Book Description
The Exclusive Story behind Intuit's Hard-Won Success
It's a modern-day David and Goliath story for the business world: a company dreamed up at a kitchen table, built on explosive PC growth, and forced to battle a giant in the race to revolutionize an industry. This is the story of Intuit, creator of renowned software products like Quicken, QuickBooks, and TurboTax-the company that beat mighty Microsoft and changed the way 25 million people manage their finances.
Written by Intuit veteran Suzanne Taylor and seasoned business manager Kathy Schroeder-who were granted exclusive interviews with founder Scott Cook and other key figures- Inside Intuit tells this company's original and fascinating tale for the first time. The book vividly recounts each dramatic stage of Intuit's development: from initial conception to "bet the company" investments; from strokes of marketing genius to disastrous product launches; and from battles for survival to successive victories against arch-rival Microsoft-the company no one else could beat.
Evident throughout this account is the power of Intuit's relentless customer focus, which guided the company from tiny start-up to a 6,000-employee, $1.4 billion business. Instructive and inspiring, Inside Intuit chronicles an enduring company's extraordinary success against overwhelming odds.
"This important book doesn't take any shortcuts in analyzing the building blocks of success. Taylor and Schroeder have written a fascinating blow-by-blow account of the thousand and one decisions that have made Intuit what it is. Highly readable, thorough, and extremely well researched Inside Intuit is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand success in Silicon Valley."
-Emanuel Rosen, author, The Anatomy of Buzz
"Inside Intuit is more than the history of a start-up that grew to dominate a major software category. It is a blueprint of success for entrepreneurs and investors who want to build great businesses in difficult environments."
-Roger McNamee, cofounder, Silver Lake Partners and Integral Capital Partners
"Inside Intuit is a very entertaining book. Any entrepreneur at heart will enjoy and learn from the story of how Scott Cook and Tom Proulx faced so much adversity and came back from the brink of disaster to build a very successful, highly admired Silicon Valley company. Readers can learn many lessons from both Intuit's successes and mistakes. In the end, good ideas, hard work, determination, and strong values really do pay off!"
-Dan Rudolph, Senior Associate Dean/Chief Operating Officer, Stanford Graduate School of Business
"I was thrilled to read the inside story of how Intuit was born and raised. I've always admired Intuit's strict attention to customer needs and feedback. Now I have a much better idea of how that culture was created."
-Stewart Alsop, General Partner, New Enterprise Associates
"Inside Intuit offers readers the secrets behind that company's extraordinary success. The authors' insights into how Intuit trounced Microsoft alone are worth the price of the book!"
-Andrea Butter, coauthor, Piloting Palm: The Inside Story of Palm, Handspring and the Birth of the Billion Dollar Handheld Industry
Customer Reviews:
good read.......2007-05-07
This book has a compelling start and middle but tails off towards the end. I will read it again soon though....I liked it.
A nice inside view.......2007-02-12
Being an Intuit supporter for 15 years as well as an alpha tester of Quickbooks for windows I admit with no hesitation I am biased when it comes to Intuit related things. This book exceeded my already high expectations as a great inside view of the start, sputtering and surge of Intuit. The Microsoft connections were very interesting to read as well. Being a business owner it showed how culture dedicated to providing excellence to the customer can pay off as well even though it looks like it might cost alot to perform. It was an easy read and I strongly recommend it....
Not Quite the Whole Story.......2005-05-31
The book is written by insiders. They make the new CEO out to be quite a hero. Better ask some Intuit customers about that.
Great Case History of a Continuing Business Model Innovator!.......2004-05-02
How many companies have survived direct battles with Microsoft? Not very many. How many lived to win over direct battles with Microsoft? Even fewer. Intuit is in that elite company. That experience alone would make the book worth considering.
The authors have done an outstanding job of building on that potentially fascinating subject matter by successfully capturing the key elements of how Intuit has continued to succeed as a business model innovator through four CEOs. I was especially pleased to see that the book captures the values that led to this innovation, the organizational and process methods used to stimulate and pursue the innovation, and the motivations of the key innovators.
