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Summary: Apple Insight
Review: Having been an Apple user since 1979, and at various times, having worked with Apple (and NeXT), I found this book to be both very accurate, and extremely entertaining. I admit that I "root" for Apple, in much the same way that others root for hometown baseball teams. If you do, or if you've ever wondered why managment can't seem to pitch its way out of a bad inning - read Owen's book.
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Summary: MacGeek chimes in
Review: I quite literally grew up with the Macintosh computer family. I have owned at least one of every model every built in my 36 years. I've worked in service bureaus, design agencies, had my own consulting business and provide network sales support for a billion dollar corporation. I've attended over a dozen MacWorlds and have read just about every Mac publication ever written. Even with my background, I still learned a ton from this book. It is quite literally stacked with anecdotes, facts and insight on every page, almost to a fault. It's a good sit-down read and I find myself picking it up off of the coffee table a few times a week. I would definitely recommend this as a must read for any Mac aficionado.
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Summary: A Very Short Review In Praise Of This Book
Review: Recently bought this book after reading sample chapter online. Very easy and entertaining to read. Full marks to Owen for an excellent piece of writing. Looking forward to more stuff from this author. Highly recommended.
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Summary: Good Book for Apple fanatics
Review: This is the first Apple Confidential I read, and it was really interesting. Linzmayer's writing style is very good, and sometimes you will visualize the events you're reading about.If you are an Apple fanatic you owe yourself this book. If you're just curious about Apple maybe this book will give you too much info. In that case feel free to bypass the timelines, but read the rest :) A good book.
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Summary: Wonderfully complete history
Review: This book is fascinating. Well researched, it has tons of information I haven't found in other books. It's a wonderful step-by-step story of the creation and history of Apple Computers. One of the nicest features are the timelines, graphical represenations of the history of people, computer models, etc. If you have any interest in the history of the personal computer, this is a must read!
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Summary: insanaly great !!!
Review: a great book full of anekdotes on my passion (Apple) and easy to read for non-english speakers :-) is a nice addition to the website: http://www.inlovewithapple.com
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Summary: Even Handed Real History
Review: I've just finished Apple Confidential 2.0 and am convinced that there is no better history of Apple Computer. The accuracy lies in the careful presentation of factual information without an editorial slant which tends to fictionalize for the sake of entertainment. The story of Apple Computer is interesting enough without embellishment and in the style of the best historians, most of the information comes directly from first person perspectives and from Owen Linzmayer who has written and reported on apple since the early 1980's and is a legitimate first person source himself. I found online a sincere, if begrudging, compliment to Owen Linzmayer's work in otherwise rather testy remarks by Jeff Raskin whose work in creating the Mac is often given short shrift. High praise indeed. For myself, an avid Mac user, learning of the importance of Bill Gates to Apple and the long history between Microsoft and Apple was a real eye opener. There is one long memo from Bill Gates which is worth anyone's reading who might wish to grow beyond a typical knee-jerk anti-Microsoft sentiment. I recommend this book without reservation.
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Summary: Well organized and fun to read
Review: I have not been an Apple Computer fan for long. I used Apple ][s in High School but didn't use a mac again until my work put one on my desktop a few months ago. I fell in love with OS X and recently purchased 2 Mac Laptops. I have been a fan of Apple Computer's philosophy and Steve Jobs for years. The recent return of Apple, due to Jobs, has been facinating and the hardware is the best available today. I wanted to know the history of the company, how it began, the down years, the people and how it got back on track. This book gave me all I was looking for and more. It is not organized in a linear time format. It takes topics like the Macintosh, individuals, and even the 1984 advertisment and devotes a chapter to them, from concept to finish. This makes the book something easy to read without getting confused in the complex history of the company. Each chapter touches on things covered in prior or future chapters but stays true to the topic at hand. The great quotes, stories and insights are fully referenced and when conflicts in stories appear, all possible sides are covered. The book doesn't draw conclusions without hard facts or multiple colaborating testimony. I highly recommend this book. Even if you are not a Mac fan, it's a great story of one of the great technology companies. It exposes the successes and mistakes without holding back.
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Summary: Great 'upgrade'
Review: I'm very familiar with, and seen lots of books on Apple's History. But this new 'Apple Confidential 2.0' is a fantastic reference/read. Detailed timelines on individual topics add a new dimension to the fascinating and well researched stories. Covers EVERYTHING ever produced from Apple/The Steves right up to the G5's. Highly recommended. True to it's 'Definitive' title.
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Summary: Thorough Look at an Influential Company
Review: Apple Computer has been around forever it seems, at least in Silicon Valley terms. With their much talked about "casual corporate structure," they certainly forever changed ideas about corporate environments and culture. I've interviewed there for openings on a couple of occasions and was amazed at the vastness of their campus and how "relaxed" things seemed to be. But appearances can be deceiving, as this book points out. While this book is not a completely chronological look at Apple's history, I found it to be quite entertaining and informative about specific events in Apple's history. After all, not all histories are completely chronological. Having written histories of one or two Northern California volunteer groups in recent years myself, I've found writing a history can not always be wrapped up in neat little chapters, one after another. And certainly Apple has had its share of noteworthy events over the years. From the first Apple II off their assembly line, to the MacIntosh, the Lisa, Power Book, Newton and more recently their forays into downloadable music (ITunes), along with power struggles among their top executives over the past decade and more, Apple has always been in the news. The book also features profiles of numerous "key players in Apple's history including Steve Wozniak & Steve Jobs, John Sculley and numerous other CEO's," the histories of the macintosh, Lisa, Newton, Apple II and III. Interesting that in spite of Apple's efforts to "let it die," for numerous years the Apple II continuted to be one of Apple's best selling products. Speaking of Jobs and Wozniak (two of the original three Apple founders), they whether deservedly or not are portrayed as individuals who are highly driven, and will at times stop at nothing to get what they want, even if it means getting in the way of others or angering the workers around them. I found this book to be a fascinating look into one of the more intriguing companies around today. It's going to be interesting what happens next with Apple, during this current "high tech economic downturn," to see how they manage to "get by." With their successful foray into the world of downloadable music as an example, I'd bet on them to find new and better ways to survive and flourish.
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