By Illiad
September 1999
Pages: 128
ISBN 10: 1-56592-673-0 |
ISBN 13: 9781565926738
(Average of 3 Customer Reviews)
One of the funniest, most off-beat, and original comic strips to come along in years, User Friendly tells the story of Columbia Internet, "the friendliest, hardest-working, and most neurotic little Internet Service Provider in the world." User Friendly reads like Dilbert for the open-source community. It provides outsiders a lighthearted look at the world of the hard-core geek and allows those who make their living dwelling in this world a chance to laugh at themselves.
Full Description
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Book details
First Edition: September 1999
ISBN: 1-56592-673-0
Pages: 128
Average Customer Reviews: (Based on 3 Reviews)
Featured customer reviews
Dated, but still funny, April 26 2004
Although a bit dated, containing strips related to the Y2K craze here and there, this little book is still otherwise as funny and timely as any commentary on the computer industry could be. The X-Men and Borg references are absolutely hysterical. If you work in a tech job, you should be reading User Friendly.
User Friendly Review, September 19 2003
Excellent. Hilarious.
This is the first of the incredibly funny dead tree compilations
of the User Friendly on-line comic strip.
It recounts part of the saga of a cast of characters
involved with a fictional ISP called Columbia Internet.
Until late August 2003,
I really knew zilch of User Friendly and Columbia Internet.
Somehow I had missed the daily strips and three paper compilations. :(
Then a perceptive friend sent me email
which directed my attention to the User Friendly series.
Soon I found myself addicted to the strip
much as some of the characters in the strip are addicted to caffeine.
The fourth book "Even Grues Get Full"
is supposed to arrive at my house very soon. :)
If you are a geek, or have geek tendencies or wish to grok geeks,
get this book. ;)
If you want, check out
my somewhat longer review.
User Friendly Review, October 25 2000
y'all seem to like this book quite a bit, but i'm with the other guy that didn't think it was all that funny. some of the stuff is amusing, yeah, but this just isn't for me. not sure why y'all think that someone that doesn't like it must be lame. sounds like lame reasoning to me. ah well. i might read the next one to see if it ever gets any funnier, but i sure ain't buying it.
User Friendly Review, April 25 2000
Submitted by Mermaid [Respond | View]
Look. Everyone is entitled to an opinion. For example, my opinion is that the doofus who doesn't find UF just hilariously funny is a loser without a sense of humor - doomed forever to a life of celibacy. Of course, this is just my opinion.
UF has done something that few cartoons have been able to do. It has impressed me. It is consistently fresh and funny. I look forward to reading Illiad's wickedly twisted humor on a daily basis.
I have gone out of my way in the wilds of Nevada to *find* and internet connection just to read UF while on Vacation (Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a connection in the mountains? And once you have, try to explain that you just need to 'borrow' it for a few minutes to look at a cartoon...).
UF deserves to be worshipped and to be taught as a 'classic' in schools 300 years from now.
User Friendly Review, April 20 2000
Submitted by Darren Gibbs [Respond | View]
The guy who didn't find this funny either doesn't work in tech support, or doesn't have a sense of humour - one of the two.
Illiad rules - the cartoon set in this book with the Star Wars send up had me wetting myself with laughter - and one particular frame now proudly adornes the door of the server room at my {very} pro-WindoZe place of employ.
If you work in computers, and don't already follow User Friendly on the net - get this book. You won't regret it.
User Friendly Review, April 12 2000
Submitted by Bryn Thompson [Respond | View]
Loved the book! The scary thing is I recognize a lot of the traits of the characters in people I know! Myself included!!! AAARRRGGHHHH!!!!
User Friendly Review, March 30 2000
Submitted by J.D. Roth [Respond | View]
I hate to be the lone dissenting voice here, but I really didn't (and don't) find _User Friendly_ to be all that amusing. Based on rave reviews on Slashdot (and other sites), I plunked down my hard-earned cash for this book. You know, I didn't laugh, or smile, even once.
Perhaps this is some flaw in my own character. Or maybe the "humor" in the strip is an acquired taste. Whatever. It didn't amuse me.
I've got a copy of the book for sale cheap if anybody wants one...
--j.d.
User Friendly Review, March 22 2000
Submitted by Shane Collinge (creator: HelpDex comic s [Respond | View]
I was fortunate enoughto get hold of a copy of "USER FRIENDLY the comic strip". As a computer geek myself, I found many in-jokes and opportunities for a good old larf.
Charles Schultz (Peanuts) was a master of characterization. Bill Watterson (Calvin & Hobbes) is a genius at representing theology, Scott Addams (Dilbert) at corporate culture. With User Friendly, Iliad has captured the geek ethic and programmer culture. He sees as a computer professional sees, plays Quake as they play Quake and eats sugar-rich foods as they do. In this anthology you'll expect to see Quake jokes, Microsoft jibes, corporate takeovers and accents that change more quickly than the bug list>for Windows 2000.
The only criticism I can raise is that having been spoilt by Gary Larson's "Prehistory of the Far Side", I would have liked to see some of the nuts & bolts behind the scenes, like a "Techniques" section or a "Ideas rejected by the editor" section.
Other than that, I sat and read it cover to cover. Every time I'd go to put it down, I'd hit another storyline and I wanted to see how it would end. The Star Wars storyline was my favourite. Yeah, Sith Lords *do* get the coolest lightsabers!
User Friendly Review, January 28 2000
Submitted by Belgand [Respond | View]
While I have to admit a certain ammount of bias towards the subject matter at hand I can firmly reccomend this book to anyone with the faintest geekish traits in them. Often useful for converting others (just leaving it around has brought numerous others into the fold for me) and yourself when you have to go off the grid or don't want to use a laptop to do your bedtime reading. Buy it now, thank yourself later.
