In Search Of Stupidy, written by Rick Chapman, covers the mighty stupid blunders of high-tech companies from the early 80s right up to 2003, when the book was published.
To be worthy of mention in this book, it took the combined efforts of personnel in upper management, development, sales, and marketing, all fiercely dedicated to ignoring common sense, the blatantly obvious, and the lessons of the past. Major failure doesn’t just happen: To achieve it, everyone must pull together as a team. [Afterword, p223]
It covers a time in computer industry of which I am only dimly aware. I didn’t really get into computers until Windows 98 Second Edtion. There were no other spreadsheets but Excel; no word processors but Word. Microsoft was so firmly entrenched that it was cool to disparage them.
So reading this book was a delight. It showed that Microsoft had some help from others’ stupidity to get where they are now. It also covers Microsoft’s stupid arrogance that sparked the antitrust suit. The stories are told in a light, conversational tone; Chapman isn’t afraid to call a spade a spade, either. Major idiocy is pointed out on a regular basis in the book.
I also learned a lot about some marketing concepts that I always sneered at such as branding. Chapman explains the power of branding and shows no one really understands how to go about “building a brand.”
Recommended.