economics-software

Cusumano's book is a clear and straighforward read into the basic issues that any software company should consider at their inception and as they mature.

Cusumano lays out the basic relationships between products and service very clearly - and he explores the pitfalls involved with good detail from the companies that he has advised. In this early portion of the book he also offers some very useful metrics to help provide financial sanity checks. There's an interesting "historical" chapter that follows the development of the industry, and then he delves into SW development best practices - which appears to be his particular forte. There's also a good chapter on the start-up phase sprinkled with sage advise.

My copy is full of margin notes and has already been transformed into a powerpoint presentation to share with our team.

All in all I found the book gave me a solid foundation from which to consider the SW biz. It's too easy to lose your sense of direction in this industry. Cusumano's book is like a glowing compass that illuminates the common sense dynamics driving this business. Enlightening, useful, well grounded in examples - and well written.

Cusumano keeps surprising me with the timeliness of the books that he has published during the years. Back in 1995 I was head of development for a software company and once I got hold of his book "Microsoft Secrets: How the world's most powerful software company creates technology, shapes markets, and manages people" I became a believer in Cusumano's work. The follow-up work from Cusumano and co-writers have become part of my software engineering and software business library. The last work from Cusumano "The Business of Software: ..." is very timely as software market is evolving rapidly towards commodity business where end user organizations expect to buy and pay for software based on different grounds and premises than before.

Cusumano's book reflects on many hot topics that EVERY software executive should be aware of like different software business models with corresponding economic metrics, setting up market segmentation with predictable revenue models, best practices in software development, outsourcing to low-cost countries like India and China etc. Also, Cusumano discusses thoroughly about software entrepreneurship and issues when setting business strategy and what impact venture capitalists could have for a software vendor. I believe that many software organizations do not understand what it really means to be run by venture capital driven Board of Directors. According to the ten case studies outlined in his work, some healthy software companies were pretty much destroyed by VC's and this is certainly not something that one should want to happen. Cusumano lists eight points that one should look at when evaluating software businesses. This was very helpful for me to reflect on and see how my company rates when evaluated against these eight points.

This book should be read by EVERY software executive that wants to be updated of what is going on in the software business. This is one of the very few available books that specifically address the needs of a software businesses and this makes this book even more valuable. Cusumano outlines ten different case studies in his book, some complete failures and some successful and each and every one of these case studies have a lesson that we should learn from. We seem to think that we have seen it all, but the best way to learn is to learn from mistakes and never repeat these mistakes. Unfortunately we tend to forget this rule and I have decided long time ago to learn from others and then apply this knowledge in my own software business. I have introduced several successful products by remembering this rule. I also recommend you to read other books from Cusumano and the experiences that he shares from tens of different businesses.

I began reading this book when I decided to start my own catering business. This book has shown me the way to go for as how to start a home business. I'm in a small business start-up program at the college I go to. This book has shown me how my feet I can use in my home for office space. Where I need to go to get any answers for very important questions pertaining to starting my home business.

I recommend this book to people who are considering authoring computer based training programs using Macromedia's Authorware. I would like to have seen more dedication to the topic of what makes good computer based training, not how to use Authorware. I author computer based training modules using Aimtech's IconAuthor program

This a great book for people that have little if any experience working with PowerPoint. The book goes on to break PowerPoint down into sections for operations. It also has a list of do's and don'ts. Overall it is a pretty solid book

Having used some of the authors books previously from the Games Trainers Play series, this CD version is a great tool for trainers and workshop presenters. Being on CD, travellers will appreciate being able to carry all this information in a compact form. The index, guide, and search tools are simple, yet effective, and the ability to print exercises, or export to other word processors works very well. The bookmark comments capability also enhances the use of the activities included. As it is designed to work on earlier versions of MS Windows, the user interface could be better, but otherwise a well put together package.

Unlike many books on systems analysis, the Robertsons' does not confuse analysis with "design". This book focuses on developing an unambiguous system specification which both the sponsoring end users and the developers can understand.

The examples are clear and well chosen, small enough to be understood, big enough not to be trivial. This is an excellent main textbook for a course in systems analysis.

The documentation methodology is derived from the classic DeMarco "structured analysis". The book's main weakness is insufficient treatment of object-oriented concepts, especially in data definition.

This is an "old" book (1987) but the only one I found so far that addresses cost estimation in real world situations, conceptually. It presents techniques and examples not only for new development but also for maintenance and modification of systems, which usually are lacking in other texts. The focus is in application, not in model development, and models used are those available at the time. The theory and models are better learned somewhere else because the presentation is VERY compact, hard to follow.

I used this book as a text in a course I taught 10 years ago in a professional master's program and it was a success with students. It would be very useful to have a new edition, updated with the current models and tools. Editors, give this author a chance if he is still around.

I'm teaching this book at the University of Bahrain, and I think it's a real interesting one. In-addition to that I'd like to share any comment with any person who could be interested in this book. Good Luck.

A sound summary of IBM's prescient Person-to-Person development in the late 1980s; makes some of the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) ideas seem quite old-fashioned - but then someone who's been using e-mail since the late 1970s and instant messaging (on IBM VM internal systems) since the dawn of time gets a lot of deja-vu feelings these days.

Easy to read - and well worth trawling through for people working on modern P2P developments. (I confess an interest - I worked on early prototypes of the IBM product in mid-1980s)

This review book reminds me of the NCLEX reviews. It is concise, divides the questions into the key content areas and provides answers with the rationale.

Of particular help is the second chapter "Test-taking skills and designing your study plan". Here the authors give you seven strategies for test-taking. Included are the points "Understanding and analyzing the anatomy of a test question" and the ever helpful "Selecting the best answer when you do not know the answer". There is an analysis of learning styles and an example schedule for preparation.

This review has been very helpful in lowering my test anxiety while in school. Too bad Amazon won't package it with Gawlinski and Hamwi at a reduced price ;-) ;-) This one really complements G&H. I can't give it 5 stars until I take the certification exam!