“This book gives you a real-life example of how you can make
groupware work in your environment. John Udell has been working
with BYTE Magazine as executive editor for new media, and in the
book he explains how he has made groupware work for him and BYTE
Magazine. The foreword is written by Tim O’Reilly, the president of
O’Reilly. Tim writes that every once in a while, a book comes along
that makes you wake up and say “Wow!”, and that this book is such a
book.”
“Do I agree? Yes and no. … Let’s start by saying that I think
everybody should read part 1 of this book, and especially managers
and people new to Internet protocols such as mail and news. Using
nice real-life examples, John describes how mail and news work, how
they interrelate, and when to use which. In what I have seen in
companies, news is almost never used extensively. Part 1 of this
book might make you change your mind.”
“Overall, I would say it is a good book. Part 1 is almost
mandatory for every Internet user to read, and thus meets the
‘Wow!’ criterium. Parts 2 to 4 are very useful for people starting
building groupware. It is clear to see that all examples in the
book come from real-life situations and are not academic
examples. The writer also tells you what problems he has come
across and how they were solved. However, if you are not planning
on implementing groupware yourself, parts 2 to 4 will be tough
reading and not ‘Wow!’.”