I have recommended, and bought, this book for many of my friends. It has very practical and useful ideas of how to leverage the Internet to produce incremental sales and reduce operational costs. Must read if you have, or don't have, an Internet business strategy.

It is a shame that this book is not specifically being marketed as a tool for non-profit managers. Leaders of this dynamic and rapidly growing sector will find "Hyperwars" as useful as business managers. Perhaps even more so, since the potential of the internet for more effective marketing and more efficient management is even greater for non-profit than business entrepreneurs.

Filled with simple, easy-to-grasp advice, backed up with many real-world examples.

Some readers will be disappointed in this book because it is not a how-to guide to making a website or marketing products on the Net. But it IS a comprehensive strategy guide for managers who want to see if (and how) the Internet can help their business. This book was an invaluable help to me during my own research.

If there is a Customer Advocate Hall of Fame, I'd like to nominate the authors of this book for membership. Finally, someone is championing the cause of using technology only when it means a customer will have a better experience as a result.

Slywotzky and Morrison focus on planning how best to use technology, citing examples from some of the business world's most successfully digital companies, such as Charles Schwab and Cisco Systems. They demonstrate how technology decisions should be made based on the value they add to the customer experience, and also show the outstanding results this mindset brings.

The authors are realistic. They concede that not all functions can or should go digital, and they see a role for a hybrid business model that retains "bricks and mortar," where it makes sense. Slywotzky and Morrison warn that "going digital" takes time and requires a complete change of thinking for employees.

The ideas in this book are very practical. Even though the examples focus on large enterprises, the same issues face a small business and the same solutions can be applied. Just because your shop is on Main Street doesn't mean you can't use technology to advantage. What every business has in common is customers, and these business experts offer excellent ideas for using the tools of modern life to create long-lasting relationships that will grow your business.

As the books about digital technologies continue to pile up, you may wonder which ones to read, if any. The authors readily acknowledge this in their introduction, but claim differentiation from their focus on strategy first and technology second.

They are smack on the money.

Almost all books today speak about how the "Internet changes everything," how there is "this technology" and "that technology" that can turn your company into a super power. What they don't consider is how your business model itself is affected. As a businessperson, it is the latter that I want to understand - how will my strategies need to change, and what are the new concepts I should integrate into my current strategy to ensure competitiveness over the next year or two. This is the focus of the book.

You have already seen many of the companies that are covered - Cisco, Dell, GE - but they are now dissected with a focus on their strategies rather than technologies. Much more interesting are the discussions of trends and concepts that you can apply right away. For example, as customers change from passive to active, how can you leverage that trend to enable faster growth and better service? A second example involves the Choiceboard, a strategic tool you can use to raise your business model. As I see dot.com's falling like flies, I continually consider how they would have fared if they could have focused on their business model rather than just introducing cool new technologies.

While the book was weak on the technology side, I was fine with that. My priority is to focus on my business model first, and then to understand which technologies will get me where I want to go.

Overall, I'd highly recommend it for any strategist. Those with a deep focus on technology may be dissatisfied, but anyone who is concerned with their business model will find much insight within.

There are a plethora of business books that may be quickly tossed aside as current events rend their relevance asunder. This is not one of those books.

Slywotzky and Morrison have admirably produced a generic template by which any business in any industry may move toward a more digital business design. Offering all the answers would be an insurmountable task. Instead Slywotzky and Morrison provide the proper questions any businessperson should ask. The book's title, in the form of a question, is an indication that readers will be required to do much thinking to provide their own answers.

According to the authors, the objective of business is to know what the customer wants, rather than guessing and gambling that a set of pre-produced products will strike the customer's fancy. All in all, Slywotzky and Morrison sample companies that: 1. Develop a new DBD without the burden of legacy systems or infrastructure (Cisco, eBay) 2. Form a hybrid model of DBD from a largely virtual organization to one that encompasses virtual and physical facilities (Dell) 3. See the necessity to change from their traditional business model to DBD and have the courage to commit (Schwab, GE, IBM ) 4. May never have considered DBD in the past since their industry did not seem to fit the mold (Cemex)

These four divisions seem to apply to the majority of companies in existence today. In effect, any company can benefit from DBD if their fundamental business model is already sound.