In addition, the book moves down into the organization to capture the thoughts and emotions of many of the Intuit employees as it moved from its P&G style focus on customer needs to a broad-based expansion through acquisitions to a GE-style disciplined approach to achieve performance in key areas.
In fact, this book was so fine that I had to ask myself what was missing before I could spot any flaws. The only area where the book is a little light is in describing the details of how Intuit's software development changed over time, and what the lessons were. Now, don't mistake my point. There's plenty on that subject (especially when Intuit was a start-up), but there could have been more . . . if this book were to become a case history source on software engineering.
But no book can be everything to everyone, and currently there are few books that explain continuing business model innovation through generations of senior management. So Inside Intuit becomes a must read for those who want to master this critical leadership and management task.
By the way, Inside Intuit is a very apt title. The authors seem to have had unrestrained access to company insiders. The book comes away much richer as a result than any other Silicon Valley saga that I can remember reading. Most of those books focus on one to three people in the company, and leave it at that.
As I finished the book, I wondered what improvements in its continuing business model innovation Intuit will make next. I can hardly wait to find out!
Wonderful!.......2004-04-04
When Inside Intuit arrived in the mail, along with four other books I'd ordered, it was the first one I picked up to browse. Seven hours later, I finished the book! Reliving the experiences, placing myself in the events (I worked for Intuit for over fourteen years - by way of ChipSoft), was an overwhelming experience for me.
I remember the first time I met Scott Cook. Leo Redmond, at the time managing the Intuit Supplies Group, and I had just finished lunch in Palo Alto. As we drove back to his office, we talked about Quicken and how it was the second product I bought for my first computer in early 1989 (the first was Sim City). Leo said that he'd like me to tell Scott about it. Scott was excited - "You have five years of Quicken data?" He told me to install the latest Quicken beta as soon as I got home - he wanted to know how it handled large data files (mine was over two megabytes at the time). That was nearly ten years ago.
What an experience! Having been hired by Evy Chipman in late 1988 and working closely with every top-echelon executive on the ChipSoft side (Gaylord, Harris, Gleicher, Lane), I never thought I'd be so intimidated - stammering - as I chatted briefly with Scott in his office.
Reading Inside Intuit brings you into Scott's (and many others) office - you are in the presence of greatness when you read this book.
Book Description
Fun and functional Linux, Mac OS X and UNIX shell scripts The UNIX shell is the main scripting environment of every Linux, Mac OS X and UNIX system, whether a rescued laptop or a million-dollar mainframe. This cookbook of useful, customizable, and fun scripts gives you the tools to solve common Linux, Mac OS X and UNIX problems and personalize your computing environment. Among the more than 100 scripts included are an interactive calculator, a spell checker, a disk backup utility, a weather tracker, and a web logfile analysis tool. The book also teaches you how to write your own sophisticated shell scripts by explaining the syntax and techniques used to build each example scripts. Examples are written in Bourne Shell (sh) syntax.
Customer Reviews:
Good, yes. Wicked cool, maybe not........2006-12-20
This is a great book for learning by example, particularly as a follow-on to something more geared toward complete beginners to get you started. It provides a number of useful scripts (even though some of them duplicate functionality of common system utilities), with explanations of how and why they work, and even notes on how you might alter the code to suit your own purposes. If you're a relatively new programmer or system administrator that already has the basics of shell scripting in mind, but find yourself at loose ends wondering what to do next to help cement what you know and start learning more, this book may be exactly what you need. It's also useful for figuring out some of the basic principles of translating code to or from some other programming language, thanks to the code explanations.
The scripts themselves, however, are not exactly what I would call "wicked cool". The title is an obvious marketing conceit, designed to make the book seem more enticing. Most of the scripts, in fact, are surprisingly mundane -- but that doesn't mean they aren't useful. You may actually find yourself using some of them, with minor alterations, in your day-to-day life. Just don't expect to be wowed by the scripts themselves.
If you've read my review of Wicked Cool Perl Scripts, you may note that this is an almost word-for-word duplication. That was intentional: the books are very similar in quality, format, and usefulness, right down to the "wicked coolness" (or not) of the scripts.
