BKAPLCNF.RVW   991229

"Apple Confidential", Owen W. Linzmayer, 1999, 1-886411-28-X,
U$17.95/C$27.95
%A   Owen W. Linzmayer owl@bigfoot.com
%C   555 De Haro Street, Suite 250, San Francisco, CA   94107
%D   1999
%G   1-886411-28-X
%I   No Starch Press
%O   U$17.95/C$27.95 415-863-9900 fax 415-863-9950 info@nostarch.com
%P   268 p.
%T   "Apple Confidential: The Real Story of Apple Computer, Inc."

Whether you use a Mac, PC, Linux box, big iron, or no computer at all
you'll find something to read, and probably chuckle over, in this
book.  Linzmayer has a history of the Macintosh (and some other boxes,
as well) packed with personalities, quotes, trivia, timelines, tables,
and more.  You can read, dip, or browse as you please.

Of course, your pleasure may be just slightly tempered if you have
also read "The Mac Bathroom Reader" (cf BKMCBTRM.RVW) by the same
author, and published a few years back by Sybex Computer Books.  A
footnote to the introduction states that some material in "Apple
Confidential" was originally published in "The Mac Bathroom Reader"
but, while the material is not identical, it is strikingly similar.  A
great deal of content is repeated verbatim, with only some formatting
changes.

It's sometimes hard to say that a particular chapter has a topic, but
along the way, you'll meet the forgotten co-founder of Apple, short-
sighted companies, code names, the Apple, Apple][, Apple III, the Mac,
NeXT, Lisa, 1984, Lemmings, Bill Gates, John Sculley, dumb users, and
the insiders.

Historical content, of course, does not go out of date, and there has
been some attempt to add chapters on later material.  This latter
content is very different from the earlier stories, though. 
Personalities are much more distant, and the narratives are much less
confidential, tending to be compilations of speeches, marketing
announcements, and annual reports.  The latter chapters are a handy
reference to developments at Apple, but they simply don't have the
life of the earlier content.

The new format is not quite as easy to follow as the old.  Quotations
and marginal notes are more extensive, with the margins now occupying
almost half the page.  The constant need to flip back and forth
between the main text and the sidebars (and the marginal material is
often necessary if you really want to understand the main narrative)
makes the book much harder to read than it might have been otherwise.

For those new to the story of Apple, this is a good recounting of the
early days, and a factbook of the history of the corporation and its
machines.

copyright Robert M. Slade, 1999   BKAPLCNF.RVW   991229