Customer Reviews

Web Commerce Technology Handbook (McGraw-Hill Series on Computer Communication)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This work is an excellent up to date work covering the various components of e-commerce. It addresses not only the technical security issues regarding e-commerce but the advantages and disadvantages of particular e-commerce platforms and schemes. The author also presents a well thought out road map for the future of web commerce. This borders on being a scholarly work, as it is detailed and well documented. Therefore, I would NOT recommend this book for beginners (such as me) or those who are looking for a how-to book to get them up and running.

Before you do anything else, look at the publish date of this book. In Internet time, this book is an antique. While very informative regarding the state of technology in early 1997, its relevance is minimal today. As an unintended history of Internet commerce technology, it is interesting, but as an in-depth guide to design and structure of today's solutions it lacks currency.

Some examples:

No reference to DVD-Rom in the discussion of CD-Rom (DVD not commercially available when published); Amazon.com as an afterthought in the discussion of e-commerce players (early in growth cycle); ISDN as the holy grail of internet connectivity (cable and DSL not commercially available)

...and so on. Do yourself a favor and find a book no more than 3-6 months old.

This book is very much out of date HOWEVER, it is still interesting and much of this technology is still in use in some form or another. It covers the material decently and with sufficient depth for a working professional.

I'd like to echo the previous user's comment about this book being hopelessly outdated. While I understand that information technology moves very quickly these days, there is no excuse for not having a website available where addendums and updates can be posted. That, IMHO, is the more damnable than being outdated. Most of the technologies are old, and the links provided work about 25% of the time.

That being said, it does provide a good academic introduction to some of the mechanisms of e-commerce. The explanations and comparisons of such things as digital signatures and EDI are good. While the newer technology has indeed overtaken the market, they still build on top of the old. So this book will still give you valuable insight and understanding about how the new technologies work. It is not completely worthless, but readers should also refer to more recent texts or resources on the Internet for updated information on the technology.

Web Commerce Technology Handbook Daniel Minoli, Emma Minoli

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