Slywotzky and Morrison focus on successful companies that have adopted DBD. I would have been interested to hear more about companies that tried and failed to change their business. The authors do mention the Schlitz Beer debacle of the mid-1970's in which the company assumed (wrongly) that customers wouldn't notice an unappetizing haze at the bottom of the bottle. But this example doesn't address a failure to implement Digital Business Design. Perhaps in their next book, Slywotzky and Morrison can provide us their in-depth analysis of some specific DBD failures. There are plenty of examples to choose from this year.

An important dimension not addressed in the book is DBD adjustment during bad economic times. How might DBD be beneficial in an economic downturn, such as we are experiencing now? Unfortunately, the book was published just as the crash of 2000 occurred. There weren't many companies to examine in terms of approach to the sudden change of the economy. I presume we will see many such books in the coming year, and I would suggest that the authors of "How Digital..." update their book to include shining icons (if any) of economic survival, thanks, in part, to DBD.

Slywotzky and Morrison are quick to point out that the successful digital innovators did not arrive at their current state without pain. They also do not pretend that the DBD enhancements of these companies are perfect. But the companies are constantly striving to improve their business designs.

Chapter 15, "The Digital Organization", offers a succinct overview of what any business manager would have to do to get to a Digital Business Design. Concepts are laid out clearly and emphatically presented, often to the point of absolutism. For its directness alone, this single chapter should be extruded from the book and re-read occasionally. The authors will have you believing you can work through a transition to DBD.

This book serves as an excellent guide for the businessperson who wants to find better ways to know what the customer wants. It correctly deters thinking along the lines of upgrading current digital tools just because so many other companies are. In fact, due to the book's broad coverage of multiple industries, the authors are reticent to prescribe specific courses of action. This lack of detailed guidance, while intentional, might dismay a CEO in need of information on unique digital business designs.

However, for the novice, who may not fully comprehend the vast array of options in the new digital economy, How Digital is Your Business? is an excellent general tour. One must have a starting point when attempting to change the nature of his business, and this book is a fine first step.

The author credits for this book also include Karl Weber. His credentials indicate he is a business writer and editor. Perhaps his ghost-writing prowess gives the book its logical layout and smooth-flowing language. The narrative is exemplary for its concise delivery.

I heartily recommend this book to both the business manager and the student of business. Whether or not the companies mentioned in the book will continue to succeed in their implementation of DBD remains to be seen; but the soundness of the principals introduced in "How Digital Is Your Business?" should be of great use for years to come.

-S.R. Martin "nav66"

As IT professional I found little surprises in this book about technology and the author visions how it will further influence (change) our daily lives.

Why? Because the issue Mr. Gates is writing about with such passion is really an old story nowadays. Let me explain. We have an "old" IT infrastructure in some places that is not good enough to support companies in a new economy, fortunately most of the corporate world also possess "new" PC and PC based devices connected to the Internet that are (according to Mr. Gates) fully capable and optimal way of supporting business in the 21st century. Hmm...I know at least couple of people that will strongly disagree with that (Larry and Scott where are you :-). The result is that corporate management is desperately looking for clues how to make the best use of this "new" technology to succeed in a new economy.

This book will help you get most of the answers, but (as usually) don't buy everything you read!

Don't get me wrong, I'm not negative about the book, in fact I learned a lot from Mr. Gates as businessperson. With his enthusiastic writing style, he kept me constantly rethinking from chapter to chapter about existing solutions in my company from business perspective and NOT from IT as usually!

Another good reason to read this book are real world examples from different companies, including Microsoft Corporation itself, on how you can gain business advantage with proper use of digital tools.

Last but not least, if you think that you know Mr. Gates and his company well then think again or better yet, read this book!

At first look, it might seem to be just an extended advert for Microsoft. But no, there is more to this book. It is insightful, and entertaining (thats an incongruity!!). Mr. Gates has peppered it with countless examples of companies, big and small, who could use, or are already using the concept of a Digital Central Nervous System (DCNS) to manage the flow of information, and as a logocal extension to it, managing the flow of wealth to ones advantage.

This book is not just about big business getting bigger, but also about how simple techniques of good information flow management within even the smallest of establishments, can make contented customers keep coming back to you again and again for more business.

Mr. Gates has used many simple real life analogies to drive the proverbial nail down the head about the importance of an integrated approach to managing the flow of information between the various constituents of an organization (size does not matter in this case), as also management of information flowing into and outside of it. Just the case in point is the astounding results I have myself observed unfold at Dell Corporation in Braker Lane!!

