Rating: 
Summary: Good reading
Review: As the story goes: Leaving his car, a man and his friend walk down a dark lane passing under a street lamp along the way. Upon arriving at their destination, the man discovers he has lost his keys. He and his friend quickly re-trace their steps and the man begins his search under the light of the lamp. His friend asks "why do you choose to search under the lamp, we first walked nearly 200 meters". He answers, "you fool, can't you see we've been provided with light *here* !". Even a scholar or two can be led astray under the influence of purposeful guidance. Another reviewer commented, 'Microsoft is obliged to create its own language'. As an IS professional with a background in business management and 20 years experience dealing with this company, I too have labored with this language - the language of obfuscation. This book covers the obvious strengths of Microsoft in Research and Development. And no one disputes the talent attracted to this company. However, time proves the true direction of travel despite the claimants' insistence of a praisworthy course. The accurate reasons for Microsoft's success lie in ruthless, paranoid management, expert public relations and remarkable skills at marketing, not innovation or the development of superior products. History may well prove Microsoft's legacy as squandering the advantages and qualities alluded to in this book. Perhaps the author's would be well-advised to supplement 'the before' with a reflective 'after' as appropriate in the future.
Rating: 
Summary: Scholars not exempt from 'looking under the street lamp'....
Review: As the story goes: Leaving his car, a man and his friend walk down a dark lane passing under a street lamp along the way. Upon arriving at their destination, the man discovers he has lost his keys. He and his friend quickly re-trace their steps and the man begins his search under the light of the lamp. His friend asks "why do you choose to search under the lamp, we first walked nearly 200 meters". He answers, "you fool, can't you see we've been provided with light *here* !". Even a scholar or two can be led astray under the influence of purposeful guidance. Another reviewer commented, 'Microsoft is obliged to create its own language'. As an IS professional with a background in business management and 20 years experience dealing with this company, I too have labored with this language - the language of obfuscation. This book covers the obvious strengths of Microsoft in Research and Development. And no one disputes the talent attracted to this company. However, time proves the true direction of travel despite the claimants' insistence of a praisworthy course. The accurate reasons for Microsoft's success lie in ruthless, paranoid management, expert public relations and remarkable skills at marketing, not innovation or the development of superior products. History may well prove Microsoft's legacy as squandering the advantages and qualities alluded to in this book. Perhaps the author's would be well-advised to supplement 'the before' with a reflective 'after' as appropriate in the future.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent History of MS
Review: Fascinating detailed account of how the most significant firm in the industry makes product and marketing decisions. Cusumano and Selby were given unprecedented access to Microsoft staff at all levels of the firm. This text is most interesting to high-tech weenies who want to understand how Microsoft organizes its product development and market introduction. Like IBM, Microsoft feels that a market leader is obligated to create its own language. If you want to know the difference between a MSFT Program Manager and a MSFT Product Manager, get this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Good lesson in Software Product Management
Review: Fascinating detailed account of how the most significant firm in the industry makes product and marketing decisions. Cusumano and Selby were given unprecedented access to Microsoft staff at all levels of the firm. This text is most interesting to high-tech weenies who want to understand how Microsoft organizes its product development and market introduction. Like IBM, Microsoft feels that a market leader is obligated to create its own language. If you want to know the difference between a MSFT Program Manager and a MSFT Product Manager, get this book.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent History of MS
Review: It isn't hard to believe that Cusumano has a History degree and has written books in the style of a historian. In this book (which predates the Internet explosion), he attempts to describe almost everything about microsoft...from product development to organizational structure. Detailed interviews and memos add spice to the story.
