Building High-Tech Clusters: Silicon Valley and Beyond

Book Description

The contributions to this study of the origins of centers of industrial and technological innovation (such as Silicon Valley) reveal that these concentrated "clusters" of entrepreneurial high tech firms are characterized by rapid economic growth. No other analysts have examined how such clusters start, although many earlier works have studied Silicon Valley. The study's contributors conclude that the key public and business policy elements of starting a cluster are common to many regions, countries, and time periods.

Customer Reviews:

High-Tech clusters can work complementary rather than competitive?.......2006-08-25

Authors of this book argue the essential difference between "start up" and "established" high-tech clusters. Their view of the role of outside/top-down power vs. internal/grass-route activity for these different phases is especially helpful to the people who are involved in planning or start up of these clusters. Certainly in flattening world century, success of the cluster is highly depend on recognitions of the other clusters in terms of technology opportunities, educated labor, flow of entrepreneurial talent and so on (there is no magic recipe!). It's true challenge even of these entrepreneurs to harmonize their own clusters complementarily rather than simply competitive with others.

Book Description

"Burnout" was first investigated in the 1970s as a crisis of overextended and disillusioned social service workers. However, as the nature of these workers' jobs has changed, so has the nature of the syndrome. The current experience of burnout is lived out in a more challenging social context, with social service workers struggling harder for social credibility and job security. For instance, because of greater demands on their time and energy, teachers are being pressed to do more work with fewer resources, while receiving fewer rewards and less recognition of their efforts. The objective of this volume is to provide new perspectives and a deeper understanding of the nature, conditions, and consequences of burnout, most notably in the teaching profession. To do this, the contributors review the most recent research in the field, and describe research and action agendas designed to combat the incidence of burnout in the workplace. Researchers and professionals in the fields of education and social psychology will be particularly interested in what this volume has to offer.

Book Description

Cash in on Your Own Experience
You possess a wealth of special knowledge and experience. You are mature—a veteran, a survivor. If you were an employer, you’d hire yourself in an instant.
Hubert Bermont did. One day he was a successful, but unfulfilled, middle-aged corporate executive. The next day he was out on the street, a victim of downsizing. Within two years he was making considerably more money than ever before, working as a full-time, self-employed consultant. Since then, he has helped thousands of other people achieve similar success, and he’ll do the same for you. In these pages he clearly explains how you can launch your own thriving consulting business and operate it for greater profit and personal satisfaction.
“Hubert Bermont knows more about consulting than anyone. Just as important, he knows how to communicate his ideas simply and directly. Regardless of your field, he can show you how to succeed. My advice to you is to take his advice—you just can’t miss.”
—Eugene Hameroff, director emeritus, The Consultants Institute

Customer Reviews:

the classic - this was the first book ever on the topic.......2001-12-12

.
this is the classic book.

it was the first book ever on the topic.

could I want more? yes.
read howard shenson's book for the graduate degree.
this book is the place to start.

supplemental works by bob bly (not robert bly - he's the poet), jerry buchanan, jeffrey lant, joe karbo, john kremer, ted nicholas, et al may fill in special topic areas especially in the marketing of services.

this book is worth reading if you have any interest in being an independent consultant.

Who needs any other book on consulting?.......2001-07-03

My wife read this book to me on a road trip just after I was laid off from a job, and by the time we got home, I felt charged up and ready to get started. The tips on personal networking, proposals, negotiation and formalizing the deal were especially helpful to me.

This book does not come with rose-colored glasses. If you're motivated but a little uncertain, this book gives the advice and reassurance you need to get started. If you're willing to put in the effort and be totally honest with yourself, it's no-nonsense all the way.

I would never have known that the author was not in my field. It's one of the best 'professional improvement' books I've seen.

Good Beginner Book.......2000-04-24

This book is a great book for those just beginning in the consulting field. The content is very helpful and credible because Hubert Bermont is a successful consultant himself. Bermont's main objective is how to be able to cash in on your own experience rather than work for someone else. I think this is good advice for those interested in external consulting because you must learn through your own experiences and mistakes in order to be succssful. This book is easy to read and understand and I would definitely recommend buying this book and using it to your advantage!

Helps give you direction.......1999-03-31

I think that this book helps you choose and succeed at any type of consulting career you choose. A complementary resource I found was Vaultreports.com which helps you land a great job once having chosen your career.

