Rating: 
Summary: Two stars for the first four pages
Review: Let me preface this review by saying that Neal Stephenson is one of my all-time favorite authors -- I've read all of his books, even under the pseudonym Stephen Bury, all of his Wired articles, and everything I see that he's written online, and I loved every word of them. This book is about the length of one of his shorter Wired articles or a chapter from Cryptonomicon -- more on the order of a pamphlet or a "young adult" book. The automobile sales metaphor in the first four pages that compares Windows, Linux, Be-OS and the Mac is worth reading. Stephenson's comments about the command line are not. If you really want to know why to use a command line, check out Hunt and Thomas's "The Pragmatic Programmer". As they point out, it's all about the automation, and this is essentially a professional's tool. If you really want to understand the marketing side of things and the network effect in order to understand why Microsoft has market share, read "Information Rules" by Shapiro and Varian; to understand how hard it is to port geek solutions to the masses, check out "Crossing the Chasm" by Moore. Otherwise, read some of Stephenson's fiction, which is far more enjoyable.
Rating: 
Summary: Writer's dilemma, the eldritch power to unwrite things
Review: Romance and image are important to technology, as is interface. From the command line grew a number of applications. This book is an essay on the early history and sociology of the personal computer. The author considers Apple, Microsoft, Linux, and Be, Inc. and makes analogies. HTML files are just telegrams. The introduction of the Mac started a sort of holy war in the computer world. Even after the introduction of Windows, the underlying differences remained. Microsoft's disregard of aesthetics was discussed at length by Mac users. Some people think Microsoft is too powerful, others that it is too tacky. Bill Gates did not make Microsoft work by selling the best software or by selling it at the cheapest price. Apple is wedded to harware, Microsoft to its OS, operating system. Perhaps both should jetison these areas. Microsoft is more successful in software applications. The operating systems market is a death trap. Americans have a preference for mediated experience. Contemporary culture is a two-tiered system. A minority of people run the show. The minority understands how everything works. The OS has become an intellectual labor-saving device. One should, however, be wary. The GUIs, graphic user interfaces, use bad metaphors. For instance, the document is lost forever when the computer crashes. The GUI has become a sort of meta interface for household items and everyday thinking. Apple created a machine that discouraged hacking. The price had fallen drastically for IBM compatible PCs by the mid nineties, and they could be hacked. Stephenson found that Unix was hard to learn. A sort of acculturation takes place. After the crash of his powerbook and the loss of a large and important file, he sought to use Linux. He notes that Linus Torvalds deserves a lot of credit, but he could not have created Linux without the help of other people. Linux is open source software. Editor, compiler, and linker form the core of a software development system. Linux deals with errors better than the commercial systems the author used in the past. This book is a wonderful compilation of PC history and practice for the general technically-challenged reader. An overview of the industry in terms of business and marketing issues is presented. Bravo!
Rating: 
Summary: Dated, but still fun
Review: _________________________________ Stephenson opens with a neat analogy -- computer operating systems
companies as auto manufacturers: "...Eventually the big dealership came out with a full-fledged car:
a colossal station wagon (Windows 95). It had all the aesthetic
appeal of a Soviet worker housing block, it leaked oil and blew
gaskets, and it was an enormous success..." Compare this to the Linux guys, "a bunch of RVs, yurts, tepees, and
geodesic domes set up in a field." Here's their sales pitch: Hacker with bullhorn: "Save your money! Accept one of our free
tanks! It is invulnerable, and can drive across rocks and swamps
at ninety miles an hour while getting a hundred miles to the
gallon!"
Prospective station wagon buyer: "I know what you say is
true...but...er...I don't know how to maintain a tank!"
Bullhorn: "But if you accept one of our free tanks we will send
volunteers to your house to fix it for free while you sleep!"
