A journalist's bemused but revealing take on a hectic 12 months in the professional life of a Microsoft design/development team fashioning a new product intended to give the software colossus a jump start in the burgeoning multimedia market. Drawing on open access to the Generation X programmers assigned to the compact-disc project (an animated/illustrated encyclopedia for children known in-house as ``Sendak''), Moody offers a tellingly detailed and mercifully comprehensible account of the creative process in a field where the state of the art is comparatively primitive and decidedly fluid. As the author observes, developing CD-ROM software that provides TV-quality audio and video for use in a personal computer ``is a little like trying to show a movie on a calculator.'' In addition, members of the small task force had to deal with often bitter internal conflicts involving responsibility for slipped deadlines, the availability of resources, the product's bottom-line potential, and the great expectations of Bill Gates, the Washington-based company's nerdy but demanding co-founder. Working long hours in a chaotic environment pulsing to the rhythms of local rock bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam, the young coders soldiered on. Technical obstacles were overcome or sidestepped (e.g., by sacrificing once-prized features), while personnel problems were resolved by chance (maternity leaves) and, in a couple of cases, transfers. Convinced he has been witness to an epic disaster, the author is frankly astonished to discover the soap-opera proceedings have yielded a commercial, bug-free product (dubbed Explorapedia) roughly on time and within budget. In a subsequent interview with Gates, Moody learns the Microsoft way is to focus its minions on an ideal combination of technical excellence and retail appeal that is kept just out of reach. An informative and engrossing glimpse of whats behind the small wonders of an advanced consumer society. (First printing of 50,000)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-670-84875-1
Page Count: 290
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1995
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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