Rating: 
Summary: chalkboard analysis
Review: This is a well-written, interesting book. However, in my opinion, it tells only part of the story. It looks at how Netscape formulated its strategy, but not at how (or whether) this strategy was executed. This is like explaining a football game entirely on the basis of the diagrams that the coaches drew on the chalkboard. What actually happened on the field gets no attention. For example, the authors claim that one of Netscape's strategies was to leverage Internet standards. However, the reality is that with its browser Netscape thumbed its nose at Internet standards, particularly when it dominated the market. Even today, its browser generally is seen as less compliant with standards than is Microsoft Explorer. Another alleged Netscape strategy was to "eat your own dogfood," which means using your own products. The reality is quite different. For example, Netscape released a production version of Enterprise 3.0 and kept its own web site on Enterprise 2.0 for several months afterward. In 1996, a key component of Netscape's web server was something they called LiveWire, which provided scripting and database connectivity. I adopted it for my web site in the second half of 1996. However, after several months of trying to get it to work reliably, we had to abandon it, moving to Java servlets instead. Meanwhile, as of late 1997 (when I stopped following it), Netscape's web site still had not adoped LiveWire. They let other users suffer with the bugs and problems in LiveWire, while they ran their own site using the older technology of CGI/Perl. That means they spent at least 1-1/2 years in real time (multiply by 7x to get Internet time) NOT eating their own dogfood. In contrast, Microsoft used their competing Active Server Page technology immediately on their sites. To return to the football analogy, my epitaph for Netscape is that it is a company that told the press and its shareholders that it was aiming to play in the Super Bowl, but disdained to practice blocking and tackling. While Netscape's executives were formulating these nifty strategies, Sun and Microsoft were getting their code in shape. In my opinion, that is most of the story.
Rating: 
Summary: ABSORBING, DETAILED PORTRAYAL OF STRATEGY-MAKING.
Review: This is an in-depth analysis of the strategic development of Netscape and its intensive competition with Microsoft. The book is based on an extensive number of interviews and portrays the creation and scaling-up of the world's first pure Internet company. It examines strategy-making and the process of designing products for highly competitive, fast-paced markets. This account is absorbing and highly instructive to all engaged in strategic planning. The extent of detail presented in this book is very impressive. Reviewed by Gerry Stern, founder, Stern & Associates, author of Stern's Sourcefinder: The Master Directory to HR and Business Management Information & Resources, Stern's CyberSpace SourceFinder, and Stern's Compensation and Benefits SourceFinder.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Business Read Without Putting you to Sleep
Review: This is one of the best business books I have ever come across. The authors do a great job presenting the redical shift in business strategy made necessary by the speed of the information economy. The book is well researched and strikes a nice balance between being practical vs. academic. My only complaints are that the authors tend to repeat themselves and that the cover is misleading in that the book is basically a case study of Netscape's business strategy, and provides very few revelations regarding it's duals with Microsoft.
Rating:
Summary: Strategy in practice
Review: This is the best book I have seen on the interplay of strategy and the software business. Finally, there is a book that shows how a company grapples with strategy in the fast-paced and highly competitive software business. Too many other books do not show the strategy process in action. This book not only shows the decisions and why they were made, but the failures and mistakes that happen all the time. Netscape's example shows why it would be awfully nice to simulate your strategy before charging down a road based on gut and assumption.
Rating:
Summary: Strategy in practice
Review: This is the best book I have seen on the interplay of strategy and the software business. Finally, there is a book that shows how a company grapples with strategy in the fast-paced and highly competitive software business. Too many other books do not show the strategy process in action. This book not only shows the decisions and why they were made, but the failures and mistakes that happen all the time. Netscape's example shows why it would be awfully nice to simulate your strategy before charging down a road based on gut and assumption.
Rating:
Summary: Great analysis on successful large software firms.
Review: Wow!!! This stuff is priceless for an exec in the software world. The discipline involved in these places is good (i know, i'm a software engineer in a shoddy operations environment). Not a great business book (like Microsoft Secrets) but a great sector specific analysis of great software development. Any Cusumano book is a must read for the intelligent high-tech exec.
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