Buyer: "Stay away from my house, you freak!!" This is a very entertaining book. It's aimed at the Unix-literate (whose ranks
certainly don't include me), but anyone who's messed about with computers
will find some goodies. Like Microsloth technical "support" -- Our Hero is
attempting to install Windows NT 4.0 : "The installation program simply stopped in the middle,
with no error messages. I went to the Microsoft Support website
and tried to perform a search for existing help documents that
would address my problem. The search engine was completely
nonfunctional; it did nothing at all. It did not even give me a
message telling me that it was not working... So I created a new Microsoft support account, then logged on to
submit the incident. I supplied my product ID number when asked,
and then began to follow the instructions on a series of help
screens... I was never able to submit my bug report,
because the series of linked web pages that I was filling
out eventually led me to a completely blank page: a dead end.
So I went back and clicked on the buttons for "phone support" and
eventually was given a Microsoft telephone number. When I dialed
this number I got a series of piercing beeps and a recorded
message from the phone company saying "We're sorry, your call
cannot be completed as dialed..." "Technical writers" are usually in the same league as "military
intelligence," but Stephenson is one of our best writers in any genre.
Don't miss this one. Highly recommended. This appears to be exactly the same text that Stephenson posted
online in early 1999. It's nice to have it available as a book, but it's
still available free [Google]. Unfortunately, in porting his text to print,
the publishers failed to add either a ToC or an index (bad, bad Avon!)
-- a major inconvenience, which I worked around by downloading a
searchable copy. Saved retyping all these cool quotes, too.
Rating:
Summary: Thought-provoking
Review: While Stephenson isn't as careful a writer as I'd like, he does make many interesting assertions in the course of this essay. The metaphores and similes are mostly well handled, and the writing is straight-forward and non-technical enough for the average non-techie reader to follow. If the book is treated as the flow-of-consciousness essay it appears to be, then the minor flaws can be forgiven, allowing the reader to enjoy the sometimes brilliant writing that went into the work. I recommend it to anyone who is interested in learning more about what it means to use a windows/icons/mouse/pointer interface vs. the command line. Every little detail of what he says isn't true, but the overall themes he hits are at least arguably true. And the message of the book - that not only doesn't simpler equal better, it actually makes things worse for anyone but the most casual of users - is demonstrably true. Definitely worth a read.
Rating:
Summary: QED
Review: I had read and enjoyed the author's previous book, "Cryptonomicon" and was impressed with the amount of technical discussion he included (and the insight and detail he included about the Seattle and Silicon Valley tech lifestyle). I had often wondered if there was any "there" there. This book proves it. While I felt the book stopped short by only discussing the evolution of operating systems since the advent of PCs (I go back a lot farther; and there were other PC OSs that could have been mentioned), I thought he did an excellent job of capturing the recent evolution and the related technological-social debate. In fact, beyond the depiction of the technical underpinnings of the current OS wars, and beyond the knowledge of Seattle/Silicon Valley geek life-as-we-know-it (on a par with Douglas Coupland's Microserfs), the other reason I really enjoyed this book is that Mr. Stephenson managed to express in writing the very complex and convoluted feelings that I have about the whole Microsoft/anti-Microsoft debate (and have not been able to adequately express to my friends). So I have been recommending that they read the book instead.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining as Neal always is..
Review: Neal Stephenson may be more widely known for his more serious and fictional works being Cryptonomicron, Snow Crash, Quicksilver and others, but this thought flow essay is an entertaining romp through the history of the Command Prompt and Graphical User Interface. By showing the strengths and weaknesses of each through metaphors and similies, even the least technical people can find humor in this little history; most will even feel pitty for Neal and fellow techs who have been through the last 30 years of computing. Though most people would feel that the simplest and easiest method is always better, only the least experienced users will agree. There are more tools and control through a Command Prompt then there will ever be using a GUI(Graphica User Interface) and honestly that will never change. The book is a great read that will keep a little smile on your face then entire time and sometimes even get a giggle. This was fun and entertaining and recomended to anyone that uses a computer.
