(Hardcover - ANN)
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Today, encyclopedias, jetliners, operating systems, mutual funds, and many other items are being created by teams numbering in the thousands or even millions. While some leaders fear the heaving growth of these massive online communities, Wikinomics proves this fear is folly. Smart firms can harness collective capability and genius to spur innovation, growth, and success.A brilliant guide to one of the most profound changes of our time, Wikinomics challenges our most deeply rooted assumptions about business and will prove indispensable to anyone who wants to understand competitiveness in the twenty-first century.
More Reviews and RecommendationsALAN SKLAR has narrated over 75 audiobooks and earned numerous awards for his work. He has also provided the voice for thousands of corporate and medical videos, as well as many radio and TV commercials. He lives with his wife in New York.
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April 06, 2009: Tapscott and Williams have written a book on the economics of the web that reads as if it was written at a fraternity kegger. The book is verbose, repetitive, and though overly long, barely gives the reader any real insight into the topic.
The two fraternity brothers make many pontifical statements about intellectual property as if making the statement proves the case. They skirt the very important issue of what makes some companies willing to give up rights to intellectual property while other companies retain rights to intellectual property. I suspect the real answer to why companies give up rights to intellectual property is because doing so enhances their bottom line or creates advantages for them in the marketplace. They seem to soft-peddle the fact that the person/company which owns the intellectual property is the person/company which can chose to give away that intellectual property--that anyone else taking or making use of that intellectual property is a thief!I did notice that the two fratboys did not give away their intellectual property having copyrighted both the first and second editions of Wikinomics.For those people who want to (or have to because your pointy-haired boss insists you) read this book, I would look for the cheapest copy I can find, would borrow it from a friend (or is that stealing, Don and Tony?), or check it out of the library. I would recommend the reader save time reading by skipping any section in which the fratboys are pontificating and any section in which you find yourself reading a rehash of a previous section. That strategy will turn this 340 page tome into a barely readable 120 pages of poorly written material. It's a shame you cannot scale down the price by the same percentage.Reader Rating:
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October 09, 2008: The idea of this book is excellent. The concepts it focuses on: Peer-production methods, open-source software, and collaboration are clearly ideas and themes that the business world must embrace. The problem with this book is execution. Its poorly written, repetitive and short on in-depth analysis. All those things make getting through it a slog. The authors point out early on that the book was written as an outgrowth of a major study they do for some big corporations on the subject. One is left with the sense that the big corporations got the better result of their work and this "cliff notes" version is simply not worth it.