Date: Sun, 29 Jan 1995 19:06:36 EST From: "Rob Slade, Social Convener to the Net" Subject: "The Internet Business Companion" by Angell/Heslop BKINBSCM.RVW 941205 "The Internet Business Companion", Angell/Heslop, 1995, 0-201-40850-3, U$19.95/C$25.95 %A David Angell dangell@bookware.com dangell@shell.portal.com %A Brent Heslop bheslop@bookware.com bheslop@shell.portal.com %C 1 Jacob Way, Reading, MA 01867-9984 %D 1995 %G 0-201-40850-3 %I Addison-Wesley Publishing Company %O U$19.95/C$25.95 800-822-6339 617-944-3700 Fax: (617) 944-7273 %P 242 %T "The Internet Business Companion" Angell and Heslop are getting a bit better. Although this is far from being an adequate introduction to net culture, it does give a fairly good "Just the facts, ma'am," entree to life online. Chapter one is basically a lot of figures, regarding Internet size and growth, while chapter two is no more than a precis of the chapters to follow. (I should note that the figures and illustrations throughout the book are singularly lacking in explanatory value.) Chapter three, however, is a wide- ranging, if sometimes terse, overview of the many factors involved with an Internet connection. "Setting Up Shop on the Internet," in chapter four, tends to imply that companies can take a "set and forget" attitude to Internet information service provision. They do note that server presence must be advertised, but anyone following the directions here is likely to be disappointed at the response. Chapters five and six, on email and Usenet news, give good basic advice on the use of mail and posting for advertising, but do not address the advantages of the market research available by reading mailing lists and news. Chapters seven and eight deal with ftp and gopher in similar fashion. World Wide Web, in chapter nine, is distinguished by the provision of sample HTML code and a brief table of commands. An appendix lists vendors and products for TCP/IP access, various access hardware, and Internet client programs. The list of Internet access providers is less notable, being almost exclusively restricted to the US and completely unannotated. For businesses wanting to establish a net presence, this will give good initial ideas. But get some real advice, first. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1994 BKINBSCM.RVW 941205 ============= Vancouver ROBERTS@decus.ca | "The client interface Institute for Robert_Slade@sfu.ca | is the boundary of Research into rslade@cue.bc.ca | trustworthiness." User p1@CyberStore.ca | - Tony Buckland, UBC Security Canada V7K 2G6 |