Worldwide Computer Products News-7 February 2003-REVIEW: E-Business Technologies(C)1995-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD http://www.m2.com

As soon as I looked through the first few pages of this book I could tell that it was written primarily for use as a text book for a computers/e-business course. Included in the book are learning objectives, examples, case studies, review questions, exercises, related web site links and references for each chapter. Also available are PowerPoint slides, content updates, an instructor's manual and a selection of tests.

Before you decide not to buy this book just because it is more focussed on being a text book for an e-business course I have to ask you to think again. If you are wanting to learn about e-business technologies then you could go out and buy a great many books that will not tell you half as much as this one. The authors - Craig Van Slyke and France Belanger - have put everything into an easy to understand format and the different sections - such as the review questions and exercises - do help to consolidate what you have learned from a chapter.

At times I did feel that I could speed up a bit and that the text could have got more in-depth sooner however this was not much of a problem at all and I did find myself towards the later chapters feeling quite glad that the authors had decided to take their time. In general, I think that the complexity of the book is balanced well - there is a gentle introduction with the first few chapters but then the reader is encouraged to pick up the pace and get some serious learning done.

Topics covered include the impact of e-business, the barriers to e-business, the Internet and its role in e-business, applications development, telecomms and client/server technologies used in e-business, back-office e-business operations, content, privacy, security and electronic payment systems. In my opinion there is nothing that has been missed out that would have improved this book to any great degree. There was no 'Future Developments' chapter although while I do enjoy reading this kind of information it rarely teaches you very much.

CONCLUSION: While this book would be perfect for any e-business class I also have to say that it could be used very effectively by the individual learner to expand his knowledge of e-business technologies.

Title: E-Business TechnologiesAuthor: Craig Van Slyke, France BelangerPublished by: John Wiley & Sons, IncISBN: 0-471-39392-4Price: GBP27.95Reviewer: Ian Sanderson

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