BKOS2WIC.RVW 950615 "OS/2 Warp Internet Connection", Deborah Morrison, 1995, 1-56884-465-4, U$24.99/C$34.99/UK#23.99 %A Deborah Morrison %C 155 Bovet Road, Suite 310, San Mateo, CA 94402 %D 1995 %G 1-56884-465-4 %I IDG Books Worldwide %O U$24.99/C$34.99/UK#23.99 415-312-0650 fax: 415-286-2740 kaday@aol.com %P 233 %T "OS/2 Warp Internet Connection" For a product-specific book, this is not bad at all. Basic Internet concepts are covered without going overboard. Many books mention RFCs (Request For Comment documents), but few present information on how to get them (and which ones to get) in as simple and useful a form. The definition of client/server isn't accurate (it doesn't work for X, for example), but is good enough to be getting on with. IBM wants, of course, to promote its own Internet Connection Service as the Internet provider of choice, and the setup to ICS is the simpler of the two. They may, however, have taken simplicity a bit too far. If the book is correct, there is no provision for a modem initialization string. The directions for the use of other access providers is quite clear, but it states that the IP address assigned to the user is "required." This would create difficulty for providers that use dynamic allocation. The script language for automated calling is not described, although sample scripts appear to be provided in Appendix B. The description of the various applications (Gopher, World Wide Web, email, news, telnet, and ftp) is basically limited to explanations of the interface, although organized in a functional style. Ironically, one of the few exceptions to the "just the interface" tutorial recommends the use of "block files" (apparently directly analogous to the more common kill files) as providing censorship for those with children. There is no indication of any means to prevent said children from removing this "protection." copyright Robert M. Slade, 1995 BKOS2WIC.RVW 950615 ============== Vancouver ROBERTS@decus.ca | "It says 'Hit any Institute for Robert_Slade@sfu.ca | key to continue.' Research into rslade@vanisl.decus.ca | I can't find the User Rob_Slade@mindlink.bc.ca | 'Any' key on my Security Canada V7K 2G6 | keyboard."