I was disappointed.......1999-03-18

While this book does have some good information, overall I was disappointed. I found most of the information general and for a book that's in it's 3rd edition, I didn't expect to read about typewriters! What I did appreciate was the author certaintly has his own way of doing things - and the advice he offers is solid and practical, something you don't often find in other books. Just the fact that he has no financial debt makes it advice worthy. If I had to do it over, I'd read it in the library or B & N.

Book Description

For over a quarter of a century, The Oasis Press has provided essential business primers to over 3 million readers. Its Successful Business Library has been recognized by leading small business organizations and publications like the U.S. Small Business Administration and Inc. magazine.

Now, a wealth of knowledge and experience comes together in this all-in-one start-up tool (available in 45 state-specific editions) to provide the most up-to-date information on virtually every issue affecting small business. SmartStart can answer such questions as:

? What's the best operating entity for my type of business? Let SmartStart explain the differences between LLCs, S corporations, and sole proprietorships.

? What do I need to know about hiring employees? Don't open your doors until you understand your duties as an employer.

? Have I met all the registration and licensing requirements? Let SmartStart's state-specific contact information help.

? Have I obtained all the required posters and permits necessary to operate legally? SmartStart will tell you how in a quick, efficient, organized manner.

? Once my business is up and running, then what? SmartStart is designed to grow with your business, anticipating the basic issues of expansion, relocation, and interstate commerce.

Average customer rating:
Starting & Operating a Business in Pennsylvania (Smartstart Your Business in)
Michael D. Jenkins , and Ernst & Young
Manufacturer: Oasis Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | Administrative Law | Law | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1555712762

Average customer rating:

EXTREMELY OUTDATE

Good Information, But For A Very Specific Audience...

Best PI book ever

How To Make A $100,000 A Year As A Private Investigator

How to Make $100,000 a Year As a Private Investigator

How To Make $100,000 A Year As A Private Investigator
Edmund J. Pankau
Manufacturer: Paladin Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Espionage | True Accounts | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Private Investigating, 2nd Edition (Complete Idiot's Guide to)

The Investigator's Little Black Book 3

PI School: How To Become A Private Detective

The Private Investigator Handbook: The Do-It-Yourself Guide to Protect Yourself, Get Justice, or Get Even

Serious Surveillance For The Private Investigator

ASIN: 0873647203

Book Description

This is the only PI book that tells you how to find the lucrative jobs and make big bucks. Find out what cities are naturals for PIs, which businesses desperately need investigators, how to stretch your limited advertising budget, how to use associations and clients to land other jobs, what three tools you must have to succeed and much more.

Customer Reviews:

EXTREMELY OUTDATE.......2006-03-05

This book is extremely outdated. It was outdated in 1993 when it was printed. The forms in the back of the book look like Genealogy forms. If you need a contract for service hire a attorney don't use his contract for service.

I have been a private detective for the last 20 years.

Building your library section of this book was a just paper use. Outdated phone books? Why? Microfilm? I am not looking for my family history.

Some of the stories are funny. They seem like big fish stories.

He did not touch on the fact that in some states you need to be licensed by the state. You also need experience with working for a private detective agency to obtain the licensing. Some states even require you to take a test.

It seems that Mr. Pankau made most of his money writing books.

Good Information, But For A Very Specific Audience..........2004-12-13

As a licensed private investigator and college instructor of private investigation courses, I have the utmost respect for the late Mr. Edmund J. Pankau, CLI, CPP, DABFE and his contributions to the private investigation profession, and was saddened to learn of his recent passing. Mr. Pankau has written some books of value regarding private investigation, and this one is of some (emphasis added) value.

If you are new to the profession and looking to explore the different investigative services (specialties) offered within the profession... If you are looking for general information to assist in founding a private investigation firm... If you are looking for some general ideas about marketing private investigation services... Then this book should be helpful.

If you are expecting to read this book and make "$100,000 A Year As A Private Investigator", you're going to be very disappointed. If you are experienced in this profession or experienced at running a business (including general marketing strategies), then this book might not suit your needs. For the price however, if this book gives you just one new effective marketing strategy (as it did for me), then the small price of this book could prove to be a great investment.

If you are looking for details regarding private investigation techniques/procedures, you will not find them here. If you are looking to enter the profession and are desperately seeking a title to quench your thirst for knowledge, then I would highly recommend (emphasis added) "The Complete Idiot's Guide To Private Investigation" by Steven Kerry Brown (ISBN: 0028643992). Brown's work is a must-have for anyone entering or attempting to enter the private investigation profession.

