Customer Reviews

Windows 95 in a Nutshell: A Desktop Quick Reference (In a Nutshell (O'Reilly))

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought this book on the basis of O'Reilly's well-deserved reputation and the book's reviews here in amazon.com. Thanks for telling me about it!

I used to enjoy DOS but never really felt comfortable with Windows. Only the lack of applications for good old DOS and Win 3.1 dragged me kicking and screaming into Win 95, where I never wanted to be, and so I've actually taken up Linux, which is now my main desktop operating system.

Thanks to this book, I've begun to find Win 95 very interesting, even though Linux is still more exciting. I've been enjoying this book so much that I read it now at train stations and bus stops instead of that half-read Rushdie novel which took me a lot of effort to prise myself from last month.

Yes, this book points out a lot of Win 95 tricks that I didn't and couldn't be bothered to know existed. My friends know me as a Linux man. I can't wait to surprise them!

It was refreshing to see a Windows 95 book that was (1) not too thick, and (2) not "For Dummies." There were 2 chapters I especially like: first, the section describing almost all of the commands for Windows 95, with command line switches! Of course most of us can't remember the switches that go with the commands. I also liked the section that explained the internals of Windows 95 (the 7 layers), because I was curious as to how Windows 95 was built, and now I have some idea.

My problem with this book (which is why I gave 4 stars) is that it has some typographical errors. To me, that's a major turnoff. (What can I say? I'm a perfectionist.) Despite this, I'm planning to buy this book (I first got it from the library), and I think anyone who knows how to use Windows 95 should get it.

The other comments are dated about 1999/2000... I picked this book up back in the late 1990s, and have worn out that copy many times over. The usefulness of this particular "Nutshell" book is the setup - compared to later "WinX" nutshell books, this one seems to pack in more information (more useful?), and is very command/option oriented than later ones. Don't get me wrong - I loved WinXP in a nutshell, but how many words do you need to describe "point-click-and watch what happens...?"

This book still has some tidbits that hold constant through subsequent Windows editions. If you get it cheap, hold on to it. For any budding "In a Nutshell" book authors, get this copy and duplicate its formula. Guarantee it will be a best seller. Thank goodness for Tim O'Reilly & Company!!!

If you know what you're doing already then this book will help you do it better. I probably picked up 25 things I'd either forgotten or never knew with this book. O'Rielly's are the best of the bunch.

I use this book absolutely every day, whether it be for doing cgi programming, javascript, html, or configuring a server. I wouldn't recommend the deluxe edition however, as it's just plain silly to read books on CDs!

I am consistently amazed at then depth and quality of Orielly's Nutshell series. Other Win 95 books costing at least twice as much don't cover even a fraction of this one. I considered myself extremely knowledgable about Win 95, but this book has taught me many new things. One example is the coverage of shell scripting in Win 95 which I haven't seen anywhere else. This book deserves to be at the side of anyone claiming to be a Windows 95 "guru". Kudos to Oreilly for both the unparalleled quality of their products and their resistance to price inflation.