|
|
The Real Story of Informix Software and Phil White: Lessons in Business and Leadership for the Executive Team
|
List Price: $24.95
Our Price: $9.48
Your Save: $15.47 ( 62% )
Availability: Please click buy button for full availability
information.
Average Customer Rating:
 
Manufacturer: Sand Hill Publishing
|
|
|
Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 658
EAN: 9780972182225
ISBN: 0972182225
Label: Sand Hill Publishing
Manufacturer: Sand Hill Publishing
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 232
Publication Date: 2005-01-15
Publisher: Sand Hill Publishing
Studio: Sand Hill Publishing
|
|
|
|
|
|
Spotlight customer reviews:
|
Customer Rating:
Summary: Little "business" in this book
Comment: The word "boring" comes to mind when trying to describe this book. It is obvious that much of it is filler material with very little "business" oriented material. It's not necessary to know any level of details about specific products like "4GL," etc. to explain the business view of what happened.
This book is more a history of Informix than anything else. The "Lessons Learned" are very basic and could be covered in 1/4 the pages.
There is nothing special at all in this book.
My advice is to save your money and skip it.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A Case Study of Strategic Failures and CEO Criminal Prosecution
Comment: Software businesses are hard to run. Customers all think they need slightly different code. Salespeople make promises that no one in the company knows about. Acquisitions seem to offer unlimited potential . . . but usually lead to disaster. Accounting rules don't always make a lot of sense. If you lose momentum, your key people leave for the competition. A competitor can cut your sales off at the knees with a timely new product that works. Your new products barely run when they are first introduced.
So is it any wonder that few software companies prosper in the long run?
This book seems to be primarily aimed at correcting the public record about how and why Informix Software tanked in 1997 and how the company's CEO ended up pleading guilty to a count of securities fraud and spending two months in jail.
If I take the book's material at face value, it does look like Mr. White was more guilty of being naive than of securities fraud. The explanation of the rebooking of revenues to follow more conservative accounting seems to make it abundantly clear that there was no massive fraud at Informix, despite what the newspapers said to the contrary at the time.
Any new software CEO would benefit from reading this book. Investors who are thinking about buying software stocks should also read this book and lie down until the urge to buy goes away.
People who want a serious history of Informix or its industry will find the book to be superficial and incomplete.
Customer Rating:
Summary: White Pride
Comment: This is an interesting, if sterile, dissection of the rise and fall of one-time Silicon Valley darling Informix and their charismatic CEO, Phil White. Author Steve Martin was an Informix employee in the critical years from 1991 through 1997, and therefore speaks with the authority and insider's knowledge not found in the perspective of an outside journalist, burdened by the baggage of an interviewee's selective recall. Martin couples with the history a series of business lessons, which, while not profound, provide a succinct primer of management basics that are broadly applicable. Not the least of these lessons is the danger in allowing personal rivalries to cloud sound business judgment. In the case of Informix, an irrational focus on beating Oracle and it's obnoxious CEO, Larry Ellison, could be traced to Informix's eventual demise. While Martin is admittedly a Phil White sympathizer, he is not an apologist, and does a good job of presenting the other side of the story that was so negatively twisted by a scandal-crazed press and a US Justice Department which, in the days of Enron and WorldCom, was chomping at the bit to get a major CEO in handcuffs doing the perp walk wearing stripes. Even the most cynical critic of Informix and White must concede that the offense that ultimately sunk the Informix ship was disproportional to the consequences delivered by Judge Breyer.
This book will be most appreciated by those who have lived and worked in Silicon Valley during the days immediately preceding the Internet boom and subsequent bust, as well as those not intimidated by a fairly heavy dosage of product-related technical jargon. Having been a Silicon Valley CEO at the time with some familiarity with White and the team, I was hoping for more specifics in the disastrous Illustra acquisition - especially more of the personalities involved - but that in no way impacts a solid story that deserves to be chronicled. In summary, if you're looking for an orgy of Informix gossip and dirty laundry, this isn't it. But for a quick and insightful history of an important chapter in Silicon Valley, "The Real Story of Informix Software..." is worth the time.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A "must read" for anyone connected to Silicon Valley in the 1990's - or today!
Comment: The Real Story of Informix Software and Phil White is a ticket to experiencing the roller coaster ride that was Silicon Valley of the last decade. The book succeeds on several levels - as an engaging chronicle of the DB wars of the 1990's, as an intriguing character study of Phil White, and -more subtly - as a pitch for Martin's other book, "Heavy Hitter Selling". Martin's pinpoint analysis and description of Informix' winning (and losing) sales strategies proves his sales acumen. I was also in sales at Informix during this era and frankly we were so busy "doing" it's remarkable how Martin was also able to observe and analyze so precisely while consistently blowing out his numbers and making it to the vaunted "Summit Club".
Also, Martin really makes Phil "come to life". In the book he's colorful, whereas in my memory he is bloodless - all stark steel and blonde. (That's probably because he struck terror in me and I tried to avoid him at all costs!!) It's actually a flattering portrait of the man - Martin is able to vindicate Phil even as he criticizes his mistakes.
The prose is crisp, clear and descriptive. Even though Martin is the narrator and a first-hand observer of the action recounted, he does not over tread the story. I like how he embedded contemporaneous quotes from magazine and newspaper articles. The technique allows the author to seamlessly traverse among many "voices" in the narrative. Also, the simple but cohesive structure of the year by year chronology works. Plus I liked the use of analogy. For example, comparing Informix to Oracle and Sybase via their similarity to a Chevy (reliable), a Mercedes (first class) and a Porsche (fast!, fun!) provides imagery as to how customers viewed the companies. And lastly, as a great software salesman, Martin gives full credit to the Systems Engineers - the technical sales personnel so critical to winning deals. Even though I lived through this era, I believe the book transcends the particulars and illustrates what it takes to succeed in business in today's tumultuous times.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Best Silicon Valley Book. Period.
Comment: Without a doubt, this is the most interesting Silicon Valley book I have ever read. Irregardless if you work at HP, Sun, IBM, Oracle, SAP, or any other hi-tech company, I strongly recommend reading this book. It provides relevant lessons for hi-tech management, product case studies for developers, sales strategies for marketeers, and a concise analysis of a Silicon Valley time period that shaped our industry as we know it today.
|
|
|
Editorial Reviews:
|
The Real Story of Informix Software and Phil White chronicles the meteoric rise of Informix Software, how it became a billion-dollar software giant, and the scandal that ultimately led to its spectacular fall. This fascinating behind-the-scenes book offers an insider'ss perspective on the business strategies that succeeded, the products that failed, and how a technology industry titan ended up in jail.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