This book is a beacon and a lighthouse in our transforming world of e-anything you want. Bill Gates is an optimist and it shows. I think the whole book can be reduced to a quotation by Alfred Sloan, the Chairman of General Motors : « Bedside manners are no substitute for the right diagnosis. »

Bill Gates analyzes absolutely all the consequences of the release of Information Technology in the Internet time onto the economy, society, administration, life. He does not take any precaution to sweeten or soften his message. You will follow this revolution, that is unescapable, or just plain die. When reduced to that the book is by far too long. But it is not only that.

The book studies hundreds of particular cases were the problem was confronted, solved or refused and the consequences of this acceptation to go along with modern times or of this refusal to have anything to do with such an iconoclastic approach that destroys, makes obsolete everything that was common creed in our society. Those cases are extremely well shown and described and are superbly enlightening and entertaining. Because this book is also entertaining. You will find some real pleasure in reading it.

But the book also goes beyond this. It is a book for all the CEOs and CIOs of the world. Hence it is pedagogical and didactic. It demonstrates what has to be done and it gives examples of the right solutions, and all the practical advice and even diagnosing recipes needed for any one to find their ways in the labyrinth and jungle of modern information times. The main objective then becomes to liberate thinking in business by entrusting machines with collecting and analyzing data, with the help of some human friends. When this thinking is finally liberated, business can use the speed of thought to increase its efficiency, its transformation and its progress. The general idea is that failure, slump or recession is never anything else but the inability to seize the day in these technological times.

It also, here and there, explains how Microsoft navigated through all the troubled waters of change and capitalistic success. Strange enough it makes us feel and think that the word « capitalism » itself is obsolete in global times. It is obsolete because the economy, business have to give each one member of the working team that the workers (at all levels) have to become and be for the economy to work, their total independence of thought, autonomy of decision and yet integration in the wider picture of the team. He shows marvelously that there is no business that can survive if democracy, discussion, confrontation and common objectives emerging from the aforesaid are not the very core and ethics of the economy and business. He also implies that any business has to become global to survive : global by covering the whole world ; global by envisaging the totality of a problem, product, range of products, etc ; global by the desire to dominate your field completely and totally. That leads to an understood and never expressed idea that the anti-trust regulations that are ours today are passé, old-fashioned, ineffective, even dangerous because mutilating for thought, business and the future of the world. Then competition is no longer the same thing as it used to be : the competition between several firms producing or providing the same goods or services. Competition is innovation and this can only come through the liberation of thought and through a new organization of business : a firm has to literally control its whole field of activity but including innnovation and democracy in its everyday functioning and concentrating on the core issues and activities necesary for its global role to be total, and by understanding that free business thinking will always produce the start-up that may break you if you are not one step ahead of any possible innovation. A businessperson is both a visionary prophet and a convincing guru. And keep in mind that profit, both individual and collective, is and has always been, the objective of the human race. It empowers each and all human beings with the energy to go beyond even the farthest limits and frontiers. We do not venture in hostile lands if we do not aim at getting a profit out of it. Otherwise we are forced to do it : it is slavery or the gulag.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

The message of Chuck Martin's book is simple; be prepared to adjust to life on the net or be left behind. In Net Future: The 7 Cybertrends that will Drive your Business, Martin discusses the evolution of the "commercial" net. He warns against companies who merely appear to be evolving by transferring their businesses onto an online format. This is dangerous as he suggests that companies who will thrive in the Net Future will change the way they do business as a result of the internet. Business will become much more customer-centered and people will be more informed and demanding as a result.

The seven cybertrends that he cites suggest not only a change in the way business is done, but a more fundamental change in the way people behave and interact with one another. In the net future, one will see few successful businesses without an online component. The line between the home and office will be fuzzy in the workforce of the future. Business will operate in a global market where prices are competitive and products are driven by consumers. Classrooms and training centers will be without walls, where students and employees can learn "on-demand" according to their schedules and lifestyles. Perhaps the most intriguing chapter of Martin's book is his last in which he discusses the future of education. He certainly has the right idea of where education is going, but the details are somewhat misleading. For example, he quotes the CEO of Real Education (now known as ECollege) Rob Hemlick as saying his company supplies "professors with pre-developed course content and textbooks developed for the online environment". To say that this is the future of online education is not wholly accurate. It is certainly tempting to say that by putting a course online that you have "changed" education, but with accreditation bodies strictly monitoring the development of online programs in higher education, it is likely that we are going to see a shift away from transferring the "bricks and mortar" idea of schooling into the cyber world. Rather, education itself will undergo a fundamental change. This perspective is lacking from his book.