As always, check with your local library or bookstore to see if you can read/review this or any title before deciding to make a purchase. This method has effectively allowed me to make the most of my investigative library budget.

I hope you found this review helpful. If I can be of further assistance, please feel free to contact me via email at (...)

Best PI book ever.......2003-08-07

This book has it all and it has it simple.
It even allows you to contact the writer for help and that is necessary for me since i am working in this field here in iceland.
In the back it has forms and contracts wich no other book i have seen has

How To Make A $100,000 A Year As A Private Investigator.......2002-06-12

I have read Mr. Pankua's book, "How To Make A $100,000 A Year As A Private Investigator". I have found it to be an excellent resource of information on marketing, promoting, and operating an investigative agency. Mr. Pankua has been there and done it. He speaks from experience and I for one am grateful that he has chosen to share his wealth of knowledge and experience on this subject. I would highly recommend this book to anyone starting up or operating a private investigative business.

How to Make $100,000 a Year As a Private Investigator.......2002-06-02

... As an experienced private investigator with many years in the field and having survived the years of "growing" to become successful, I have to say that Mr. Pankau's book, together with his seminars, have been a great help. In our small PI community Mr. Pankau is an icon. He is in the top 5% of all private investigators in the world. This book was not written for someone who has been in the field for years and years but for the many new starters who hopefully can learn from the introductory texts Mr. Pankau has published. For the amateurs who love to watch Dan Tanner reruns and after reading a book on private investigation want to make it big in the profession, it is not a book to read. Gazza and some of the others may need to give it a little time to grow as investigators to understand the broad guidance that is actually represented in the book.

How to Make $100,000 a Year as a Private Investigator. (book reviews): An article from: Security Management

Average customer rating:

How to Make $100,000 a Year as a Private Investigator. (book reviews): An article from: Security Management
Adrian A. Barnie
Manufacturer: American Society for Industrial Security
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Security Management, published by American Society for Industrial Security on September 1, 1993. The length of the article is 441 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: How to Make $100,000 a Year as a Private Investigator. (book reviews)
Author: Adrian A. Barnie
Publication: Security Management (Refereed)
Date: September 1, 1993
Publisher: American Society for Industrial Security
Volume: v37 Issue: n9 Page: p173(2)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Average customer rating:

A lifesaver...you must read this book

This book changed my life!

How to Achieve Absolute Financial Freedom: Protecting Your Wealth, Lifestyle and Future
Joseph J. Janiczek
Manufacturer: Prosperity Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Financial Planning | Personal Finance | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
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The Complete Guide to Managing Your Money: Your Finances in Changing Times : Using Your Money Wisely : Debt-Free Living

ASIN: 1930833024

Book Description

This paperback edition of this award-winning book is a must have. It includes concise summaries of each of the Habits of Financial Freedom (TM), enabling those who want a quick read to finish the book (in this condensed formmat) in less than an hour; yet providing 440-pages of details to those who need to see more. Where many books lack in substance, this book excels!

Customer Reviews:

A lifesaver...you must read this book.......2000-12-10

I was on the road to financial disaster until I read this book. It made me take a good look at my financial status, how I got to that state and what to do to fix the situation. I am now on my way to Financial Freedom and enjoying every minute of it!! Give this book to everyone you care about.

This book changed my life!.......2000-12-07

This book is an absolute must read for anyone. This book can change your life. It helps anyone who wants to know how to do the right thing with their lives and with their finances. Everyone should read this book. Even if you are not having any financial trouble. Teenagers should read this book so they can start out on the right foot.

Amazon.com's Best of 2001

David Bank's Breaking Windows offers a scathing inside look at the past few tumultuous years at the Microsoft Corporation. Bank, who covers the company for The Wall Street Journal, bases this well-written tale on interviews he has conducted with most major players (including Bill Gates), along with boxes of e-mails and other documents that "provided an unprecedented glimpse into strategic debates and internal decision-making processes of a company that had long restricted outside access to its insular corporate culture." Through them he shows how Microsoft, which always put software above everything--and in more recent years made Windows its number-one priority--has scrambled and squabbled as first the Internet and then the U.S. government forced major directional changes and significant internal reevaluations.

