Competing on Internet Time: Lessons From Netscape & Its Battle with Microsoft

by DAVID YOFFIE, Michael A. Cusumano (Draft Writer)

Details the Internet software company's product development and marketing strategies

Genres: Business, Technology, Nonfiction, Computers, Management

361 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1998

Reviews

[Max Lybbert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall this is a good book, and I do recommend it. The book gives a good peak into Netscape's battle with Microsoft, including an in depth discussion of Netscape's different strategies. The book levels fair criticism at several management decisions (mainly decisions that made integration of unrelated software a company priority, and then hobbled those integration efforts).

But the book gets technical details wrong, and technical details are a big part of the story. Additionally the book is peppered with claptrap that shows a misunderstanding of the topic at hand (there is a statement that the Internet is a great metaphor for how Marc Andreessen's mind works; the simplest explanation of why this is nonsense would be to compare it to a claim that the automobile is a great metaphor for how Henry Ford's legs worked).

If you're willing to wade through the claptrap and the incorrect technical details, this book does contain several useful business lessons.

[Lori Grant · Rating 3 out of 5]

An optional-read company profile for knowledge workers, managers, directors, C-levels, and entrepreneurs.