Martin's book is certainly thought provoking and does present an aerial view of the way that technology is changing the way people do business. However, it does not offer in-depth look at any one of these trends. It is food for thought, but the he only begins the conversation on the future of the internet and its impact on technology.

This book is packed with information that shows executives why it is important to use both the Internet and their company's Intranet to assure success in the new millennium. Author Chuck Martin contends that the Net Future will change the face of business forever. Customer behavior will change so much that companies will have to change completely in reaction. Since consumers will drive business, managers must understand that doing business will never be the same. This book is probably the best general resource available today on the influence of the Internet on business. It offers specific examples and tips on how to prepare for doing business in the twenty-first century. It includes many interesting, fun-to-read anecdotes. Information is offered clearly and concisely. The book provides criteria a company can use to measure whether it is ready for business in the Net Future. We [...] recommend this book to executives or entrepreneurs in any industry.

In 1996 Chuck's first book, the "Digital Estate" warned corporate executives that they needed to wake up and begin to understand how the internet would change their businesses, forever. Some of us saw it, but others didn't.... "Net Future" has a much more serious message - it tells us that our customers are demanding that we change the way that we interface with them. Unless companies learn to 'think outside the box'to satisfy new customer needs, they may be doomed to playing 'catch up' with newer more inovative internet-based companies. Chuck's book provides us with intensive lessons on 'thinking outside the box' - it's a must reading for all boardroom seeking anwsers to tomorrows strategies today. Learn how the cybereconomy goes Main Street, how the wired workforce is taking over, understand how the open-book corporation is taking over, how products are becoming commodities, how the customer becomes data, experience communities, and understand how learning moves to real-time, all the time. These are the seven cybertrends that are changing the business landscape worldwide. A good read provides a stimulating look at strategies that are working.... and delivers the basis for 'thinking outside the box' - to create effective corporate strategies for tomorrow's world.

I was pleasantly surprised by this offering of Sterling Seagrave's as normally, his works would be double the thickness of this book but hey, isn't it this saying that don't judge the book by its cover? The book spanned thousands of years, going back through time in China illustrating to us what events led to the exodus of Chinese overseas. I simply couldn't put the book down reading about those legendary statesmen like Sun Ping, Sun Tzu, Wu Tze Shih, Chao Tsao, & so forth. I vaguely knew of what my older generations told me about them when I was a kid but now, everything is coming back to me. Sterling Seagrave is at his best unwoven all the complex threads that have had been set up by those master puppeteer, who in this case is none other than overseas Chinese. I don't believe the author is making up stories here at all. Many readers found the content rather far-fetched but people in the region would disagree with that because South-East Asia is undeniably an interesting place to be. Rather, I'm astounded by his in-depth knowledge of what's happening in the South East Asia. Many of the incidents mentioned were happening in my time & I could still vividly remembered what I read in the newspaper or what I heard from the older generations who used to work for those tycoons. Whilst it's true that the second part of the book is becoming overbearing (probably it's because I have known of the incidents already or that it's already been covered in other Sterling Seagrave's offering), overall, this is still a well-researched book. A job very well-done, indeed.

Conspicuous by its absence, Sterling Seabright's Lords of the Rim has clearly ruffled more than a few feathers, at least in the Chinese Pacific Rim Community. It strikes me as odd that Seabright's EXCELLENT TREATMENT of such topical subjects as Chinese Triad criminal activity, colonialism, monopoly and banking practices and, most recently, the triggering of the so-called Asian contagion by an oligarchy of greedy, Chinese-Thai land speculators and monopolists should suddenly be unavailable. Perhaps Seagrave's blunt warning to us and his glaring examples from elsehwere on the Rim were a tad too clear for Canada's cloyingly naive immigration and multicultural establishment. We, in Canada are arguably next in line for slow colonization of China's Triad driven migration . Seagrave does well to warn us of it. Other, less cogent and less relevant works by the same author are easy to find. What, then, has happened to Lords of the Rim?? Seagrave's publisher does us a disservice by not making such a recent Seabright work available.