Rating: 
Summary: Lessons from Microsoft
Review: Michael Cusumano's "Microsoft Secrets: How the World's Most Powerful Software Company Creates Technology, Shapes Markets, and Manages People" is truly as in depth as its title suggests. Cusumano has gone to great lengths to give a very detailed picture of how Microsoft goes about its business, both internally and externally. The purpose of the book is to explain what makes Microsoft tick. It may come as a surprise to most people, but, according to Cusumano, Microsoft is not a dictatorial fiefdom. Perhaps Microsoft's greatest success is in obtaining and retaining the best programmers in the field. Programmers are notoriously independent souls who likely wouldn't stand an overbearing workplace for long. That's not to say that Microsoft is not a high pressure environment. Programmers are expected to meet deadlines and to be knowledgeable about what they are doing. This may sound axiomatic but the number of companies whose employees are partially (or even completely) in the dark is staggering. The best part of "Microsoft Secrets" is that most of the lessons to be drawn from it can be applied to any organization, especially the people management techniques. Even some of the more 'software industry specific' techniques can be transferred to other deadline oriented industries (e.g. publishing). The only real drawback to the study though is its long-windedness. When I say that Cusumano has gone to great lengths to present this picture of Microsoft, I mean he has *GONE TO GREAT LENGTHS*. This only detracts partially though as the book does remain a good read.
Rating:
Summary: Lessons from Microsoft
Review: Michael Cusumano's "Microsoft Secrets: How the World's Most Powerful Software Company Creates Technology, Shapes Markets, and Manages People" is truly as in depth as its title suggests. Cusumano has gone to great lengths to give a very detailed picture of how Microsoft goes about its business, both internally and externally. The purpose of the book is to explain what makes Microsoft tick. It may come as a surprise to most people, but, according to Cusumano, Microsoft is not a dictatorial fiefdom. Perhaps Microsoft's greatest success is in obtaining and retaining the best programmers in the field. Programmers are notoriously independent souls who likely wouldn't stand an overbearing workplace for long. That's not to say that Microsoft is not a high pressure environment. Programmers are expected to meet deadlines and to be knowledgeable about what they are doing. This may sound axiomatic but the number of companies whose employees are partially (or even completely) in the dark is staggering. The best part of "Microsoft Secrets" is that most of the lessons to be drawn from it can be applied to any organization, especially the people management techniques. Even some of the more 'software industry specific' techniques can be transferred to other deadline oriented industries (e.g. publishing). The only real drawback to the study though is its long-windedness. When I say that Cusumano has gone to great lengths to present this picture of Microsoft, I mean he has *GONE TO GREAT LENGTHS*. This only detracts partially though as the book does remain a good read.
Rating:
Summary: Lessons from Microsoft
Review: Michael Cusumano's "Microsoft Secrets: How the World's Most Powerful Software Company Creates Technology, Shapes Markets, and Manages People" is truly as in depth as its title suggests. Cusumano has gone to great lengths to give a very detailed picture of how Microsoft goes about its business, both internally and externally. The purpose of the book is to explain what makes Microsoft tick. It may come as a surprise to most people, but, according to Cusumano, Microsoft is not a dictatorial fiefdom. Perhaps Microsoft's greatest success is in obtaining and retaining the best programmers in the field. Programmers are notoriously independent souls who likely wouldn't stand an overbearing workplace for long. That's not to say that Microsoft is not a high pressure environment. Programmers are expected to meet deadlines and to be knowledgeable about what they are doing. This may sound axiomatic but the number of companies whose employees are partially (or even completely) in the dark is staggering. The best part of "Microsoft Secrets" is that most of the lessons to be drawn from it can be applied to any organization, especially the people management techniques. Even some of the more 'software industry specific' techniques can be transferred to other deadline oriented industries (e.g. publishing). The only real drawback to the study though is its long-windedness. When I say that Cusumano has gone to great lengths to present this picture of Microsoft, I mean he has *GONE TO GREAT LENGTHS*. This only detracts partially though as the book does remain a good read.
Rating:
Summary: It's a great book about Microsoft's management model.
Review: Microsoft Secrets takes an in-depth look into the company's management model, it's hierarchical structure, organizational culture and policies for development, HR, and more. May be Microsoft's management model cannot be used in most of industries , but this doesn't make this book less useful, since this book is full of interesting insights about the software company, which remains agile despite its size.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent R&D portrait of Microsoft; Other Facets Weaker
Review: Most Microsoft books fall into the "kiss and tell"
genre with the authors attempting to inject life into an
otherwise stale recounting of the history of Microsoft
by exploring topics like what Bill Gates eats for breakfast.
This book is refreshing in that it is written in a factual
style and offers analysis of the best practices within
Microsoft that have contributed to its success. It is
particuarly strong with respect to all aspects of R&D;
weaker when exploring marketing and sales.
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