Bank's story crackles with immediacy as he brings readers directly into the action with central characters like Gates, who "created a company that remained uniquely a projection of himself"; Steve Ballmer, the close friend of Gates and former sales-force leader elevated to CEO; Jim Allchin, a senior vice president who heads the Windows division and remains a staunch advocate for its dominance; and Brad Silverberg, another VP who launched Windows 3.1 and 95 before forming the Internet division and fervently trying to turn the company in its direction. Those who can't get enough on the behemoth from Redmond will find this an illuminating addition to their bookshelf. --Howard Rothman

Book Description

The year is 1997, and despite the machinations of its rivals, Microsoft is master of the digital universe and the darling of corporate America. Windows and Office generate staggering profits, the company's share price is stratospheric, and Bill Gates is the preeminent icon of the information age. No outsider could guess what Gates knew -- that the most powerful threat to Microsoft's prized Windows platform came not from Sun or Netscape or AOL or even from the U.S. Department of Justice, but from within the company's own ranks.

Breaking Windows tells the story of the battle for the soul of Microsoft that raged inside the company from 1997 to 2000 and continues to reverberate today. Drawing on hundreds of e-mails among Microsoft executives, trial testimony, and exclusive interviews with Gates and his chief lieutenants, Wall Street Journal reporter David Bank reveals the bitter maneuvering between what he calls Microsoft's "Windows hawks" and its "Internet doves." On one side were the fierce defenders of the hegemony of Windows, on the other those who championed a new way of doing business based on the Internet's "open standards." The reformers wanted to break free from the legacy of Windows and dare to compete on the merits of their software. At the center of this pitched battle stood Gates, the tactical genius who had created the company in his own image and who now accepts full responsibility for his fateful choices. "Every mistake you can lay at my feet," he told Bank, who takes him at his word -- offering the first critique of Gates's leadership not from the perspective of government prosecutors or envious software rivals but from inside the company itself.

Ambitious in scope and surprising in its conclusions, Breaking Windows contains sharply drawn portraits of key past and present executives, including Steve Ballmer, Jim Allchin, Brad Silverberg, Adam Bosworth, and Paul Maritz. Bank argues persuasively that the rifts within Microsoft underlie many of its recent troubles -- from the antitrust courtroom debacle to the exodus of many of the company's most talented employees to Gates's own fall from grace as a corporate leader and technology visionary. Yet even now, Bank contends, Gates could embrace the new rules of competition and restore Microsoft to leadership, perhaps ushering in a new era of openness and innovation.

Breaking Windows breaks new ground in its analysis of Microsoft's past and future business strategies. As Microsoft faces the waning importance of Windows, rallies behind XML, and confronts the open-source insurgency, the past Bank reveals is vital to understanding the future of this company and the still unfinished digital revolution it helped unleash.

Customer Reviews:

Microsoft's Identity Crisis.......2006-03-09

Since Microsoft's ascendance to the top in the software industry, Bill Gates has always maintained that the company would never become another IBM but is Microsoft slowly trudging toward that path? David Banks tackles this question as he takes us inside Microsoft when it encountered its most significant inflection point of late - it's identity crisis in the middle of an antitrust trial.

On one end of the spectrum are the Windows hawks who steadfastly maintain that Microsoft continue to build its product initiatives around the flagship product and on the other, the Internet doves who believe a shift is required. Interestingly, if Microsoft sided with the doves there wouldn't have been an antitrust trial.

Not unlike other companies, a lot of vetting is done by Microsoft over strategic decisions. An example of which was the response to Judge Jackson's request to decouple IE from Windows. In this case, Bill, err Microsoft decided to risk contempt of court in favor of programmatical correctness.

The book ultimately begs the question, "If Microsoft were to side with the Internet doves then what would the profit-making strategy be?" Sure there is a lot of clamor to adopt open standards which will generate a lot of goodwill however, this doesn't do anything in terms of providing actual revenue. Imagine Sun charging people for using Java or the Linux community charging for Linux and you would get my point.

If an embrace of the open-source movement is done, the customers will indeed win but this would also signify a commoditization of the software industry i.e. each solution has become generic and indistinguishable from all the others. I believe this is what Gates is fighting tooth and nail to prevent. This year's release of Vista gives us a clue who continues to call the shots at Microsoft, Chief Software Architect position notwithstanding. Gates is right but only because of the dearth of other viable profit-making alternatives.

Meanwhile in a warehouse far, far away...

Great reporting, broken analysis.......2004-07-09

The most frustrating aspect of this book is that the first half, based largely on emails produced during the antitrust trial, is a riveting and fascinating look at the internal Microsoft battles, while the last half is a poor analysis of a "missed" opportunity.