I was struck by a feeling of deja-vu and at the same time clarity when reading this book. Having lived in Japan as a junior high and high school student, I am accutely aware of the competitiveness of Chinese students and their families. Furthermore, as a current resident in the Philippines, and previously other islands in the South Pacific, I am aware of the power of the Chinese to control the fundamental survival of their hosts. Should there be a Chinese holiday declared in Asia, other than in South Korea or mainland Japan, one would be hard pressed to buy a screwdriver or a loaf of bread...much less a tank full of gasoline. It is reassuring that the paranoia and mistrust of the decades of the 1930's and 40's, alligned against the possibility of Axis espionage and deception, is today directed elsewhere. The question is where, and why. Consider the fact that I've purchased this boolk in Asia as a paperback, paying one third the publisher's price for what has long been known as 'pirated' books. Publisher received nothing, perhaps author received nothing. Just a small example of chinese businessmen manipulating the market without concern for/ or control by morality or any concept of "fair play". Good enough...go for it!! But let the rest of us be aware and beware!!!

This book is based solely on the program that comes on CD-Rom with the book. So before you will understand what the book is talking about you have to install the files on your server. The book makes most of the installation part a huge guessing game. When you finally get it installed, check if it works. If your lucky you won't have to call your Hosting Service to have any little extra services turned on just to get the program running. Now that you have it WORKING right and you move on to the rest of the book, your stuck with a very unattractive web site. Help on customizing this cgi is another guessing game. All in all I say this book was very vage and really doesnt get down to the nitty gritty on web commerce. It's almost as if they are trying to get you to use thier program for some reason, which by the way is out dated and you'll have to download a newer version online.

I think that this book could be great if they can include how can you make the setup for the different plataforms (W95,Unix). Also the free versions of Perl can be on the CD. You don't have support for any question that you have, and I think you won't have it. I want to share information in how to setup this program with Windows 95 users.

If you do not already understand the basics of PERL programming, web server operations, and CGI, this book might help you and it may just confuse you. If you do already understand these things pretty well, then the book is both enlightening and entertaining. I downloaded the unix software first, and had it running under apache on Windows 98 in about 5 minutes. I was so impressed with the quality and flexibility of the code, I decided to buy the book just to show my support, and pick up the helpful hints and insightful commentary that Gunther, et al have on the web, ecommerce, and programming in general. Well, well done!

If anyone has any doubts that the record industry--in its modern, corporate incarnation--has essentially destroyed the public's ability and desire to hear edgy, experimental, and true music, than this book just might erase them. It covers the business side of things more than the musical, showing how money, agents, and moguls had their influence to different degrees on artists like Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and Bruce Springsteen, among others.

What the book doesn't cover, and probably doesn't need to, is how the business dealings and marketing schemes that were initiated during the time period covered here laid the groundwork for the overwhelming McDonald-ization of the music industry that has come to fruition today. In the modern music scene, iconoclasts and visionaries are pushed aside to relative obscurity, in favor of 'fast food' music, music that is consumed precisely because it's unsurprising and doesn't challenge its audience, an audience that prefers safe choices to something different. Goodman subtly shows this shift, which changed the industry from a place where Dylan and Young could become superstars, to a place where they'd be outcasts. And survival for a musician like Springsteen meant compromises and handing over his career to businessmen. An essential read for those interested in how the music industry pushes our buttons.

A rock history like none ever written, Fred Goodman traces the growth of the music business from the Newport Folk Festival in the summer of '65 when folkie Dylan turned into a rocker before a disbelieving horde of instant ex-fans (and an apoplectic Pete Seeger) through the sale of David Geffen's music properties in the late eighties, in effect making him rock's first billionaire. Goodman is a remarkably fluent and entertaining writer who tells the story of how rock's biggest stars learned to balance artistic integrity with making obscene amounts of money, and the lesser known managers, agents and record company executives who took them to school. It's great story piled on unforgettable, right-on quote, with lots of great side trips. Are you one of many readers who couldn't stand ambitious, self-righteous record reviewers like Landau and Marsh in the early 70s? Let's just say Goodman's book will give you plenty of ammunition to rekindle your disgust