Just plain wrong.......2006-10-12
This is a collection of very basic shell scripts I found completely useless. The author presents the book in an advanced format, not giving much underlying information or hand-holding; however the information contained is very beginner level.
The author David Taylor also has many bad habits in his scripting and tends to take a wordy approach. Many of the scripts Taylor advertises in his book can be compiled into a command or two on a single small line of code. For example why would you pipe a grep command to awk when awk has a more powerful search function than grep already built in?
I did not find any advanced commands in his entire book. There were a couple very basic 'sed' and 'awk' commands but nothing which made me think anything about them was 'wicked cool'
geeks only.......2006-08-12
Taylor does some neat stuff with shell scripts, but he doesn't spend much time explaining what goes on in them. Each is accompanied by a terse paragraph explaining "how it works", which generally only addresses one particular aspect of the script (ie, POSIX-style "variable slicing"). Shell syntax is terse and many of the reserved keywords and functions are not self-evident. If you don't know, for example, what "${#remainder}" returns, Taylor won't help you; you will have to look it up in a tutorial or a reference work elsewhere.
According to the blurb on the back of the book, Taylor has an MA in education, but there is little evidence of his didactic skills in this text. On the face of it, he is more a geek than a teacher, and hence this book more useful to his fellow hackers than people new to Bash.
As we say in Maine, "Wicked Good!".......2006-04-12
I have spent thousands of dollars on computer and technical references; I have a library full of them. There is one book however that sits on my office desk and has never made it to the library - Wicked Cool Shell Scripts. I have read, referenced and recommended it many times.
The book is extremely informative and is written in such a way that it can be very valuable, whether your a brand new shell script programmer or are an experienced administrator looking for a better way to accomplish a task. I have used ideas and methods from the book to streamline tasks that I do regularly and to improve the scripts I already use. It has been, by far, the best investment in a reference book I have ever made and was enjoyable enough to read cover to cover.
If your IT reference shelf is full, throw something out and fill the space with this book.
Lots of unnecessary material, and what's good is already available out there.......2006-03-03
WICKED COOL SHELL SCRIPTS is a collection of pre-made bash scripts for various tasks similar to one of O'Reilly's "cookbooks". All scripts here use bash--the author rejects csh because of Tom Christiansen's classic essay "Csh Programming Considered Harmful" and the Korn shell because he considers it fine for interactive use but not so good for scripting.
The basic format of each entry is first the problem--what the user wants to do--then the code, followed sometimes by an explanation and advice on hacking the code. The book is not really an introduction to Bash scripting. If you want a systematic primer I'd recommend O'Reilly's LEARNING THE BASH SHELL or any of a dozen libre tutorials.
Some of the scripts are useful and solve problems I've occasionally faced. For example, the GNU units program can't do temperature conversions, but a script is given here which uses bc to provide a solution. Quite elegant is a script with which the user can find the time anywhere in the world by querying in a friendly manner the system's zoneinfo files. In spite of some neat gimmicks, however, I don't think I can really recommend the book unless you're someone about to take a voyage on the south seas and won't have Internet access. Many of these scripts can be found on the Web, and far too many scripts here solve problems already long solved by available programs. The author describes a secure version of locate, when slocate is already easily installable on most *nix systems. A script for rotating log files is done when metalog and other common log programs do this automatically. Take out all these unnecessary scripts, and the amount of useful content in the book turns out to be very low indeed.
Average customer rating:
- Great book, but no customer services from MCP/QUE
- A must for beginners and intermediate CF users alike
- Still use this as a constant reference
- The ONLY book I would recommend to get going quickly
- A Great, But DATED book This is not 3.0 !!!!!!!!!!!
|
The Cold Fusion Web Database Construction Kit
Steven D. Drucker ,
David Watts ,
Leon Chalnick ,
David E. Crawford ,
Ronald E. Taylor , and
Jack Leblond
Manufacturer: Que
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Book Description
Que's Cold Fusion Web Database Construction Kit is your one-stop resource for creating applications on the Web! Using step-by-step instructions and examples, you'll walk through the entire process--from initial design to final roll-out--of creating a complete, Web-based application. With this powerful kit, you'll explore Web application design considerations and learn about some of the hottest topics, including dynamic Webs, personalized online services and active content. This kit includes a SQL and ODBC tutorial, as well as an HTML reference, and contains comprehensive coverage of Cold Fusion's database integration capabilities. In addition, this all-in-one kit features special sections on the new features in Cold Fusion--its integration with BackOffice and intranets, as well as its transaction dynamic email, Java graphlets, and new features in CFML.
