For-your-information

There were a lot of short articles on many subjects and they were written in a fun and light manner and were really easy to read. Some of it made me laugh, and I learned a lot about snakes in general, for example, their mating habits, and about dangerous snakes, (lots of great stuff on that) and rattlesnake facts and all kinds of things I've never seen in other books.

The author seems to have gotten lots of tips for owners from snake owner newsgroups or mailing lists of people who owned snakes because I found a lot of very practical stuff on how to keep snakes, and what to do about mites, and how to handle neighbors who hate snakes, and feeding snakes and terrariums and traveling outside with a snake all from people who had snakes.

If the author wrote another book on this subject I'd buy it in a second but for the time being, this is the best book I've ever seen on snakes. I will keep it always because I like snakes.

Many Web marketing books are a thinly veiled Internet 101 wrapped in a business shell. Webnomics ("the study of the production, distribution, and consumption of goods, services, and ideas over the World Wide Web") is a careful reflection of what has worked on the Web and why it has worked. Schwartz organizes the book into "nine essential principles for growing your business on the Web," one per chapter, but don't mistake this for a simple book. Sure, the principle is simple, e.g., "#4 Consumers will shop online only for information-rich products." But why it is true, and how to see how this applies to your product or services, that is where Schwartz shines. Using examples from dozens of successful, and not so successful, Web sites, he outlines the reasons for their performance.

This isn't a book for the green Web marketer, but the more thoughtful one who is willing to analyze and think and learn. It is my pick for the top Web marketing book of 1997. -- Dr. Ralph F.Wilson, Editor, Web Marketing Today (http://www.wilsonweb.com/wmt)

Basic principles stay still valid, that means that the Web remains the place for interactivity, customer positive experience, self-service, and personalization. So, why many Web sites are not giving the opportunity to interact? May be because their roots in the industrial age slow them to understand deeply the ninth principle exposed in this book: agility rules-Web sites must continually adapt to the market.

When technology is becoming the driving force to interact with your customers and no more a means to solve business problems, Web strategy is asking to be proactive, to be at the edge. Intrusive mass media with their continuously diminishing returns need to extend impact with the Web to link qualified and interested consumers and give them enough information and interactive tools to move them to think to become buyers.

Exposing your company on the Web is the low step when getting results must be the reason to move to the World Wide Web marketspace. Much richer interactive information than in a brochure is becoming the rule to make sure to gain interest from your customers The common number of pages seen is not an effective criteria compared to the frequency of coming-back to your Web site. Creating a relationship and better a community must be a real objective when setting up a Web site, even if it is not an easy task.

World Wide Web is a new economic environment and is asking new strategic approaches to consumer who is regaining control based on his own interactive experience.

If you think World Wide Web marketspace is not your concern, even if you discover everyday that your competitive advantages are shrinking, and that a new small aggressive company coming from nowhere starts to take some of your customers by adding information value to your offer, you had better to reconsider your position.

Competition is moving from marketplace to marketspace and you must be convinced that it will be preferable to understand the 9 principles presented by Evan I. Schwartz in Webonomics to make sure to survive in this new competitive environment.

This is a thoroughly analyzed and helpful book. I have given copies of this book to several people as it responds to research needs at several levels: genealogy, women's rights and issues (property, health, probate/will), family history interests, research skills, even personal journaling and self-discovery through family discovery.
Sharon DeBartolo Carmack has an outstanding ability to teach, and I hope she will continue to expand on her collection of genealogy research books.

It is a complete wast of money.
Even though this book was written a few years ago, there is absolutely nothing in it that could even possibly be helpful. Basically, they just give you a little synopsis of 100 different potential business, from catering, daycare, tutoring, etc ; Businesses that are going to cost you a lot more than you could ever make in profits. And most of the websites they give you(few and far between) and just about all of the newsgroups they give you are gone.