User Friendly Review, September 22 1999
Submitted by JT [Respond | View]
Two Words: Get it!
User Friendly Review, August 05 1999
Submitted by Lumpish Scholar [Respond | View]
The dreaded "User Friendly productivity virus" strikes when a company first discovers User Friendly, and spends the next day catching up on old strips. Here's a way to reduce the impact of UFPV on your staff, your servers, your ISP, and your loved ones. (Besides, if you run into him at a Linux conference, you can't get Illiad to sign a Web site, can you?)
User Friendly Review, August 05 1999
Submitted by Alan Starr [Respond | View]
If you've seen it on the web, then you know you'll like it. Head over to the userfriendly homepage and check it out for free.
User Friendly Review, December 06 1997
Submitted by Samantha [Respond | View]
Absolutely excellent! Hillarious!
Media reviews
?This is the funniest comic strip that is on the subject of
technology that I have ever read?User Friendly is the first
example of the merging of print media and Internet media that works perfectly that I have come across. You really get to become a part of a community with this product. These User Friendly books from O'Reilly don't cost that much money, and once you buy at least this first User Friendly book, you are automatically involved in this world of these comic strip characters that you come to really care about.. If you use Linux and are a supporter of or a developer of open source software, you?re going to love this comic strip and become an instant fan just like I did.?
--Raven, ravenmatrix.com, Dec 2001
"Anybody whose interests lie with computers or the Internet will find these hilarious musings on this quirky business very amusing and entertaining." --Dale Ferris, Golden Triangle PC Club, May 2001
User Friendly Second Place, Non-Computer Product, Linux Magazine's Editor's Choice Awards, 2000
User Friendly "Now, thanks to the people at O'Reilly, everyone can get a healthy dose of techno-humour from this compilation of strips"-Keith Schengili-Roberts, Computer Paper, May 2000
"For those who've worked with computers, particularly tech support, it's well worth the $12.95. Depending on your persuasion, this book may not be for you, as some people have suggested that User Friendly has something of an anti-Microsoft bias." --John Joyce, Scientific Computing and Instrumentation, Dec 1999
"a cutting edge cartoon about cutting-edge technology to which all computer lovers can relate" --Information Technology Career World
These quotes were taken from the User Friendly Web site: www.userfriendly.org
"Eric Raymond wrote essays about the Internet community. Illiad went one further and captured the spirit of the ISP and the free software communities in cartoon form. If you've ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes at your ISP or how free software users sometimes think, all can now be revealed." --Alan Cox, Linux God and Kernel Hacker
"The only reason everyone in the world doesn't read User Friendly is that not everyone has fast access to the Web. Now you can get the book, so there's no excuse at all. The only problem with User Friendly as a book is you'll read it all at once, when you ought to ration yourself for a little joy every day." --Jerry Pournelle, Senior Contributing Editor, BYTE.com
"The perfect book or gift for the computer professional. Good for more than a few good laughs! Buy it!" --John C. Dvorak, Computer Columnist
"User Friendly is smart and sassy and just what I've been waiting for-- a cartoon that computer geeks can relate to. A cutting-edge cartoon about cutting-edge technology, User Friendly is funny enough that even the non-geeks will get it. The recent Star Wars spoof was intelligent, timely, and funny. I'm proud to have User Friendly in Linux Journal." --Marjorie L. Richardson, Editor in Chief, Linux Journal
"Illiad's understanding of the Linux and Open Source community is uncanny. You have to live it to know it as well as he does. User Friendly is more than a cartoon, it's brilliant social commentary for the computer culture of today. You really feel connected to him, because he seems to live in your mind. It's a must-click, the cartoon kicks ass!" --Trae McCombs, Manager, Linux.com
"One of the characteristics of healthy cultures is that they can poke fun at themselves. I guess the hacker culture is in good health, because User Friendly is hilarious. Its irreverence, sophisticated in-jokes and surrealistic edge are a rocket straight out of the Internet's collective unconscious." --Eric S. Raymond, ubergeek
"...the cartoon is so insightful and captures the essence of today's web industry so brilliantly that it's definitely going to be big." --Nina Furu, columnist, digi.no
"User Friendly has my sides splitting daily. Illiad has taken a step that no one else has done by doing a strip for the Un*x/Geek community thats funny and cute." --Trae McCombs, manager, themes.org
"User Friendly has something that no other cartoon has, the ability to not only be funny, but be exactly like events at your own work. In fact sometimes you think life would be better if you worked for Columbia Internet." --Scott James Remnant, editor, segfault.org
"User Friendly" taps the open-source movement's collective funny bone...a smart and quirky cartoon born of the open-source movement and championed by geeks across the Net." --Janelle Brown, Salon Magazine, Oct 1999
"Funny Stuff for the Techno-nerd. Have no idea what to get the computer geek on your Christmas list? Skip the latest cutting-edge hardware or the newest game, and go low-tech. As in a book. Specifically a hilarious new title called User Friendly a collection of offbeat comic strips about all things digital. Think Dilbert for the semi-conductor set...any self-respecting mouse jockey will see himself or herself in these panels. It's as though you're sharing an inside joke." --Dan Geiser , The Gazette, Nov 15, 1999
"One of the most gimme books of the year: O'Reilly's User Friendly. The whole gang is gathered together in a dead tree version, which means you can finally take UF where ever you want to be... User Friendly, the greatest open-source-savvy comic strip... The naive might compare
User Friendly to Dilbert, since they're both set in technology industry offices, but it's really more like Doonesbury... The strip is very, very funny... and by reading it, you will always feel like a member of the open source club." --Stern, slashdot.org, November 1999