For the last half to be even readable you have to accept a few premises that simply were not supported by the text nor borne out by subsequent history. As an example, Gates is portrayed almost as an incompetent fool, eased aside into near-irrelevance by his board and Balmer. Further, the future of Microsoft's very existence is keyed upon abandoning (even giving away) Windows and starting from scratch, competing always on the last best effort with no clinging to any competitive advantage won so far, and that customers always value interoperability over utility, and so on.

While many of these would be highly desirable for competitors, the book repeatedly claims but never sufficiently makes the case for the theory that for its own sake Microsoft should discard its durable competitive advantage at every turn. I consider that to be an exceptional claim which demands exceptional proof, and which is never provided.

Good Job.......2003-02-05

David Bank does a good job of getting into the meat of the Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer story, and he was much help in helping me write my unauthoprized bio of Microsoft's CEO BAD BOY BALLMER.

Trapped in "Innovator's dilemma".......2002-06-30

In the second half of the 90's Microsoft got caught in the now classical "Innovator's Dilemma", described by Clayton Christiansen in his book of the same name. The essence of it is that highly successful companies often become victims of their own legacy - not because of bad management or even obsolete technology, but because the inertia of their successful product improvements creates appearance that they are still on top of the game, better than any competition. But now these improvements do not matter any more, because new, emerging technological challengers do not strive to beat the entrenched leader on the same field, but instead compete with them on different criteria, which become more and more important to consumers while being cheaper and simpler than the established product, and eventually overcome the latter.

For the Microsoft the dilemma was the following: Windows was a gigantic cash cow for the company, its most profitable product, together with MSOffice firmly tied to the Windows platform. But the sudden explosion of the Internet, World Wide Web, and emerging Java technology by 1995 threatened to sweep away existing status quo, and totally reshape the landscape of computer industry, threatening Microsoft dominance in desktop computing. Should Microsoft stick defensively with Windows or should it reinvent itself around Internet and promising new technologies?

The author describes the intense internal debates and doubts within Microsoft campus about this very real and credible challenge of the Internet, that occurred in 1995-97.

Microsoft finally decided to stick with creaky old Windows. The author decries this course of events - arguing that the company squandered its chance for renewal. Yet, at least on the on the surface, it was a sound decision. Threat of the Internet largely passed, Microsoft is still dominant and profitable as never before. Was it right to stick with the old? Perhaps yes, from its monopoly position. It is (probably temporary) advantage to the Microsoft, but this ossification of monopolistic power is inevitably a huge loss to the whole computer industry and even science.

Supporters of Microsoft often claim it as an example of relentless innovation and technical brilliance. This is hardly credible in recent years. The rate of innovation in Microsoft products themselves was absolutely dismal in the last decade. Consider just one example. In the five years of intense competition from 1981 to 1986, before the Microsoft dominance, enormous strides were made in the user interface - one the most important aspect of personal computer technology. It evolved from primitive, barely legible screens of a dozen lines of greenish letters, where user had to precisely type some obscure, hard-to-remember commands, to the very usable system of windows and icons (first commercially implemented in Apple's Macintosh) which everybody could still recognize and use today. Compare this to the five-year period from 1995 to 2000. The operating system progressed from Windows 95 (not very innovative in itself) to ... (yawn) some barely distinguishable to an ordinary user messy bunch of obscure acronyms (Windows 98, 2000, ME, XP, whatever), united perhaps by a common feature that they are usually not worth many hours spend to install or upgrade them, until Microsoft policy on compatibility makes it absolutely necessary.

In fact every significant innovation in computers in recent years was in the areas outside the Microsoft monopoly power. Its domination most likely stifled progress not only inside the company, but almost everywhere in the computer industry. Contrary to widespread boosterism associated with go-go years of Internet boom, the decade of 90's was NOT a time of revolutionary developments in computer science. Research associated with new operation systems stagnated - a direct consequence of the Microsoft overwhelming dominance. No breakthrough comparable in importance, for example, to the Object-Oriented Programming in early 80's, occurred in software engineering. There was a lot of noisy activity but in fact only incremental progress in such areas as parallel computing, storage, databases. Computer graphics mainly followed developments invented earlier, in 70's and 80's (polygon graphics with increasingly sophisticated shadings, ray-tracing), only with vastly increasing hardware power.