- Provides complete coverage of data manipulation, replication, validation, and security
Customer Reviews:
Great book, but no customer services from MCP/QUE.......1999-03-24
Great book if you want learn what is the Cold Fusion. However, I had an error when I installed the single version cold fusion that it come with the book. I called the MCP/QUE user support but cut me off with the phone messages. I emailed them but no response.
A must for beginners and intermediate CF users alike.......1999-02-23
Before I bought this book I had never heard of Cold Fusion (Except the Nuclear stuff in school). After using this book I had a database driven web site up in a week. If you are new to CF and do not have version 4.0, BUY IT! lots of great examples.
Still use this as a constant reference.......1998-12-25
I have had this book for about a year and a half and I still find myself returning to it again and again (Probably because my memory isn't what it used to be). Introduces web designers to database creation for dynamic web page generation. Great examples that show how easy it is to create web to database integration. Shows uses of javascript with Cold Fusion. If you can't wait for Cold Fusion 4.0 to come out, get this one!
The ONLY book I would recommend to get going quickly.......1998-10-30
I picked up this book not even knowing what Cold Fusion was capable of doing and within days I was writting code that could be used within our organization. The size may intimidate, but it covers every topic you need to know. My only complaint is the brief (and confusing) manner in which session variables are explained - an important topic if you need to develop secure web sites.
A Great, But DATED book This is not 3.0 !!!!!!!!!!!.......1998-03-04
I have had to make extensive use of some of the new 3.0 features. They are NOT covered here. This is the best organized & best written reference on the subject of Cold Fusion.Unfortunatley it is useless for 3.0 features, I had to use the online manual & the John Burke book to decipher them. To his credit he has not labeled the book 3.0, but he has not labeled it 2.0 either.
Book Description
If you're in need of a tutorial to learn UNIX from the ground up, this is it. Sams Teach Yourself UNIX in 24 Hours, Fourth Edition will let you experience UNIX through hands-on tutorials divided into 24 one-hour lessons so that you can learn the most common UNIX tasks at your own pace. The author will guide you through the basics of maintaining and manipulating a UNIX/Linux operating system. This hands-on approach will allow you to work through the exercises and grasp common UNIX/Linux concepts, including:
- Using the Command Line
- Listing Files and Managing Disk Usage
- Slicing and Dicing Command Pipe
- Shell Programming
- Printing in the UNIX Environment
- Using telnet, ssh, and ftp
- Perl Programming in UNIX
Gain the fundamental knowledge you need to begin working with UNIX with the help of Sams Teach Yourself UNIX in 24 Hours, Fourth Edition.
Download Description
Sams Teach Yourself UNIX in 24 Hours, Third Edition is designed to take users from a novice to an accomplished user in just 24 one-hour sessions. Written by an expert in the field, the book starts off with an introduction to UNIX, then covers file handling, pipes and filters, the vi and emacs text editors, shells, job control, permissions, printing, and connecting to remote computers via the Internet. The book also discusses UNIX programming and includes a special appendix on working with the Apache Server.
Customer Reviews:
Lot's of great info .......2007-09-20
I first met Dave Taylor at World Internet Summit 2006 in Las Vegas. He happened to be speaking about blogs at the time (a project I was working on). I immediately clicked with him and love his witty humor (it is also sprinkled throughout this book)
On to the book. This book is great for someone who has a mild understanding of Unix (already installed on your computer). He talks about using Unix with the command line interface. Isn't that what it's all about!
The great thing is he holds your hand throughout the book with really great examples. I can't tell you how many books I read with examples I can't seem to follow. You will feel like a command line expert in no time and be able to do some things that even experts have a hard item understanding.
