BKIBMPCB.RVW   950818
 
"IBM Personal Computers", Jim Hoskins, 1995, 0-471-04795-3, U$29.95/C$41.95
%A   Jim Hoskins
%C   5353 Dundas Street West, 4th Floor, Etobicoke, ON   M9B 6H8
%D   1995
%G   0-471-04795-3
%I   John Wiley & Sons Canada Limited
%O   U$29.95/C$41.95 416-236-4433 fax: 416-236-4448
%P   318
%T   "IBM Personal Computers"
 
The Introduction starts with a bit about what the book is, and isn't.  It isn't
a general overview of computers, a technical reference manual, or a programming
tutorial.  It is "a good description of today's [IBM] Personal Computers and
... how to use them in the business environment."
 
Most substantial Mac books start with a chapter or two on the product line.  It
is probably fair to expect the same thing here, even though IBM is not the
"only game in town" for Intel/BIOS machines as Apple has been (until recently)
in respect of the Mac line.  Mac books, however, do a bit of analysis and
prescription.  What we have in this work is a list of spec sheets that take up
fully two-thirds of the space available.  Most of the remaining material is
highly IBM-specific, and very little deals with either computer use or business
needs.
 
The IBM bias carries right over into the language used.  Do you have an APA
graphics display?  (Probably: it refers to bitmapping or raster graphics.)  How
about multiapplication capability (multitasking)?  Virtual disk (RAMdisk)?
 
A while back I took another publisher to task for printing a book which
contained very little hard information on the titular topic, and a heavy push
for IBM and the author's product.  But this!  This is nothing more than a very
costly sales brochure!
 
copyright Robert M. Slade, 1995   BKIBMPCB.RVW   950818
======================
ROBERTS@decus.ca      rslade@vanisl.decus.ca      Rob_Slade@mindlink.bc.ca
    The client interface is the boundary of trustworthiness - T. Buckland
Author "Robert Slade's Guide to Computer Viruses" 0-387-94311-0/3-540-94311-0