User Friendly 1.0

Craig Maloney writes with the review below of the latest release from User Friendly, laughware which finally hit 1.0 earlier this year. Read on for Craig's impressions of the book, which is loaded with more than just reprints of the UF comics you've seen on the web. User Friendly 1.0 author J.D. "Illiad" frazer pages 112 publisher Plan Nine Publishing rating 9/10 reviewer Craig Maloney ISBN 1929462395 summary An �autobiographical� look at the thoughts and ideas that make up the User Friendly comic strip and community.

Greetings Cave Dwellers

Arguably one of the most successful and popular online comics is User Friendly. With three full-length books in print, a community of dedicated readers, and merchandise that has been featured on major computer celebrities globally, one would have a hard time disputing the popularity and the success of User Friendly. Over the past four years, User Friendly has grown from a small inter-office comic into an internet destination and a community of loyal readers. User Friendly 1.0 collects not only the comics that have not been published before (O'Reilly didn't include them in the previous books because of layout and other considerations), but also various essays, thoughts, illustrations, and other comics not necessarily related to User Friendly.

It All Began Here

The first section of the book contains the comics that didn't make it in the first User Friendly book (User Friendly, published by O'Reilly and Associates). These are the comics that introduce the crew of Columbia Internet (the friendliest, hardest-working and most neurotic little internet service provider), and births Dust Puppy (from a server that hasn't been upgraded in a year). The drawings are more primitive, with four frames of story rather than the three we enjoy today, but don't let that detract you from the humor and the sheer fun of the comics. Sure, they're not the same as what you're expecting from the current dailies, but they have a certain charm all their own.

Introduce Yourself / Essay Contest

The latter half of the book introduces the characters of User Friendly and their real-world analogues. Yes folks, the secret is out and revealed for the first time; User Friendly is based on real-people, although Illiad is quick to point out the people the characters are based on aren't QUITE as neurotic as their cartoon counterparts. Illiad also takes the latter part of the book to talk about his views on art, drawing women, community schisms, and the practical joke of 1999 and its aftermath. These essays show Illiad as a cartoonist who is not only humbled and flattered by the acceptance of his work, but also an artist who appreciates the community that has evolved from that work. Illiad appreciates his fans, and it's that appreciation of the fans that makes a book like User Friendly 1.0 not only possible, but also readable.

Bonus

As an added bonus, User Friendly 1.0 also features several SuSE Friendly comics (strips done for SuSE) and the crossover between User Friendly and Sluggy Freelance (in case you missed it). The strips are a nice treat for the fans and I have User Friendly to thank for my Sluggy Freelance addiction. :)

For the fans

If you don't like User Friendly, you've already skipped this review, and won't buy this book. That's quite all right, as this book isn't meant for you anyway. For the people who are fans of the comic, or who have a passing interest in the behind the scenes thoughts and ideas of User Friendly (or who want to see the early comics and the crossover appearances), this book is a no-brainer purchase. The writing is genuine, and having the rest of the comics in print is a bonus. User Friendly 1.0 is a labor of love for the community, and the community won't be disappointed.

You can purchase User Friendly 1.0 from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.

Comments

Imagine a beowulf cluster of UF comics

[haedesch]

It'd be the most unfunny thing in the universe

Seriously, I really don't get what the fuss is about UF.
btw, the entire content of that article can be summed up as: http://www.somethingawful.com/guides/comics/comic- uf-after.gif

I never really liked this cartoon

[cruise]

It just seems to play off off whatever the current geek topic is.. It's sort of like a poorly done dilbert.

But hay, We have "artists" local to daytona making money off of the crap they produce too. Someone must think it's funny, or artistic, or somehow homoerotic or something.

Re:I never really liked this cartoon

[tomknight]

It just seems to play off off whatever the current geek topic is..
...and there's something wrong with being topical?

It's sort of like a poorly done dilbert.
...only Dilbert rarely manages to relate to anything that's actually happening (except for w.r.t. my office politics, where it's scarily accurate!).

Tom.

UF is too banal

[Skyshadow]

UF, by and large, sticks to the obvious jokes that we (as geeks) were making ten years ago. I'm sorry, but it was funny when I was 15 and it was new, but now I just don't see why people like it so much. MS jokes, D&D jokes, geek social jokes, but none of it at all original.