The other awesome thing about this guy is he really makes himself available to you if you have a question. How many authors do that?
Craig
www.vacation-rental-wonderland.com
Good for an introduction and for future consults.......2007-01-23
The author makes a great effort to teach UNIX and get the reader using it as fast as possible, but it does care for allowing the reader to progress without throwing much and unecessary information at once.
One of the comments that I did like about this book came from a reviewer here that said that in a few months you will know UNIX commands well enough to help other users.
I am sure that the book was aimed to be simply introductory but my only bad comments go for the chapters that teach shell programming, which should have been avoided as they are not either complete or good enough to put you start coding on it. But they are ok for future consults as references.
But overall, I recommend for people that have never used UNIX before and want to use it fast. Also, it is at my desk as a quick reference.
worthy of the sweat.......2007-01-19
A unique, well written, and superiorly organized book. Going thru the book was like having hired a personal tutor for my programming class. The comparisons between UNIX and Windows, Macintosh are very hepful. The "hands-on examples" helps strengthen the author's points, even though they take up pages. Those pages are definitely worthy teaching tools. I wish the author considered placing MORE (not less) of such examples in the websites or CDs.
Painful Read.......2006-08-17
I found this book to be a painful read. In many places, the author presents data in an implicit fashion, couched in a workflow that leaves you wondering why you're doing what you're doing. This makes it of little value as a reference, and unnecessarily compromises its value as a teaching device. Doing exercises where the goal is not apparrent either before or after you are done is a poor use of time.
Only a few of the examples are downloadable.
Not all examples work as described.
Good intro but not the best.......2006-05-17
This book gives you an intro about the wonderfully world of Unix. The book assumes that you already have installed some sort of Unix, let it be BSD, Linux, Version 7, or any other flavor, so it really does not cover how to install Unix; since that would differ from one flavor to the next. There are many issues that troubled me with the book. The first is the title, which could be deceiving. The second are the chapters, I believe that the author could have put allot more topics but did not because he was limited by the constraint of the title and the period it would take to read it. The last is the formatting of the book which was somewhat confusing, the output or the input was sometimes unclear and some of the topics where not really explained as they should have been.
Average customer rating:
- It makes very nice first OS X UNIX book
- very nice OS X book, good way to get involved with UNIX.
- ben bon, pour un nouveau adepte de Mac
- What you need to get started in UNIX on a Mac
- A (re)view from Alaska
|
Learning Unix for Mac OS X Panther
Dave Taylor
Manufacturer: O'Reilly
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Binding: Paperback
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Similar Items:
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Mac OS X Panther for Unix Geeks
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Mac OS X Panther Hacks: 100 Industrial Strength Tips & Tools (Hacks)
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Mac OS X Panther in a Nutshell
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Mac OS X: The Missing Manual, Panther Edition
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Running Mac OS X Panther
ASIN: 0596006179 |
Amazon.com
The stable, adaptable Unix underpinnings of Mac OS X surely have contributed to the operating system's fantastic success in the market. The trouble for the Mac loyal, though, is that nothing could be further removed from the friendly Mac user interface than the Unix shell environment. There's a learning curve to be surmounted by Mac users who want to get the most out of their new System, and that's where Learning Unix for Mac OS X Panther comes into the picture. It's an introductory Unix and shell-scripting text tailored to the specificities of Mac OS X, suitable for someone who's never worked with Unix before.
Because the capabilities of the Unix shell are vast, the authors devote many pages to showing how key commands (like ls and chmod) work in the most commonly encounter scenarios. More usefully (because Unix help screens explain the basics pretty well by themselves), they carefully explain a lot of recipes that solve problems everyone encounters--like the fact that Unix and many Mac applications encode the line breaks in text files differently. The authors' style consistently succeeds in communicating both facts about Unix and a sense of adventure about what you can do with it. This is a real treasure for anyone wanting to get the most out of the latest Mac OS. --David Wall
Topics covered: How to use the Unix operating system that underlies Mac OS X. Specifically, the authors show how to manage files, edit text with pico and vi, print text and graphics, and connect to the Internet. Special coverage shows how to explore the large assortment of open-source software suited to the Mac.
