Customer Reviews

Electronic Commerce: From Vision to Fulfillment (3rd Edition)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I am stuck using this book. It is so bad I do not know where to start .... outdated, imprecise, inconsistent and incorrect terminology, contradicting itself and what I can describe as an "emotional" rather than technical writing style. Lack of simple clarifying examples. Misleading figures. Many key terms are defines multiple times in a different and misleading way.

Let me just give FEW exampes:

1. It is so very out of date - it does not even mention DSL, it goes on forever about dial-up!

2. Quote: "Infrared transmission operates at frequencies approaching the speed of light". I am not sure what that means, last time I checked frequency and speed were two different things.

3. p. 132, "Portal: a Web page that offers links to other sites". According to this ANY old web page is a portal.

4. p. 165, "Internet Service Provider (ISP): a specialiazed company that connects customers with PCs and browsers to the Internet". Sorry - you are out of luck if you are running a server, or do not intend to use a browser!

5. p.218 - range for WLAN is listed as "only 150 feet", VS , p.219 range for a WLAN from less than 100 to 300 feet.

6. talks abotut KM (knowledge management) in Ch 5 but never defines it.

7. loves imprecise expressions with little substance like "information super highway", "entrance ramp to the internet", "virtually unstoppable", "possibilities are truly endless"

8. figure 14-7 labeled "Quantum computing", while displaying an eliptic curve.

It feels like the author was just hurrying to get yet another book out in an area in which he lacked serious expertise.

As the previous reviewer pointed out this book is out of date and just wrong in some cases. My professor used this book during lecture and discussed in detail parts of it (where were incidentally out of date).

A friend of mine, Eric Corley, who manages a computer related magazine is mentioned, but they spelled his name wrong! (And this is the second edition).

If you're a professor looking to get a text for an intro to e-commerce class, please god buy this book, then burn it, and then choose a different text.

I bought this product for school. It is easily understandable and was purchased at a good price.

I bought this book as the textbook to my "Internet Commerce" class for my MBA. We had to review and critique business websites, and this book provides a lot of guidance - checklists, must-haves, etc.

It would be good for anyone who is studying, but also for anyone who wants to get a reference guide for their own website.

JIM