The reviewer referred to the BSOD (blue screen of death). I don't refer to it much in the book -- my point isn't so much about Windows crashing (Word -- that's another matter), but about vulnerabilities that allow malware to infest.
Folks, check out the book -- you can find a sample chapter on the No Starch Press website. The Bill Gates references are humorous asides (except, of course, in the history chapter). There's a lot more to discover. It's really not about Bill Gates himself.
Hey, thanks for your design tips and suggestions for inebriation. I confess to using an old (very old!) version of Dreamweaver for the home page (tonybove.com). BTW, I'm using the latest version of Wordpress for the blog (http://www.tonybove.com/getoffmicrosoft/blog/). As you have discovered, it's failing the test. I'm getting the following message:
Sorry, I am unable to validate this document because on line 634 it contained one or more bytes that I cannot interpret as utf-8 (in other words, the bytes found are not valid values in the specified Character Encoding).
I'm still trying to track this down. Any suggestions? Otherwise everything seems to work.
Simple. Bookstores don't give away books. There has to be a price tag. That's also true of online electronic books for sale. However, if you visit my Get Off Microsoft section of tonybove.com, the content is free.
I don't agree with your characterization of No Starch Press books -- I think they're progressive, interesting, and highly readable. Also, I didn't "shop around" this book, so no other publisher had a chance to say no to it. I chose No Starch. You can read a sample chapter on their site.
You can probably get it cheaper than list on Amazon. I justify it because people like to read books from bookstores (and from Amazon and online stores, of course). They like paper books. They're easier to read in bathrooms, or on the beach. Thanks for giving me an opportunity to point that out.
In the spirit of promoting open source, I provide lots of free content at http://www.tonybove.com/getoffmicrosoft/ and a blog devoted to this topic at ahref=http://www.tonybove.com/getoffmicrosoft/blog /rel=url2html-27979http://www.tonybove.com/getoffm icrosoft/blog/>.
I can't address the issues of the antiquated book publishing system in this comment, but give me a break -- I get far less than a buck a book (and I don't even see that check for another six months). Still, I make a living writing books -- especially books for "newbies" and the great unwashed non-technical public (as in iPod and iTunes for Dummies -- egads, yes, I'm a dreaded dummy writer).
What do you do?
Yes. I like the feedback about the book and the debate, though I think the/. reader is not likely to be as interested as a newbie, or Joe Manager (or his boss). I'd like to see the entire Massachusetts legislature read it right now -- in the light of the controversy in that state over open formats. See my blog at http://www.tonybove.com/getoffmicrosoft/blog/ for more info.
Thanks for pointing out the typo in my resume. I am, actually, an "expert" on iTunes, as I wrote "iPod and iTunes for Dummies" (3rd edition just came out). OK, all you flamers, light your torches about how much of a dummy I am...
However, what is not fair game is this view of Microsoft as evil...
How simplistic. What I wrote was: "It seems harsh only if you think I'm attacking the engineers who work at Microsoft. It is Microsoft's business plan and monopoly tactics that fostered this environment. The people responsible are Microsoft's leaders and the motivation of greed.... So there are good reasons why industry leaders refer to Microsoft as Darth Vader, the Evil Empire, etc."
You also seem to miss this point I made:
"No, I think that if Windows held only 50% of the market, we'd all be better off. I am not opposed to Microsoft code, just Microsoft business practices. And everyone's idea of an ideal computing environment is different (and should be). Diversity is the key to a safer environment."
I'm not buying a book from a guy who thinks you can drive just as quickly across PA without using the turnpike.
Not "just as quickly" -- I meant a higher-quality drive without having to pay exorbitant tolls and get suck in traffic in construction zones. And I have certainly done that route (from Philly to Harrisburg) in less than 3 hours.
I exported to PDF from Word for at least a decade also, but the results were poor. Word did not support things like PDF bookmarks. If Word supported PDF so well for over a decade, why is Microsoft touting PDF support for the not-yet-released Office 12?
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The reviewer referred to the BSOD (blue screen of death). I don't refer to it much in the book -- my point isn't so much about Windows crashing (Word -- that's another matter), but about vulnerabilities that allow malware to infest.
Folks, check out the book -- you can find a sample chapter on the No Starch Press website. The Bill Gates references are humorous asides (except, of course, in the history chapter). There's a lot more to discover. It's really not about Bill Gates himself.
Hey, thanks for your design tips and suggestions for inebriation. I confess to using an old (very old!) version of Dreamweaver for the home page (tonybove.com). BTW, I'm using the latest version of Wordpress for the blog (http://www.tonybove.com/getoffmicrosoft/blog/). As you have discovered, it's failing the test. I'm getting the following message: Sorry, I am unable to validate this document because on line 634 it contained one or more bytes that I cannot interpret as utf-8 (in other words, the bytes found are not valid values in the specified Character Encoding). I'm still trying to track this down. Any suggestions? Otherwise everything seems to work.
Simple. Bookstores don't give away books. There has to be a price tag. That's also true of online electronic books for sale. However, if you visit my Get Off Microsoft section of tonybove.com, the content is free.
I don't agree with your characterization of No Starch Press books -- I think they're progressive, interesting, and highly readable. Also, I didn't "shop around" this book, so no other publisher had a chance to say no to it. I chose No Starch. You can read a sample chapter on their site.
You can probably get it cheaper than list on Amazon. I justify it because people like to read books from bookstores (and from Amazon and online stores, of course). They like paper books. They're easier to read in bathrooms, or on the beach. Thanks for giving me an opportunity to point that out.
In the spirit of promoting open source, I provide lots of free content at http://www.tonybove.com/getoffmicrosoft/ and a blog devoted to this topic at ahref=http://www.tonybove.com/getoffmicrosoft/blog /rel=url2html-27979http://www.tonybove.com/getoffm icrosoft/blog/>.
I can't address the issues of the antiquated book publishing system in this comment, but give me a break -- I get far less than a buck a book (and I don't even see that check for another six months). Still, I make a living writing books -- especially books for "newbies" and the great unwashed non-technical public (as in iPod and iTunes for Dummies -- egads, yes, I'm a dreaded dummy writer).
What do you do?
Yes. I like the feedback about the book and the debate, though I think the /. reader is not likely to be as interested as a newbie, or Joe Manager (or his boss). I'd like to see the entire Massachusetts legislature read it right now -- in the light of the controversy in that state over open formats. See my blog at http://www.tonybove.com/getoffmicrosoft/blog/ for more info.
Thanks for pointing out the typo in my resume. I am, actually, an "expert" on iTunes, as I wrote "iPod and iTunes for Dummies" (3rd edition just came out). OK, all you flamers, light your torches about how much of a dummy I am...
Thanks for reading.How simplistic. What I wrote was: "It seems harsh only if you think I'm attacking the engineers who work at Microsoft. It is Microsoft's business plan and monopoly tactics that fostered this environment. The people responsible are Microsoft's leaders and the motivation of greed.... So there are good reasons why industry leaders refer to Microsoft as Darth Vader, the Evil Empire, etc."
You also seem to miss this point I made:
"No, I think that if Windows held only 50% of the market, we'd all be better off. I am not opposed to Microsoft code, just Microsoft business practices. And everyone's idea of an ideal computing environment is different (and should be). Diversity is the key to a safer environment."
Thanks for reading.
I exported to PDF from Word for at least a decade also, but the results were poor. Word did not support things like PDF bookmarks. If Word supported PDF so well for over a decade, why is Microsoft touting PDF support for the not-yet-released Office 12?