Most of the compression algorithms (LZW, JPEG, MPEG, wavelets etc.) were also developed during previous two decades. So are all basic principles of modern cryptography and security. In this area the 90's were the years of commercialization and incremental, often glacial, improvements. In terms of new ideas this decade was not even remotely comparable to the fundamental revolutionary advances made in 70's. The only significant developments were in those areas outside of the Microsoft dominance - mostly in the Internet area (such as caching, distributed processing and storage), or the invention of the "virtual machine" used in Java technology.

Instead of being dynamic innovators, boldly leading computer industry towards the new horizons, thousands of Microsoft clever programmers long ago became an oppressive praetorian guard defending the palace of the current ruler.

Often cited as a sign of Microsoft technical prowess is the sheer volume of code contained in the Windows or Office programs (reaching some 30 million lines of code or more). This is preposterous. Millions of lines of code built in Windows are no more signs of innovativeness and vitality than ever increasing millions of tons of steel production were the evidence of economic strength of the later-era Soviet Union. True innovation is not proportional to the volume of code crammed into a package of software.

Christiansen's "Innovator Dilemma" and the ways to overcome it was conceptualized with application to companies which have comfortably leading position in their fields, but not all-encompassing monopolies, who can squash emerging competitors at the early stage. Microsoft is clearly (and legally) a monopoly - one of the most powerful in history. It is possible that one day it will be driven by pure market and business forces to reinvent itself and become again an innovative, entrepreneurial company. But for now, and in the immediate future, it continues to buck and stifle innovations in computing.

Armchair Analyst Runs Amok.......2002-04-25

Bank's thesis that Gates somehow fumbled is not supported by the context: the company continues as an economic powerhouse. As the richest man in the world, with the finest people in the world working on your team, it is reasonable that a lot of great ideas will have to be constrained or stopped. Raising thoroughbred horses is not a far cry from Gates's position leading some of the fiercest, the fastest, the most persuasive, and most aggressive people that have been produced by our society. It seems that Banks spends a lot of time gathering facts and opinion from the fine people whose ideas get quashed, and colors his thesis with their emotion and frustration.

Paradoxically, Banks literally presents Gates as a technology reactionary, when in fact he appears to be more willing than others in the company to spend money on long term initiatives. Toward the end of the story, we learn that Gates is supplanted by fiscally conservative Ballmer. From a business perspective, it's not likely Gates will go down in history as an enemy of innovation.

Much of the world runs Windows, and many people have staked their companies, lives, and careers on the technology. It's not responsible to suggest that, over the timeframe of this book, the Windows desktop could have been displaced by an Oracle, linux or a 'network as computer.' People and organizations can absorb change only so quickly. Gates' unwillingness to undermine the Windows platform reflects social reality more than it does represent any kind of quashing of innovation: the health and popularity of the technology is important to the customers who have chosen to make trillions of dollars of significant personal, professional and business investments in the technology.

Banks comes across as someone who has never had to explain a software bug to a panicky secretary who is worried about her job, or had to stay up all night fixing a server so a company could operate the next day. Microsoft has made tremendous progress in these kinds of contexts. Which explains something that Banks does not: why a company with a 'fumbled future' continues to command the attention of economic decision makers on every level of society. Microsoft software provides tremendous utility. Ordinairy folk can only absorb change at a limited rate. A company that takes a conservative position with respect to the revolutions that seem to rock the industry every two years is going provides much greater social good than a company which would decry it's model (leaving the rest of us in the lurch) in the face of a new way of doing things.

I think that Banks' book does a disservice in that it leads the unwary into a unnecessarily negative position. While reading the book, I found myself questioning my decision to support Microsoft software professionally. I had to remember that I did not choose Microsoft because I was 'locked in' to their platform. Looking at a system like NT, or SQL Server, there is no question that the platform is unambiguously superior, and of great value when third party vendors can spread their costs over such a large customer base. (Imagine buying a linux computer from Dell and then realizing after the first time you lose power that the operating system has no automated way of recovering the hard disk damage caused by a power failure!) Hooks or no hooks, Microsoft software is nice to use and easy on the end user. Then I realized my emotional conflict: that I was simply responding to the ad hominem nature of many of Banks' statements, his depiction of Gates as an irate fool, and his deliberate de-emphasis of the big picture. As a previous reviewer said, it would be nice if Banks stuck to the facts, and had listened to the input of Gate's ex team members with a more critical ear.

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