There are many books out there about how to make money at home with your computer, and just save yourself the time and most importantly, the money, and look somewhere else...

~~~~ Stacy

In my experience with SAP writers/publishers they tend to underestimate the design changes from one version to another. Although a configuration process may be very well explained, the instructions are very often obsolete for your version of SAP. Writers and publishers often claim that the book is valid for a SAP releases long subsequent to the publishing of the book. How do they know? The best way to insure that the instructions will be valid for your version of SAP is by noting the copyright date and comparing that against the release date of your software. If the copyright date is earlier than your software, the book is obsolete for your needs.

We did not come to Amazon.com to scold SAP and their architects and designers. Clearly SAP was not designed from an accountant prospective. We are here to evaluate the usefulness of a technical book. Like it or not, that is the nature of the beast. It is our job to use and implement the system. Finding a good technical reference that is concurrent with your system is a gold mine.

Let me just tell you, buddy: A few years ago, some SAP salesmen staged their dog-and-pony shows for several major US oil companies. Never mind that SAP is a manufacturing-oriented system, unfit to be congruent with hydrocarbon industry processes. Their sales tap-dance dazzled the oil executives beyond all belief. They were somehow convinced that SAP was the way of the future, and that industry functionality would be served if every oil company ran its accounting systems from the same basic platform. The executives, none of whom had ever worked in the trenches -- and without consulting anyone who had worked in the trenches -- bought this pile of excrement hook, line and sinker.

SAP is an accounting process nightmare. It requires armies of people to run the thing, and its functionality is so counter-intuitive that EXTENSIVE training is required; there is NOTHING on the system that you can simply figure out from following menu paths. It is indeed Rubik's Accounting System, a broad minefield strewn with mis-steps and unintended consequences. NOTHING on SAP is ever easy, from ascertaining the business unit to which a cost center is assigned, to determining the set of vendor invoices that comprise the costs of a project.

And, Heaven help you, if you must run SAP in tandem with some other system, such as your payroll program or a custom division-of-interest database. It's tantamount to being busted for drugs in a foreign country: You're in for the HASSLE OF YOUR LIFE.

On the other hand, if you are a member of the accounting profession, SAP can guarantee you a job for life (if you don't particularly mind NEVER being able to complete anything). SAP is rife with unpleasant tasks that NO little kid ever dreams about doing when he grown up. Accordingly, you will never hear footsteps behind you, never face the prospect of someone else plotting to take your job from you. SAP is the tar baby of accounting systems if you want job security: You are stuck to it, and nobody else wants to come near you.

If you are reading this, it is quite likely that your company already has SAP, or is about to acquire it -- and you are one of the frightened, desperate, skippy-dog little bookkeeper minions, seeking reference information about this monstrous new system that's about to be shoved down your throat.

Good luck, chump. And, goodbye to your nights and weekends.

This jam-packed HTML and more guide is the most useful HTML guide ever. It comes with a companion CD-ROM that not only has stuff used in the book but also other software thaty can be used for other purposes.

The book shares the common problem with the majority of technical books : redundant inflated text.

This book gave me the information I needed to get started. It was well written, with many real world examples. I did not have any trouble following it. It starts from the very beginning of the process and builds up. Starting with a description of the three classes of modification request. And ending with suggested modifications for your metrics program due to Object Oriented Technology.

I'd recommend this textbook to anyone who is just starting out in the Software Maintenance field. It has helped me considerably. It would probably be too general for someone already experienced with Software Configuration Management programs and Software Maintainability Metrics.

My only complaint is that it could have used more checklists and a web site.

The main value is the maintenance-oriented framework that the author provides, which encompasses planning activities, a set of processes and organizational and cost considerations. These are valuable guidelines and will help to clearly define the transition between application delivery and maintenance and support operations within IT. Much of this material is also applicable to product-based organizations that produce commercial software.

I would have liked more information about maintenance metrics that I could have compared to resources I already have, and also would have liked more emphasis on reliability and quality metrics. However, the book is more focused on processes and support, and it shines in those areas. If you are interested in software maintenance from developer's and software engineering viewpoints I recommend "Designing Maintainable Software" by Dennis D. Smith (ISBN 0387987835). For metrics I strongly recommend "Software Metrics: Establishing a Company-wide Program" by Robert B. Grady ISBN 0138218447).

A minor complaint: about a third of the web links are outdated...which is probably inevitable in any book about online anything. Fortunately, though, there's still plenty of meat here, even without the web links.

I'd recommend this book to anyone wanting to understand or review the basics of investing on line.