Customer Reviews

Software Ecosystem: Understanding an Indispensable Technology and Industry

5 star:		(4)
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3 star:		(1)
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At the *intersection* of software and business, and the business of software. The authors draw on research in economics, IT, and strategy and bring them together to draw excellent insights at their intersection. The book is not really about business or software per se.

Depending on your background, you might want to skip entire sections that are right up your own alley. If you are a manager looking to REALLY understand how the architecture of IT systems (e.g., at the enterprise level) interacts with business strategy, this book will provide a good exposure. If you are a propellerhead or uber-geek wanting to understand more about how your work shapes, hinders, or facilitates business strategy, this book is just right. I keep up with new research developments in the business of software and feel comfortable saying that the insights in this book are not to be found in other books that exist on the market.

The book is very well written, but be forewarned, it is deep. Fully appreciating it requires thought, reflection on what the authors are saying, and a tempered pace. It is not a quick read and not a "how-to" book. My only quibble with this book has nothing to do with its content: Once you get rid of the dust jacket, the quality of its binding and cover printing is absolutely shoddy. Very highly recommended and worth every penny of the forty dollar price.


Three year (June 2008) update on my 2005 review: Nothing yet comes close to the wide array of thought provoking questions that this book raises. I'm wildly speculating here, but the fact that one of the coauthors is an electrical engineer rather than a software developer is perhaps the reason why the nature of this book is so refreshing and original. Sometimes, it takes an outsider without the baggage of insider assumptions to bring a fresh perspective. At the new paperback price, it's better than a red-tagged bargain that you'd find at the aisle end caps of Target!

Messerschmitt and Szyperski have collaborated on a unique book, that provides a snapshot of the software industry from many different vantage points at a time of rapid change in both technology (components and objected oriented programming) and business models (Internet as a channel). The different vantage points they use suggest a number of trends that the software industry will follow over the next decade that are far different from that in the popular trade press or business press. They highlight why software is different intrinsically from an economics vantage point: the first release of a software product can cost significant time and money, yet further copies take relatively little to no time or money to generate; the more copies of software in use, the more valuable the software can become; experience has shown that as the number of people increases to get software product releases done, it can take more time, not less, to finish the work. This book will be like a fine wine: as it ages, it should get better.

The authors write with uncommon clarity about an industry known for its complexity. Even experienced software developers can get lost in the shifting tides of technology change that periodically sweep the software industry. This book provides a way to get above the waves, and see the whole ocean.

(...)

The authors elegantly write about the interdependency of technology infrastructure and applications. Their presentation of the "chicken-and-egg conundrum" was a little depressing. I had hoped my great "CycleFree Software" invention would revolutionize software infrastructure, but after reading this book I have decided to take up writing plays for children!

I'm a university student who purchased this book to get a little more insight into how software works / is designed / is integrated into IT. Based on other reviews, I felt this book would do the trick, and would be engaging.

However... this book only describes software in the most rudimentary way. It is essentially a big glossary of basic terms and principles and never probes the dynamics of the relationship between software and the designer, and software and the user.

Furthermore, it is a tedious read. It discusses software with the monotony of my most hated accounting texts.

Bottom-line, if you want the facts and just the facts, buy this book. If you truly want to understand how software is created, the role it plays in our lives, and its potential, keep looking.

Varian - Shapiro "Information rules" made it worldwide. Now comes - actually from UC Berkely again - a systematic work about the things many people believe to understand.

Software creation is here seen in context of industry, govrnement and economy - not only business, not merely science.

Excellent reading to get the correct ideas behind the buzzwords. Very good for people, who already got the hunch of important changes happening from Castells (Network Society).