In Search of Stupidity

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xvi

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Merrill R. Chapman

   Pages 1-12

3. First Movers, First Mistakes: IBM, Digital Research, Apple, and Microsoft

   • Merrill R. Chapman

   Pages 13-32

4. A Rather Nutty Tale: IBM and the PC Junior

   • Merrill R. Chapman

   Pages 33-45

5. Positioning Puzzlers: MicroPro and Microsoft

   • Merrill R. Chapman

   Pages 47-63

6. We Hate You, We Really Hate You: Ed Esber and Ashton-Tate

   • Merrill R. Chapman

   Pages 65-78

7. The Idiot Piper: OS/2 and IBM

   • Merrill R. Chapman

   Pages 79-104

8. Frenchman Eats Frog, Chokes to Death: Borland and Philippe Kahn

   • Merrill R. Chapman

   Pages 105-121

9. Brands for the Burning: Intel and Motorola

   • Merrill R. Chapman

   Pages 123-144

10. From Godzilla to Gecko: The Long, Slow Decline of Novell

    • Merrill R. Chapman

    Pages 145-162

11. Ripping PR Yarns: Microsoft and Netscape

    • Merrill R. Chapman

    Pages 163-192

12. Purple Haze All through My Brain: The Internet and ASP Busts

    • Merrill R. Chapman

    Pages 193-221

13. Afterword: Stupid Development Tricks

    • Merrill R. Chapman

    Pages 223-231

14. Back Matter

    Pages 233-252

    PDF

In Search of Stupidity is National Lampoon meets Peter Drucker. It's a funny and well-written business book that takes a look at some of the most influential marketing and business philosophies of the last 20 years and, through the dark glass of hindsight, provides an educational and vastly entertaining examination of why they didn't work for many of the country's largest and best-known high-tech companies. Make no mistake: most of them did not work.

Marketing wizard Richard Chapman takes readers on a hilarious ride in this book, which is richly illustrated with cartoons and reproductions of many of the actual campaigns used at the time. Filled with personal anecdotes spanning Chapman's remarkable career (he was present at many now-famous meetings and events), In Search of Stupidity is a no-holds-barred look at the best of the worst hopeless marketing ideas and business decisions in the last 20 years of the technology industry.

• Apple
• Go
• Internet
• Motorola
• Windows
• Windows 95
• boundary element method
• development
• education
• hardware
• marketing
• personal computer
• software
• software industry
• technology

From the reviews:

"Finally, moving on to something very different, In Search of Stupidity is a must-read for anybody involved in IT. … It’s a joy to read. … Written in an engaging style, with lots of asides and personal anecdotes, it’s a fun read." (Application Development Advisor, November, 2003)

"Sarcastic and irreverent, Chapman takes you through 20 years of folly in marketing strategies, by leading lights of the times. … A must read for every business manager." (www.smartinc-india.com, September, 2003)

Merrill R. (Rick) Chapman is the author of the first edition of In Search of Stupidity. He has worked in the software industry since 1978 as a programmer, salesman, support representative, senior marketing manager, and consultant for many different companies, including WordStar (really MicroPro, but no one remembers the name of the company), Ashton-Tate, IBM, Inso, Novell, Bentley Systems, Berlitz, Hewlett-Packard, and Ziff-Davis. His first computer was a Trash One (you antiques out there know what that is), and he began his career writing software inventory management systems for beer and soda distributors in New York City. He is the author of The Product Marketing Handbook for Software, coauthor of the Software Industry and Information Association's U.S. Software Channel Marketing and Distribution Guide, and periodically writes articles about software and high-tech marketing for a variety of publications.

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