In the words of Bob Dylan, one of the main artists highlighted in this book, we can see exactly what is meant when he says "money doesn't talk - it swears". This book illustrates graphically how a musical form that began as a rebellious and riotous yawp against numbing conformity and blandness, was co-opted almost entirely by the powers-that-be. From the idealistic beginnings of the 60's folk boom to the frantic money grabbing of the 90's corporate recording industry mergers, we can watch the power and financial stakes growing. Amidst all of the down-and-dirty money deals, Goodman shows us several high-visibility "musical artists"(primarily Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and Bruce Springsteen) as they walk the tightrope between integrity and the marketplace. As the book makes perfectly clear, it is nearly impossible for the artist to maintain any kind of purity or innocence when dealing with the juggernaut of big business. Those artists unable to protect their interests or find someone to do it for them, are quickly chewed up and spit out by the music industry in the constant "dog-eat-dog" race to find the next money-maker. Goodman tells several somewhat sordid tales of managers and agents all doing battle to come out on top, often at the expense of the artists they are supposedly representing. I found this book incredibly helpful in understanding what it really took to get any kind of "honest, truthful music" into the marketplace in the last 30 or 40 years. And I feel it is a glowing testament to the artists who managed to actually "say something" with their music, while they danced (like Shiva) on the skulls of financial moguls and corporate robber-barons.

I rarely criticize a text book, but for this one I must make an exception. My biggest complaint is that the examples are full of errors and the procedures are incomplete - leaving out critical steps to make the procedures work. For someone trying to learn Websphere from scratch, this poses an insurmountable obstacle to learning this topic. This indicates to me a rush job putting this book to press and failure to proofread the textbook and failure to test the examples.

I could go on, but the shortcomings already expressed are, in my opinion, justification for avoiding this book.

The book is extremely well structured, offering a broad scope of information for the entire horizon of users ranging from the people who want a high level understanding of the functionality and purpose of the application server, to installation details for system administration and troubleshooting purposes.

It is excellent from a developer and architect perspective as it offers a complete explanation of what the functions are, where they should be applied and how they should be coded, including sample code, covering all key areas such as JMS, EJB, web services and LDAP. Further to these the book also explains the use of other applications such as Visual Age for developing Websphere.

The book also provides a CD with trial versions of the applications including Visual Age and the Websphere Developer Studio.

All in all an excellent well thought through book offering both high level and in-depth detail of a very complex application.

I was looking for a book to help us integrate our product, iMercury, into IBM's WebSphere Application Server. iMercury is a 100% Internet designed java messaging product that is lightweight, self configuring, RSA security enabled, and provides automated installation and configuration. I stumbled onto Ron Ben-Natan & Ori Sasson's "IBM WebSphere Application Server: The Complete Reference". Given my past pleasant experience with their previous book, IBM WebSphere Starter Kit, I felt that this would be a good reference source for the WebSphere Application Server.

This book is ideal for developers, System Administrators, System Architects, and Managers. Developers get an overview of the different technologies with simple and clear examples. References are given if additional detail is required. System Administrators have a source which provides information on installing, starting, and troubleshooting WebSphere. System Architects and Managers will enjoy this single reference which covers all the hot internet topics from EJBs, Connection Pooling, to Web Services. I also loved the CD-ROM that comes with trial versions of the WebSphere Application Server, WebSphere Server, WebSphere Studio Application Developer, and VisualAge for Java (I would buy the book just for the CD). The only part I would change is to put the last part, which deals with administrating WebSphere sites, earlier in the book.

IBM WebSphere Application Server: The Complete Reference is a comprehensive book that is an ideal for any WebSphere Administrator or Developer. It would also be very useful to any person who wants to understand the components of Internet development.

I read Elizabeth's insightful book in its entirety in one afternoon. I must say that her astute sense of observation, intuitive yet unbiased understanding of, both the feminine and the high-tech industry, as well as her crystal clear articulation, enabled her to truly capture the dreams and challenges experienced by 20 very diverse women Internet entrepreneurs whom she profiled between January and June 2000 (an especially volatile time for Internet stocks.) Moreover, she has succeeded in creating a most instructive book that captures the women's visions, their business models, the obstacles to secure funding and human resources; and documents their personal challenges while nurturing rapidly expanding Internet businesses in an ever changing e-business surrounding. True, all women presented had MBAs, connections to the industry/money yet, if you witnessed Vani Koshla or Felicia "LIVE" at a January 2001 event..., it was clear that their personal drive, quest, ambition, and gutsy-ness put them on the trajectory of success - not privilege. Elizabeth's book captured that essence and left me feeling: "I can persevere, I can do it too!"