I bought the first book (the O'Reilly one), but that's pretty much all I could take. I *wanted* to like it, but it just doesn't work for me. When I stumbled across Sluggy Freelance, I traded.

Can someone explain the attraction to UF? I just don't get it.

Re:UF is too banal

[(H)olyGeekboy]

Can someone explain the attraction to UF? I just don't get it.

I take thirty seconds to read UF every day, but I'm a leech otherwise. I don't read the discussion boards, I don't read the link of the day, and I don't buy merchandise.

What you want to do to gain insight on who "participates" in UF: read about 5 days worth of discussion threads.

This shows you who the "UF community" is... a bunch of unimaginative, generally unsociable geeks who trade repetative inside jokes and whine about how they are REALLY SMART AND NICE but other people don't understand them, and they are having a really hard time because their mom is in the hospital, and oh I hope she feels well, me too, ME TOO, me also, *hug*, etc. ETC. AD NAUSEUM. There is a random hit or two discussing the strip, but it's usually explaining the english to someone on a different continent.

So while I'm a "fan" of the strip, because it is a fair attempt at capturing humor at the ISP workplace and in the tech sector at large; the community eludes me because, humility aside, I have a life. Good for these people if this is what they want to do, but none of them seem genuinely satisfied with their lives, and I will continue to sit here and shake my head while "Mike Burns, your company's computer guy" and "Miss lonely and insecure" continue to try to find work and/or romance via the "community" at UF.org.

Sorry to be blunt, but that is my opinion. I'm sure yours is probably different.

No, there are others

[doc_traig]

I've tried to like this strip more, since I understand all of the material that makes this the kind of strip that needs to be online and not in the newspaper. Unfortunately, most of the time recognizing the industry humor is the only feeling I have coming away from it -- in other words, not much.

I grew up wanting to be a cartoonist and was a huge fan of strips like Peanuts, Bloom County, and even Doonesbury. I've laughed many times at those and others you'd find in the paper, and I find that I prefer humor with a broader appeal than stuff that's supposed to be funny only because it's an inside joke.

- DDT

UF used to be funny

[Your_Mom]

(Disclaimer, I've been clean for about a year or two now)

UF used to be part of my daily Webcomic reading habit, I remember spending close to an entire day reading the archives when I first read it. Then, about a year or two ago, it just stopped being funny. The storylines really just started getting into childish "Windows Sucks! Ha!". Honestly, I don't see how people can still read it.

I have the first book, because there are some good storylines from the first few years, but after that it really started to go downhill. Now I read Sluggy Freelance and I feel much cleaner.

For those who like Computer Comics I recomend Angst Technology and (whenever Jeff gets out of his "I want to be a /real/ artist and have a story arc" phase and begins to produce teh funny again) GPF Comics

Hey you distractors: Find something else to do!!!

[swordgeek]

If. You. Don't. Like. User. Friendly. Then. Don't. Read. It.

Simple enough for you?

Some of us like it, through Illiad's strong and weak days.

my review

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, it's a cliché, but it's true enough to be worth repeating: User Friendly is to the open-source world what Dilbert is to swarming hives of Windows cubicles. Set in an ISP company that keeps getting bought and sold, the constant remains a team of cynical, hilarious techies. M.B.A.s and marketers drift in and out, as do CEOs, often making statements like, "I can't surf the Web. I think the Internet is broken." For anyone who's dealt with similar situations, User Friendly is the ultimate in-joke.
To be fair, the comic is pretty basic in layout and execution. No one will confuse this book with a graphic novel, since the visuals basically exist only to further the punch line. (Think of a stripped-down Bloom County and you're getting close.) Lots of the jokes involve goofy, clichéd rants about the beauty of Quake, Linux, and Star Wars--the holy trinity for a white, wired, 18-26 year-old male audience. But when the author, Illiad, nails the bloated bureaucracy that exists in the tech working world, it's a laugh-out-loud payoff. In one comic, a new "suit" walks into the tech den and asks, What's "one thing that makes your job difficult, and we'll see about eliminating that." The chorus erupts: "Meetings." The new boss replies: "Very good. Now let's spend a few hours discussing why meetings make you unproductive." A comic that tilts at windmills and Windows, it's clear why User Friendly has developed such a strong online cult following.