20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Wait for the website to be available!, January 6, 2011
Preface: I loved the first edition and use the website on a daily basis in practice. My only complaint with the website is that the clinical algorithms were scanned in (!) at such low resolution that they're unusable - you have to reference the book itself for many of the larger/more complex algorithms. Unfortunately, Elsevier has a history of royally screwing up their electronic products, but for some reason, I still had hope for this new edition of Cote' - after all, they just need to update the previous edition's website, right? Well, I ran into a bad prognostic indicator early on: Elsevier didn't even set up their own name servers to recognize the very URL that they printed in the book!
To add insult to injury, the website won't be available until March 11th (!!) as told to me by an Elsevier rep. That's not the worst of it - many important chapters are only available online! You want to read the chapter on "discolored urine" or "protein losing nephropathies"? Well, too bad - they're only online. Yet the chapter on "Protothecosis" is in the book?? You would think the least common ailments would be the ones relegated to "website-only" status, but that's not the case. I see discolored urine on a daily basis, and PLNs every few months, but have never diagnosed a Prototheca infection. I don't think I'm alone on that one.
The algorithms suffer the same fate: if you want to see the algorithm for confirming the diagnosis of and treating FIV, or the initial approach to the bleeding patient, or to a smoke inhalation case - well, too bad - all those algorithms are online only. And to reiterate, the website won't be available until March 11th at the earliest! And Elsevier has a history of pushing back release dates multiple times for the same product.
Elsevier keeps buying up more and more scientific & medical publishing companies, with the result being this behemoth that they can't seem to manage properly. The scientific & medical communities have to start pushing back for any hope of Elsevier getting the message. My suggestion: don't buy the new edition until the website has been released! I'll update my review as soon as that happens...
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January 12th update: they finally fixed the DNS issues and put up a "coming soon" webpage. Way to go, Elsevier. :)
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February 19th update: So Elsevier closed the website for the 1st edition before the website for the 2nd edition is even available. Way to go, Elsevier - that's bloody genius.
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February 26th update: You can now register with/log in to the new website, but don't be fooled - most of the content isn't there. March 11th is still the go-date, as far as I know.
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March 12th update: Well, the 11th has come and gone, and guess what - most of the website is still non-functional (try to contain your amazement). God knows when the website will actually be completely functional - all they have is "Coming Soon!!!" on various pages. I asked them why they closed the website for the 1st edition when the website for the second edition is not yet available, and here is their response:
"Online access to a book lasts for the life of that edition until the new one is published. There is generally a 3-4 year period between editions. Once a new edition is released, the previous edition remains online for up to 6 months and it is taken down."
In other words, we're going to brainlessly apply a rule because it's easier than actually thinking about what we're doing. Elsevier, you're my hero.
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March 17th update: from Elsevier: "The editors have stated that they hope to have the website completely functioning by the first week of April." Speaks for itself.
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First week of April update: website still isn't close to completely functional. Inquiries to Elsevier have gone unanswered.
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April 18th: Elsevier rep stated that they have no idea when the website will be complete, gave me the ol' "don't call us we'll call you" bit. Um, that would be fine if you hadn't sold us an incomplete text to go with a vaporware website. Lowered review rating accordingly. Still have no idea why they just don't reopen the 1st edition website, make it free for all until 2nd edition website is done. No brainer.
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April 25th: Website is up! Sort of. About 12% of the chapters still aren't online (note says they'll be available by May 20th), and I'm not sure if they're online-only - I'll have to cross-reference with the text. The search function doesn't work, and the web design (in typical Elsevier fashion) is awful - the index (which is rather lengthy for a book with over 800 chapters) only gets about a third of the screen height, and doesn't scale with changes in window height. Nor does the main text window. Web programming 101, but not for a $9.5 billion dollar company. For the moment, my two star rating stays.
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May 22nd: Search works, but the rest of the chapters are not up yet. There's still a placeholder that states "Up by May 20th". Uh, no. I also took a look at the web programming just for grins (I'm a former electrical engineer), and I see the reason for the lack of scaling mentioned in the previous update: window sizes are *hardcoded*. So it doesn't matter what size monitor (or laptop screen) you have, whether it's in portrait or landscape, whether it's 4:3 or 16:9 - the height of the window that actually contains the book text (and table of contents) will always be the same. I hope you didn't pay too much for that level of service, Elsevier (they outsourced to the India branch of Unica apparently), but something tells me you did.
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June 21st: Would you believe that the chapters labeled "due by May 20th" still aren't complete? Try to contain your incredulity. Just sent off another email to Elsevier - I'm sure they're thrilled to hear from me again. By the way, happy summer solstice to those in the northern hemisphere (see - I'm not a total curmudgeon :P)
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