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Home > Archive > Book Reviews > April 2002 > Mark Minasi
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| I probably should've posted this earlier, but has anybody purchased any books by this author? I just bought a book by him "Linux for NT/2000 System Admins". I saw him speak at a Microsoft Tech Event recently, and he was excellant. He was both knowledgeable and very entertaining. Told a ton of Microsoft jokes despite the fact they were the sponsors. I believe his other popular book was Mastering Windows 2000 Server. Just wondering if anyone had any opinions on his book. | |
| TW2001 2002-04-07, 8:11 pm |
| If you fit the target audience then you know his books.I love his writing style.He is very fair,funny and authoritive.I skimmed it.I think its good for a simple understanding of simmilarities and basics.I did find it simplistic.Thats my take. | |
| Doug_Black 2002-04-07, 9:39 pm |
| Hey TJ,
Let me say this about Mark Minasi, he rates up their with Todd Lammle of Cisco fame and Alan Carter of Win NT fame in my book! I am not going to promote ALL 46 books he has written but I will do this much for you. If you care to read his book reviews at Amazon.com this is what you get:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/A...2062014-9132931
(Windows 2000 Server & Pro books) Average Customer Review: Based on 101 reviews for these books in question is a whoppingly positive 4.5 out of 5 stars!
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/A...2062014-9132931
(Linux for Windows Nt/2000 Administrators: The Secret Decoder Ring book) Based on 35 reviews is also a terrific 4.5 out of 5 stars!
Seeing you liked his presentation for Microsoft, then you will like his books -- why else would Microsoft of invited him to speak? | |
| Pavlov 2002-04-07, 9:57 pm |
| Minasi is an excellent writer. I have several of his NT 4 books. | |
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| Glad to see everyone has such a high opinion of him. If you ever get a chance to see him speak, I highly recommend it. You won't be sorry. | |
| TW2001 2002-04-08, 12:22 am |
| Were we talking about that specific book or Mark himself?
If your an NT admin (as I am) (i do a little Unix..hoping to go all Unix/Linux).You may find it a little light.Good intro nonetheless.
Why would Microsoft do that? Money.Money
He is an awesome speaker though.One of the best no doubt. | |
| eljefe79 2002-04-08, 4:42 am |
| Some people say..."I wanna be like Mike"
Well, I say..."I wanna be like Mark"
Some of the best Windows material written, insightful, well organized and backed by practical experience. His Resource Kit for 2000 is a MUST HAVE, | |
| Cobby 2002-04-09, 12:57 am |
| I really enjoy Mark Minasi's Windows books,
I never knew he had books on other Os's.
Thanks for the tip! | |
| Doug_Black 2002-04-09, 5:13 am |
| Hey TW2001,
I guess you are to young to know, but Microsoft was the first company that had licensed the rights to port UNIX over to the PC platform. They did it with the help of a company called Santa Cruz Operations (SCO) and they sold their product called Tandy-XENIX (& later SCO-XENIX/SCO-UNIX) through Tandy Corporation / Radio Shack Computer Centers in the 1982-1994 time frame. It was used on the Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 16/16b & Model 6000 computers with 8" floppy drives and it could read IBM 3780 Diskettes as well. Oh by the way, the processor that it was made to run on is the Motorola 68000 processor that was then to be used in the Apple MacIntosh computer! Initially you could support four users, three(3) on dump terminals plus the console itself! It was great for accounting, spreadsheets (MultiPlan) and database functions, but wordprocessing was ho hum for several years until SCRIPSIT was debugged. Later on, SCO wanted to port it over to the Intel platform and was legally able to under Microsoft's licensing with AT&T/Bell Labs System III/System 5/System 7 versions. Thats when the IBM PC boom started to take off and Microsoft wanted to spend more time selling/licensing MS-DOS (aka PC-DOS) to IBM. Should never of broke with SCO and AT&T or they would really be rich! By the way, Windows NT is based on Digital Equipments MVS Operating System & UNIX and the higher ups at DEC did not want to have to support another Operating System so they wanted to trash can the NT Project! Talk about throwing away money!!!
This might also be helpful reference to read about Microsoft's view of UNIX etc... (1997)
http://www.towson.edu/~azadegan/519Papers/NT-unix.htm
My brother worked with Dave Cutler at Digital Equipment and some of the storys he told were pretty funny! Ken Olson, Pres. & CEO once said that nobody would have a personal computer in their home so I guess that is why the DEC Rainbow PC failed too! : | |
| Cobby 2002-04-09, 10:07 am |
| Wow!
Thanks for the awesome explanation.
I am not that young just not all that well informed I guess. Thanks again man! | |
| Cobby 2002-04-09, 10:14 am |
| Hey here is the actual quote from the great skeptic,
There is no need for any individual to have a computer in their home.
- Ken Olson, 1977, President, Digital Equipment Corp.
Maybe this skepticism affected the overall success of their company? | |
| The VMS Kid 2002-04-17, 6:27 am |
| quote:
Originally posted by Doug_Black
By the way, Windows NT is based on Digital Equipments MVS Operating System & UNIX and the higher ups at DEC did not want to have to support another Operating System so they wanted to trash can the NT Project! Talk about throwing away money!!!
Not quite, dude. WinNT is based on Digital's VMS . . . not MVS . . . MVS is an IBM operating system used for large scale mainframes. Mostly is was "replaced" but OS/390 and z/OS. Don't confuse MVS with VMS though . . . they are TOTALLY different animals.
But MS did play a big part in popularising UNIX on the PC platform. I bet they could kick themselves for that now, though! | |
| Doug_Black 2002-04-17, 7:25 pm |
| Hey MVS Kid,
Sorry, but I fat figured the OS when I had typed it out and you are the first to bring it to my attention, so I thanks you for correcting my typo! Having worked on the VAX 11-780 and others and my brother working for DEC (Politacally Incorrect - I know - is is Digital Equipment Corporation) I did not even notice my own mistake. 
As for IBM (I am no "True Blue" Fan), but I also worked on the System 36s & 38s, and the big boy 360. Just the thought of doing JCL (Job Control Language) makes me want to cry! One of the IBM machines I worked on I think even used MUMPS, but that was back in the late 1979 to 1982 time frame so my mind get a little confused. Have you ever played 5000 pickup with your IBM punch cards, thank God for the sorter function (LOL)!
As for the greetings line I typed above, that is not a typo, just want to RAZ you and never thought much about how closely the names of the Operating Systems were until now.
Just had a customer contact me yesterday to see if I could help him with a TRS-DOS problem and wanted more equipment and software for a vinatge 1988 General Ledger program running on an Radio Shack Model II/12 computer with 8" floppies, etc... When I did the research, I see that MBSI was bought buy Real World Acc't who was bought by Great Plains who was bought by Microsoft Corporation!!! 
If you fail to recall your past it comes back to haunt you! | |
| The VMS Kid 2002-04-18, 6:53 am |
| As for Bib Blue, that makes two of us. I started out my IT career doing MVS Assembly, some COBOL, CICS, and lots and lots of JCL. That was when i decided I needed to try getting certified to get out of IBM Hell. I have never literally dealt with punched cards, but am familiar with the 80-column mindset. VMS I liked, UNIX I liked even more, but I can't stand the large scale mainframes that IBM used to be so famous for. I just thought I would mention it as some people do get all of thes initials mixed up from time to time.
//SYSOUT=*
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