essential elements in creating a successful marketing plan. It is based on his practical experience on the Web. Highly recommended!

Well these authors should hide right now given that Enron, one of their prize companies, is selling below a dollar. You could say that I have the benefit of hindsight but if the authors had only looked up the hundreds of millions in stock sales by the company executives (yes, it's public info)during the course of their investigation, they might have questioned the motives of the Enron principals. Very poor research and a "puff piece" of a book. But they probably will generate incremental sales -- as a collectors item like the Dow 30000 masterpiece.

The book is about successful e-commerce companies - and despite Enron's accounting and other troubles, they did have one of the most successful web sites in the world, their on-line trading portal generated around 2 BILLION dollars a DAY in nominal trading revenue. That is a successful endeavor! At the time of Enron's trouble, it was the business unit that was attractive to Dynegy and other potential companies...

What do Jack Welch and David Bowie have in common?

For one thing, their innovative approaches to e-business earned them chapters in Radical E. Kurtzman and Rifkin take a no-nonsense approach to telling the stories of how the best brands in business have adapted to the Internet. This isn't a tale of "here today, gone tomorrow" dot-coms (they were all heroes, but just for one day, Bowie might tell us); these case studies are of traditional powerhouses and unconventional successes that have extended their brands online to better serve customers or reach new ones. Lessons for us all!

this book can easily be read in one sitting. the writing style is quite entertaining probably owing to the fact that the author is a seasoned journalist. as the book imparts time and time again, the customer returns with a vengance as he sets the web rules of the net. with information readily available, the customer now holds the power. the book tells of how the merger mania has put the mom and pop stores out of business. how these stores really knew the meaning of individualized customer service. but times are changing and the forces of the new economy are upon us. now we have virtual malls and the customer is once again treated like a king. the book has also other interesting insights on the effect of the network economy such as its chapters on gadgets(mobile phones, bots), interactivity, finance,and medicine. it ends with interviews which read like a whos who in the e-conomy such as jerry yang, andy grove and mike bloomberg. although its a good read,for those who are more interested in making it easier for the customer to do business with you(customer focused strategies) you may be more inclined to pick up the customer.com book of patricia b.seybold.

This book is easy and entertaining to read , really informative without being over-techno or relying on business jargon like "visioning" and "mission statement." The author's insights are refreshing, explaining in concrete terms that companies need to compete and keep their customers, not just put something on the Web and hope it floats. The insights on customer expectations of the Web are particularly relevant, and particularly so right now as people in the Web business are learning sobering truths about business realities. Much of what Murphy writes about, and his interviewees talk about, is coming to pass.

This survey of how the Internet is changing how customers make choices provides interviews with a range of modern thinkers and social workers; from Paul Erdman and Mike Bloomberg to Trip Hawkins and Jerry Brown. Web Rules is a fascinating survey of market forces and Internet operation impacts upon them.