kfl@hoxna.UUCP (Kenton Lee) (10/29/84)
xxx
I saw this book in a bookstore recently. I didn't spend much time
looking at it, but I didn't like what I saw. It seemed too
oriented toward BUYING things with too little information on DOING
things. Granted, product reviews are much simpler to write, but
most people buy personal computers to DO things, not to BUY more
hardware and software.
--
Kenton Lee, Bell Labs - WB 1D302, x7178
{ihnp4 or allegra or cbosg}!hoxna!kflnotes@okstate.UUCP (10/29/84)
From: harvard!wjh12!genrad!mit-eddie!godot!ima!inmet!rgh%seismo.uucp@BRL-TGR
"The Whole Earth Software Catalog", Stewart Brand, Editor-in-Chief,
Quantum Press/Doubleday, 1984, soft cover, $17.50.
Enthusiastic review follows:
The Whole Earth Software Catalog is the best single book I've seen on
personal computers. It provides reviews and recommendations for
programs in 11 "domains": Playing, Writing, Analyzing, Organizing,
Accounting, Managing, Drawing, Telecommunicating, Programming,
Learning, and Etc. (e.g. online cookbooks and music synthesis
programs). The reviews are less detailed but more comparative
than typical magazine reviews.
It also contains useful sections on hardware and buying, the latter
offering not only general tips but specific recommendations for
mail-order houses. Books and magazines, databases and telecommunications
services, modems, printers, and monitors are all reviewed and
recommended. Information is pretty up-to-date: the editorial closing
date was mid-June. It is extensively illustrated with photos of
screens, many of them in full color. In addition to a general index,
there are indices of products for specific computers.
Randy Hudson
{ihnp4,harpo,ima}!inmet!rghapratt@iuvax.UUCP (10/30/84)
I would like to point out that the development of the Whole Earth Software Catalog was, in part, an experiment in distributed processing: using DIALOG, with its remote-conferencing (newsgroup-style), the Whole Earth people got submissions from all over the country for their catalog. There was discussion of format, content, and style, as well as submissions of actual reviews for possible inclusion. So the Whole Earth Software Catalog was, in fact, a computer-aided project from start to finish. -- Allan Pratt ...ihnp4!inuxc!iuvax!apratt
rgh%seismo.uucp@BRL-TGR.ARPA (11/02/84)
"The Whole Earth Software Catalog", Stewart Brand, Editor-in-Chief,
Quantum Press/Doubleday, 1984, soft cover, $17.50.
Enthusiastic review follows:
The Whole Earth Software Catalog is the best single book I've seen on
personal computers. It provides reviews and recommendations for
programs in 11 "domains": Playing, Writing, Analyzing, Organizing,
Accounting, Managing, Drawing, Telecommunicating, Programming,
Learning, and Etc. (e.g. online cookbooks and music synthesis
programs). The reviews are less detailed but more comparative
than typical magazine reviews.
It also contains useful sections on hardware and buying, the latter
offering not only general tips but specific recommendations for
mail-order houses. Books and magazines, databases and telecommunications
services, modems, printers, and monitors are all reviewed and
recommended. Information is pretty up-to-date: the editorial closing
date was mid-June. It is extensively illustrated with photos of
screens, many of them in full color. In addition to a general index,
there are indices of products for specific computers.
Randy Hudson
{ihnp4,harpo,ima}!inmet!rghdavid@ukma.UUCP (David Herron) (11/07/84)
I have been reading publications from these people for a LONG time.
These are the people who published the Whole Earth Catalog back around
1970 and a few iterations since then. They also have been publishing
a magazine ("Coevolution Quarterly", soon to change its name, dont
remember what to right now) since the same time.
They first got interested in computers about 5 years ago. They have
always been USERS and not much more. I know them to be serious,
intelligent people who expect their readers to be the same.
-----------------------------------------
David Herron
Phone: (606) 257-4244 (work, phone will usually be answered as "Vax Lab").
(606) 254-7820
Arpa-Net-----\
\ (or cbosgd!hasmed!qusavx!ukma!david)
unmvax----\ \
research \____\____ anlams!ukma!david
boulder / /
ucbvax----/ /
/
decvax!ucbvax--/
For arpa-net, anlams has the name ANL-MCS. I have been having trouble
getting mail from arpa-net through anlams so maybe try a different route
or the user name "s".