Book Description
Renowned for its friendliness, Mac OS® X has delighted many a loyal Mac® user with its combined ease use and underlying strength. By no means simplistic, its intelligently designed operating system and user interface boast of sophistication and power, while still offering accessibility to even the most inexperienced computer users. But Mac OS X has gone one step further: it's turned unsuspecting Mac users into Unix® users, too. Perhaps you're already familiar with Unix, just not on the Mac. Or perhaps you opened your Utilities folder, spotted the Terminal icon and double-clicked on it just to see what it does. Suddenly faced with a command line interface, you may have asked, "What does this mean?" followed by the most pressing question, "Why on earth would I ever want to venture into this seemingly user-unfriendly territory?"The new edition of Learning Unix for Mac OS X Panther answers these questions and more. This compact book provides a user-friendly tour for the uninitiated of the Mac's Unix base. You can safely explore Terminal and familiarize yourself with the command line, learning as you go about the hundreds of Unix programs that come with your Mac. You'll begin to understand the power and flexibility of Unix. And if Unix isn't new to you, you'll discover how it translates into this latest Mac incarnation. Updated to cover Mac OS X Panther (Mac OS X 10.3), this book will keep you current with the latest features of your Mac. Learning Unix for Mac OS X Panther begins with a quick but in-depth introduction to Terminal and the command line interface. All the common commands are simply explained with accompanying examples, exercises, and opportunities for experimentation. There are even problem checklists to help you along the way if you get stuck. You'll learn how to:
- Customize your shell environment
- Manage files and directories
- Successfully print from the Unix command line
- Edit and create files with the vi editor
- Perform remote logins
- Access Internet functions, and much more
Unix continues to thrive as an operating system because of its power, flexibility, and simplicity, and the vast community that supports it. Mac OS X Panther makes it possible for you to run Unix programs side-by-side with native Mac programs on your Mac desktop. Learning Unix for Mac OS X Panther puts the power of these programs at your fingertips.
Customer Reviews:
It makes very nice first OS X UNIX book.......2005-09-26
OS X UNIX is amazingly friendly and accessible. Some people who had never used it before type commands and work with the operating system directly as a "cool guys" in movies! This book is very helpful and well written and it is serves as a very nice reference. I have followed advice in someone's review and paired this book with that "UNIX Essentials" DVD I found here on Amazon and it is complete UNIX course recorded. This book and a video they contribute one another greatly. The book is very particular about the subjects that related to OS X and because there are some differences between OS X and other UNIXes it is nice to have a book that deals with it.
very nice OS X book, good way to get involved with UNIX........2005-09-23
It is never too easy to study UNIX . It takes much of effort to go through all of the details, often unnecessary, to grasp the core subject. This book deals with the most difficult stage of getting into UNIX: the beginning.
UNIX as probably any other operating system is a system: it means it is complex and not really easy to comprehend. This book is very nicely, didactically organized and facilitates the transition from subject to subject.
ben bon, pour un nouveau adepte de Mac.......2004-11-20
Ce livre donne l'occasion au nouveau utilisateur de Mac OS X de comprendre les dessous de OS X qui sont sembleble au système Unix.
Recommandé.
What you need to get started in UNIX on a Mac.......2004-08-04
I was one of the people that winced when Mac made the leap from O9 to the unix based OSX. The "old" command line did nothing for me in the early 80's and I didn't truly fall in love with mac until the GUI interface and the mouse came along. Once I was forced to make the move to OSX I began to hear about all these powerful unix commands and things you could do beyond the scope of aqua from my IT friends. It intriqued me enough that I picked up Learning Unix for Mac OS Panther. It was a true eye opener. In no time at all I was using the terminal for ftp, I even had Pine (a unix email program) configured and was speedily browsing the web with Lynx (the unix text-based browser).
The book is clearly written, and a breeze to use. I usually buy about one software book a month, but this is one of the few that has become dog earred, filled with marginalia and rife with stickie notes. It is a great starting point for anyone who wantes to learn more about the unix underpinnings of Panther. It's like learning about a whole new, previously unseen, side of your mac.