I read Elizabeth's insightful book in its entirety in one afternoon. I must say that her astute sense of observation, intuitive yet unbiased understanding of, both the feminine and the high-tech industry, as well as her crystal clear articulation, enabled her to truly capture the dreams and challenges experienced by 20 very diverse women Internet entrepreneurs whom she profiled between January and June 2000 (an especially volatile time for Internet stocks.) Moreover, she has succeeded in creating a most instructive book that captures the women's visions, their business models, the obstacles to secure funding and human resources; and documents their personal challenges while nurturing rapidly expanding Internet businesses in an ever changing e-business surrounding. True, all women presented had MBAs, connections to the industry/money yet, if you witnessed Vani Koshla or Felicia "LIVE" at a January 2001 event, hosted by ... , it was clear that their personal drive, quest, ambition, and gutsy-ness put them on the trajectory of success - not privilege. Elizabeth's book captured that > essence and left me feeling: "I can persevere, I can do it too!" :-)) What I didn't like: The DIVAS in the title - it makes women entrepreneurs sounds difficult and capricious - a title you won't find on any books written by men for male business men. Ohterwise a satisfied reader, Nicole Kidd

While the focus of the book is women, the lessons learned can benefit both men and women. Since most of the leaders in business profiled in the media are men, it is refreshing to read about accomplished women regardless of the outcome of their companies. It is especially nice that the women profiled have a diverse age range as well as HQ locations (two of the women live outside the US). The appendix has an outstanding list of relevant organizations and resources.

In the Age of Access, Jeremy Rifkin claims that the fundamental way that organizations and individuals conduct business is changing dramatically. The change is a shift from ownership of assets to the payment for the right to access the assets of others. Rifkin calls this state of existence the "hypercapitalistic economy." In this type of economy everything is service-based where "just-in-time" access is standard and achieved through expansive commercial networks residing in cyberspace. All managers could learn about the upcoming Age of Access from Rifkin's book. It is imperative for managers to understand the impact that the Age of Access will have on their businesses and their lives. Unfortunately, Rifkin does not indicate how to use this information to achieve success and take advantage of the dramatic changes that are occurring in our world. For this reason, I do not recommend The Age of Access to managers looking for answers to their questions but I do recommend The Age of Access for those who are ignorant of the "new culture of hypercapitalism" and need the to understand where the world is going so they can create their own game plan.

Make no mistake, I think that the Age of Access is an outstanding analysis of modern economy.

If you are a young professional and trying to develop a plan for professional development, or if you are a seasoned professional trying to come to terms with the mindset of the young, you should definitely read this book.

The biggest intellectual challenge that exists today for professionals is to understand the "new economy." I am always afraid that tidal waves of disruptive changes are right around the corner (or are already here) that could literally destroy my company or my career. Rifkin elaborates on several modern economic paradigms, and his analysis will help you anticipate and prepare for these fantastic changes.

I agree with some of the gloomy predictions like the destruction of our "Cultural Landscape." In a very vivid example, Rifkin mentions that there is a Dunkin' Donuts just a few yards away from the Trevi fountain in Rome. Even as a self described libertarian, I believe this kind of pollution of the "Cultural Landscape" should be stopped.

Rifkin's elaboration on the economic value of social trust is right on. Nevertheless his implication that trust is withering away in the US is not convincing.

My criticism is that although Rifkin has clearly diagnosed many of societies ills, he falls short of offering an action-based specific resolution. He seems to imply that "a handful of giant transnational life-science companies" represent the evil empire of today, nevertheless he does not say how to undo their influence.

Reading between the lines, it seems that Rifkin is implying that government ought to take control of certain things that are now considered private property. As an example, government would force Dunkin Donuts to move their restaurant to a less sacred location. History shows us that expanding the power of government can have disastrous results. I would have respected the author much more if he would provide a naked description of his action plan.

I liked the book very interesting description of the times we are living in. Helps understand the economic tendencies that are actually occurring around us. I enjoy reading it!