Rating:
Summary: Dated, but still fun
Review: _________________________________ Stephenson opens with a neat analogy -- computer operating systems
companies as auto manufacturers: "...Eventually the big dealership came out with a full-fledged car:
a colossal station wagon (Windows 95). It had all the aesthetic
appeal of a Soviet worker housing block, it leaked oil and blew
gaskets, and it was an enormous success..." Compare this to the Linux guys, "a bunch of RVs, yurts, tepees, and
geodesic domes set up in a field." Here's their sales pitch: Hacker with bullhorn: "Save your money! Accept one of our free
tanks! It is invulnerable, and can drive across rocks and swamps
at ninety miles an hour while getting a hundred miles to the
gallon!"
Prospective station wagon buyer: "I know what you say is
true...but...er...I don't know how to maintain a tank!"
Bullhorn: "But if you accept one of our free tanks we will send
volunteers to your house to fix it for free while you sleep!"
Buyer: "Stay away from my house, you freak!!" This is a very entertaining book. It's aimed at the Unix-literate (whose ranks
certainly don't include me), but anyone who's messed about with computers
will find some goodies. Like Microsloth technical "support" -- Our Hero is
attempting to install Windows NT 4.0 : "The installation program simply stopped in the middle,
with no error messages. I went to the Microsoft Support website
and tried to perform a search for existing help documents that
would address my problem. The search engine was completely
nonfunctional; it did nothing at all. It did not even give me a
message telling me that it was not working... So I created a new Microsoft support account, then logged on to
submit the incident. I supplied my product ID number when asked,
and then began to follow the instructions on a series of help
screens... I was never able to submit my bug report,
because the series of linked web pages that I was filling
out eventually led me to a completely blank page: a dead end.
So I went back and clicked on the buttons for "phone support" and
eventually was given a Microsoft telephone number. When I dialed
this number I got a series of piercing beeps and a recorded
message from the phone company saying "We're sorry, your call
cannot be completed as dialed..." "Technical writers" are usually in the same league as "military
intelligence," but Stephenson is one of our best writers in any genre.
Don't miss this one. Highly recommended. This appears to be exactly the same text that Stephenson posted
online in early 1999. It's nice to have it available as a book, but it's
still available free [Google]. Unfortunately, in porting his text to print,
the publishers failed to add either a ToC or an index (bad, bad Avon!)
-- a major inconvenience, which I worked around by downloading a
searchable copy. Saved retyping all these cool quotes, too.
Rating:
Summary: Great (considering when it was written and what it conveys).
Review: Many of you brainiacs out there will no-doubt be offended or amused by this piece, brand it "wrong" or "simplistic", and get back to your highly specialized (and often impossible for us mere civilians to understand) jobs in science. But for everyone else, I think this essay(?) serves as an important "ramp" for non-techies to better understand the origins of User Interfaces, and their significance. I would (still) recommend this as an informative and entertaining read. Enjoy...
Rating: 
Summary: Waste of time...
Review: basically it's a long Linux rant by someone who, while bright, isn't very deep in his thoughfulness, ability to craft a truly fetching AND sturdy idea, disregards fatal flaws in logic, induction, deduction, and reason. Too bad. He's pretty fair writer of fiction though, at least in his ability to create compelling atmospheres- in his fiction he makes the same sort of mistakes he makes in this book. He *is* honest though- and that's makes him a better fellow than about 90% of the rest of the hacks in this world known as "writers." Sorry though- this little folio is a awaste of time- just experiment with Linux yourself and see if you like it- ditch all this justification crap in here.
Rating:
Summary: Non-fiction Neal: great
Review: I read half of this book in a store today, and found it extremely entertaining. (1) As the author himself states at nealstephenson.com, the essay is out of date. (I believe he's using a Mac OS; check his site, b/c what do I know). I would still, however, recommend this book for the wonderful writing style that you're familiar with if you've read his works of fiction. (2) Even the store clerk, an N.S. fan, was excited to see this title, not having seen it before. I think I know why. Thanks to genererous Amazon.com reviewers whose words appear below, I found the book online -- the entire text? I think so. 36,067 words -- returned my store-bought copy, and am firing up the laser printer to get the half I haven't yet read. For those of you with printers, don't waste time looking for it at nealstephenson.com like I did. The book can be downloaded at http://www.cryptonomicon.com/beginning.html
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