Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. How was this material developed? The course material (text chapters, transparencies, course outlines, classroom assignments) is a result of graduate level university courses that I have been teaching on distributed systems and eBusiness/eCommerce for a number of years.The "wiisdom" and practical  insights gained  due to my continued work in the telecom industry is naturally factored in (without any proprietary information, of course!). The material is a major rewrite,  revamp, synthesis, and moderniztion of my following previous books: 


Q2. Will this material be updated? Yes, defintely. You are seeing  work in progress -- the content will be modified, enhanced, and upadtaed on a regular basis as I continue to teach the courses and work in this field.  I will add new chapters and upadte the material at least once a year to keep it most up-to-date. Thus if you choose to use this material in your courses, you will have recent information.

Q3. Why this material is not being published by a book publisher?  I could easily do that (I am negotiating with one publisher) but the problem is that I want to keep updating the material at least once a year. The traditional publishing model does not fit this situation very well.

Q4. Why am I putting this material on a Web site? I have been asked by several friends who have seen several chapters of this material to make it available for general use. Many of these friends have used my previous books in classrooms and have been waiting for updated material. The web site allows interested folks ("users") to pick and choose modules to configure courses (a "highly configurable course materal" -- what could be better!).

Q5: Will I ever publish this material through a publisher? Yes, of course, unless I start liking this style of publishing and you, the users,  find it also useful.  You can help me decide. You can weigh the inconvenience of  printing large documents (one would think that your printers are used to it by now!) versus the possible benefits:  a) the material is always up-to-date, b) complete courses can be offered from this material or existing courses can be augmented by intermiixing some modules from here with other course material, c) the  user comments and feedbacks are incorporated quickly into the material, and d) it is relatively inexpensive.

Q6: I do not have a credit card. How do I purchase the material?  Contact us with suggestions.