A (re)view from Alaska.......2004-05-13
As with many books, I often flip immediately to the back to look over why the publisher thinks that I should read have this book. In the case of Learning Unix for Mac OS X Panther, by Dave Taylor & Brian Jepson, the statement which caught my eye was that this "compact book provides a user-friendly tour of the Mac's Unix base for the uninitiated."
As for being new to the Anchorage Apple User's Group (AAUG), allow me to introduce you to my background. I have been a fan of Apple computer's since my first computer, an Apple IIc, twenty years ago. Since then, I have stayed with Macintosh, through the SE, SE/30, IIci, and my trustworthy beige G3. Since arriving in Anchorage in October, I upgraded to a Powerbook G4 and I've been in heaven ever since.
At the same time, I've worked (reluctantly) with Unisys proprietary systems, MS-DOS systems, Windows 95-present (and I even have XP operating on my Powerbook, by way of Virtual PC), and Sun's workstations. Through working on Sun's unix based operating system (Solaris), I began to know some basics of what unix is all about.
I had heard that Apple had made OS X revolutionary through its version of unix as a basis for this new operating system. And I had even read a little about some tricks and treats available to the "everyday" user of the Mac, but I was still reluctant and hesitant to do anything with something titled (so appropriately, I thought) as the "Terminal."
And one more note prior to discussing the book itself ... this book is for the uninitiated, but be warned, I believe you need to have a serious interest in learning the unix operating system. Gratefully, for those of you who love the Mac for what you can do, not what you "have" to do, you can remain blissfully unaware of any of the unix which runs so very well hidden, out of sight, and out of mind.
But, since you've stayed with this book review thus far, I assume you have some interest in what exactly is going on "underneath it all", on what makes Panther such a great operating system. So, I recommend you read book. It is an ideal starting point for the uninitiated. I highly recommend it both as a "how to" and a "reference" book.
Dave Taylor and Brian Jepson, the authors, start off by explaining "Why unix?" This first chapter helped me a good deal, even though I had already used a version of unix on another platform (the Sun workstation.) The overview and history of how unix grew as an operating system, and how it came to be on the Mac was very interesting. Additionally, the starting point (the Terminal application) was explained succinctly; similar to how a train station is known as a terminal, the authors helped me get on the path to successful learning of this unix stuff.
As the book progressed into the file system and file management, I found myself frequently switching between having the book in hand, and the Terminal up and running on screen with the computer in my lap. And doing exactly as the title described ... I was learning unix for Mac OS X Panther.
A part of the O'Reilly series, the authors follow in a familiar pattern with just enough instruction, including practice assignments, balanced by shared experience and cautious warnings. I found myself spending about one hour on each chapter, and going back and forth practicing some of my newly acquired talents and skills.
By no means do I consider this book to have made me very smart, but it allows me just enough confidence to continue and look into other parts of how unix works in the Mac world, including using this operating system to help make life better. I even find myself wanting to get into one of the related books in the series, Mac OS X for Unix Geeks.
Book Description
Looking for quick, solid answers to all your Excel 2000 questions? Find them in Teach Yourself® Microsoft® Excel 2000. This book skips the technical jargon and gets right to the heart of the matter, saving you time and frustration. Topics covered include: creating, formatting and managing worksheets, performing calculations with formulas and functions, using multisheet workbooks, integrating your data and charts into Web pages, creating stunning 3-D charts, and more.
Customer Reviews:
Great introduction, easy reference.......2000-02-29
For someone who needs quick answers to very specific problems, illustrated in great detail, and indexed very thoroughly, this will be hard to beat. Everything I tried to do was successful on first try. My homebuying clients will appreciate the attractive sheets of financial info. I'm also using it for quick entry of information which I download to my Palmtop.
Customer Reviews:
What a lifesaver!.......2007-08-10
I love these new file folder books! I work with special needs children and these are just great. They are very colorful and look so much better than the ones you make with crayons and markers. Really simple to put together too. Just cut out the pieces and laminate. Really nice bright colors. I have already purchased another one! Very happy with this purchase.
