| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
All about bureaucracy,
This review is from: Big Blues: The Unmaking of IBM (Paperback)
This book is more about bureaucracy than IBM. It demonstrates just how difficult it is to remain on-the-ball in the face of rapidly advancing technological innovation. It also provides a rare and wonderful insight into the perpetual battle between the creative individual and the second-rate bureaucrat. If you loved Orwell and Kafka you're gonna roll about the floor with this one. More importantly, especially in today's debate over Microsoft, the book clearly demonstrates why a monopoly is impossible within the high-tech industry. After reading this book you will understand Bill Gates and realize just how vulnerable Microsoft really is.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
if you're in the computer industry, don't pass it up,
By
This review is from: Big Blues: The Unmaking of IBM (Hardcover)
This is a penetrating and often amusing look at the rise and fall of IBM. It's dated, much like any book about computers that was published about seven years ago is obviously expected to be.If IBM is doing better now, this book might have had something to do with it. Things like corporate hymnals, the ponderous decisionmaking process, and the reasons for the failure of IBM's PS/2 line are all exposed in humiliating detail. As a former retail sales rep for an IBM dealer from 1988-1990, I can tell you that in that time frame the IBM I saw looked a lot like Carroll's portrayal (and completely turned me off about them). This book is worth a search.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A deeply-researched history of IBM's missteps in the PC industry,
By
This review is from: Big Blues: The Unmaking of IBM (Paperback)
This book was published in 1994, but don't hold that against it. It covers a period of IBM history from 1980 to late 1993- from the beginnings of the IBM PC to the end of the John Akers era, when Lou Gerstner became CEO. Gerstner steered the company away from its failing attempts to once again dominate the PC industry, towards services and consulting, and is generally credited with saving IBM from the hole it had dug itself into by the early '90s. If someone were to write this book today, it would likely still wrap things up in 1993.It starts out with with the story of how the IBM PC came to be, as well as a quick and interesting refresher on IBM itself, from the late 1800s up to 1980. Most people know the general outline of what happened next: the deal with Microsoft for an OS, the phenomenal success of the PC and the XT, the failure of the PC Jr., the rise of the clones, and finally IBM's attempts to reassert itself with OS/2 and MCA (Microchannel Architecture, an ill-fated replacement for the ISA expansion bus used by PCs of the day). This book goes into great detail on all of these topics, from executive decisions down to the engineering teams who were charged with implementing them. I don't know of any other book that gets into this level of detail on this material. It wraps up with the genesis of the PowerPC (a joint venture with Apple and Motorola) and Akers' retirement. Most computer history books tell this story in a very glossed-over form: IBM was just too big and stupid and arrogant, and scrappy underdogs like Microsoft and Compaq turned the tables on them. This book gets into the nuts and bolts of how and why IBM was unable to keep pace with the PC industry. There were technical reasons, due to the burdensome engineering processes that their PC division inherited from their mainframe division. There were organizational reasons, due more to the democratic nature of IBM than any arrogance or stupidity. Finally, there were just some fundamental misunderstandings at the executive level about what drove the industry. So, highly recommended if this is something you're interested in learning more about. I'm giving it 4 rather than 5 stars because it can be a little meandering at times. It feels more like a collection of essays than a single tight narrative, and there's some overlap between chapters and jumping around in time. However, it's compelling read if you're as interested in the history of the industry as I am.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product).
|
|
|
|
|
