Internet Collapses and Other InfoWorld Punditry - Softcover

Metcalfe, Bob

Softcover

ISBN 10: 076453503X ISBN 13: 9780764535031

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, 2000

Synopsis

"What to make of this ranting gasbag named Metcalfe? Turn up the filters, tune in, and listen. You may not like the way he phrases it, but he′s actually got some very important things to say and he isn′t afraid to say them." Vint Cerf Bob Metcalfe is the Internet′s resident gadfly and reigning pundit a renowned inventor (Ethernet) and entrepreneur (3Com) whose weekly InfoWorld columns skewer pretensions, assault the conventional wisdom, and spit roast sacred cows. This book collects the best of Metcalfe′s polemics, predictions, and pronouncements over the last decade and pairs them with no–holds–barred rebuttals and commentary by industry heavyweights. The result is vintage Metcalfe: provocative, inflammatory, and insightful. Just a few of Bob Metcalfe′s pronouncements over the years...
1991 "Microsoft is abusing its monopoly"
1993 "Wireless computing will flop permanently"
1994 "What the Internet needs now is more competition among greedy entrepreneurs"
1995 "I predict the Internet′s catastrophic collapse in 1996"
1996 "Everything on the Internet should be strongly encrypted all the time"
1997 "E–postage is a good thing"
1998 "The skunk is, like Microsoft, an exquisite survival machine"
1999 "Linux will fizzle against Windows"

www.infoworld.com/metcalfe www.idgbooks.com

About this title

Review

So deeply cynical you know he must be right, Bob Metcalfe has made a second career out of showing us the inner workings of the computer industry. Culling the best of nearly 10 years' worth of columns, Internet Collapses and Other InfoWorld Punditry is guaranteed to both exasperate and illuminate, often at the same time. Perhaps better known as the inventor of Ethernet and founder of 3Com, Metcalfe is pretty much free from the need to self-censor and can write whatever InfoWorld will tolerate. His opinions generally leave no individual, business, or government agency unscathed--he was Microsoft-bashing long before it was cool, though the DoJ, open-source advocates, and "paranoid anti-technology outlaw cyberpunks dressed in black" also must endure his scorn.

More appealing even than his invective are his sometimes outrageous predictions. Occasionally, as in his 1994 offhand comment that anti-trust enforcers would be wishing for more timely action against Microsoft five years hence, the reader is tempted to hustle down to the library to check the original. At other times, like his foretelling the "Internet's catastrophic collapse in 1996", we can only marvel at the odd combination of hubris and humility that drive him to reprint the very wrong alongside the very right. This same combination lets him publish brief rebuttals by such industry heavies as Nathan Myhrvold and Vint Cerf, which serve as excellent foils and complement his style well. Whether you're an old-school InfoWorld reader or you've never had the pleasure of Metcalfe's virtual company, Internet Collapses will give you a brutally clear perspective on the birth of the Internet economy. --Rob Lightner, Amazon.com

About the Author

Bob Metcalfe fathered the Internet — just kidding, Vint — starting in 1970 at MIT, Harvard, and Xerox PARC. He invented Ethernet in 1973 and founded 3Com Corporation in 1979. He is vice president of technology at the International Data Group and has written his weekly InfoWorld column since 1992. "Bob Metcalfe is a unique American inventor and entrepreneur who also turns out to be a supreme wit and gifted author." — George Gilder

About this edition

• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 076453503X
• ISBN 13: 9780764535031
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 360