PK Colorful File Folder Games.......2007-03-08
Book arrived promptly and has been useful - contains good ideas
Book Description
In the wake of the highly successful Sams Teach Yourself Unix in 24 Hours, this book focuses on the additional Unix commands that an advanced user or beginning system administrator needs to know in order to administer and maintain a Unix system. The book includes coverage of the key Unix variations: Red Hat Linux, Solaris, HP-UX, and Apple's Mac OS X environment. The book will not be a comprehensive solution to all problems facing new system administrators, but instead is a tutorial introduction to the process of learning about and maintaining a running Unix server.
Download Description
Teaches the fundamentals to administer any one of four key UNIX-based systems: Red Hat Linux, Solaris, HP-UX, and Apple's Mac OS. Guaranteed UNIX system administration competency in just 24 one-hour lessons. Highlights differences among the different UNIXes and explains to the reader how to avoid potential problems. Once finished with this book, readers will be able to log in to any UNIX system and use standard UNIX tools to learn about the state of that system, diagnose basic problems, and maintain the system. In the wake of the highly successful Sams Teach Yourself UNIX in 24 Hours, this book focuses on the additional UNIX commands that an advanced user or beginning system administrator needs to know in order to administer and maintain a UNIX system. The book includes coverage of the key UNIX variations: Red Hat Linux, Solaris, HP-UX, and Apple's Mac OS X environment. The book will not be a comprehensive solution to all problems facing new system administrators, but instead is a tutorial introduction to the process of learning about and maintaining a running UNIX server. Dave Taylor is an expert on a broad array of computer and networking technology, with over twenty years of industry experience. The creator of The Internet Mall and iTrack, he has also worked at HP's Palo Alto Research Labs and helped publish SunWorld magazine. He's written the best-selling Sams Teach Yourself UNIX in 24 Hours and Creating Cool HTML 4 Web Pages from Hungry Minds. He has a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science (UCSD), a Master's in Educational Computing (Purdue), and he is halfway through an MBA program.
Customer Reviews:
Very useful and accessible........2005-07-22
UNIX administration is notoriously difficult and sophisticated because one has to understand many things in their complexity. This books does not provide the complete coverage but there is no book that possibly could. If you found yourself struggling and having a difficulty with reading this one it means you need more background with UNIX to deal with administration. I found here on Amazon "UNIX Essentials" DVD that is complete UNIX course recorded and it can bring you to the point you will be able to work with book like that.
It is very well written book and it is very important! I had some books on UNIX administration that I simply gave up! This one is easy to read and it makes many things simpler and it is good thing. I use this one as a cross reference volume.
The very best UNIX System Administration book........2003-01-03
I have seem many different UNIX SA books, but this one is the very best. It covers all the important topics and concepts, and has detailed examples for everything the author discusses. This book is very easy to read and follow.
Not an encyclopedia, but it is handy!.......2002-12-06
I'm not sure what the 1-star reviewer's problem is. Who wants to wade through MAN pages for hours? The whole reason I buy books is to compile the information in one handy place. This is a useful source to fill in general holes in your knowledge. If you already know this stuff cold, I'm not sure why you'd be interested in the book at all (either to praise or pan.) Bottom line: good, general book for those who want to bootstrap themselves.
A great introduction to thinking like a sysadmin.......2002-07-20
There are a bunch of things I like about this book. First off, I like that the author covers not only Linux, but also Solaris and Mac OS X. By discussing them all, you get a good sense of how different Unix can be on different platforms. It's also the first book I've seen that discusses command-line based Mac OS X administration at all, so that by itself was very interesting (if occasionally weird) reading. The writing style is very good too -- I have read other Unix books by Dave Taylor and he not only understands this stuff inside-out, but explains it in a way that makes this material interesting and fun. Finally, I really appreciated that he emphasizes problem solving (showing how, time and again, to use Unix tools to track down bugs, configuration problems, etc) rather than a bunch of canned solutions. If you're a Unix person, or wannabe, this book is highly recommended, even if you'll never admin your system.
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