InfoMagic Standards 1993 July/Disc.iso/inet/isoc/isocnews/issue1_3/073.01

Text File | 1993-02-08 | 11.5 KB | 295 lines

n-1-3-073.01
BOOK REVIEWS
by Anthony M. Rutkowski <sprint.com>

These are exciting times in the Internet and
networking world. Network hardware and software
have become commodity items - and building your
own net is almost as simple as running over to
your local computer K-Mart store, getting an
address from the NIC (Network Information
Center), and attaching to a local provider. And,
with the new commercial TCP/IP windows software
now appearing for PCs and MACs, Internet setup
and navigation is as simple as pulling down a
menu.

The Internet has become a new virtual world community -
of the people, by the people, and for the people.  It
was only a matter of time before this populism was
manifested in book form.  Several of the books reviewed
below reflect this trend.

There are good existing Internet handbooks, including
several that are available as "freeware."  In chronological
order, they include Krol's Hitchhiker's Guide to the
Internet (Sep 1989), Quarterman's The Matrix (1990), Frey &
Adam's "!%@::" (1990); UCD's Mining the Internet (Jan
1991), Kehoe's Zen and the Art of the Internet (Jan 1992),
Kochmer's NorthWestNet User Services Internet Resource
Guide (Mar 1992), and the NSF Network Service Center (NNSC)
Internet Resource Guide.

For the most part, however, these materials were intended
for the computer literate, not the woman, man, and child on
the street.  This is an arena where things change almost
daily.  One year in the Internet world is equivalent to ten
in the telecommunications industry.  So a continuous demand
should remain for good new books (and updates) directed to a
mass audience.

All books focusing on the Internet or related matters
submitted to or made known to the Internet Society News
editors as of mid-August are included in this review.

-------------------------------------------

The Whole Internet : Users Guide & Catalog
by Ed Krol <[e-mail]>
publisher: O'Reilly & Associates, Inc
103 Morris Street, Suite A
Sebastopol CA 95472
USA
tel: [phone]
tel: [phone] (USA)
fax: [phone]
email: <[e-mail]>

Publication: 13 Sept 92; ISBN 1-56592-025-2; 307
pages plus Resource Catalog; price: US$ 24.95.

This book is billed as "a complete and comprehensive
introduction to the Internet for new
users...containing all you need to know about the
Internet to get started and to make use of it."

Indeed, it is a real jewel of a book beautifully
organized with occasional old world etchings to break
up the text.  Krol as an original author of populist
Internet material - he wrote the Hitchhiker's Guide -
knows the subject and how to present it well.

The author says that there are two objectives - to
keep users from bothering network administrators, and
to evengelistically generate interest in the Internet.
To effect the latter, he has cleverly included a list
of diverse resources accessible on the network so that
anyone from a high school student to a theologian can
"say 'yes' that's interesting, this Internet thing
might be worthwhile."  He intends to make this
Resource Catalog portion available through the
Internet so he can keep it updated.

Krol has also included everything else you would
expect a book like this to cover: how the network
works, the standard Internet services, and even a
bit on the new resource discovery tools like
Archie, WAIS, Gopher, and WWW.

This is the kind of book that you want to get several
extra copies of and give them to give away when they
ask you "What's Internet?" or to staff or colleagues
when you want to give them the hint that they could
be more effective in their work by using the
Internet.

----------------------------------

Internet: Getting Started
by April Marine
publisher: SRI International
Network Information Systems Center
333 Ravenswood Ave
Menlo Park CA 94025
USA

tel: [phone]
fax: [phone]
email: <[e-mail]>

Publication: May 1992: ISBN [none]; 316 pages; price: US$
39.00 + shipping

As opposed to the populist Whole Earth Internet, Getting
Started is a pretty straightforward "how to do it" for the
computer literate who are ready to get connected.  This book
provides the system administrator with information about the
administrative nuts and bolts of becoming operational.

The book is an ingenuous way for SRI to capitalize on the wealth
of information accumulated as former operators of the Internet
Network Information Center and providing most of the basic
reference information you need to know to get set up, plus a lot
of other useful reference information.  Most of this information
is available from various network sources, including current NIC
contractors.  On the other hand, SRI provides a useful service in
getting it all together in a handy printed reference, and
available to people who don't presently have access.  Care needs
to be taken regarding this information becoming outdated.  Things
change quickly in the Internet world.

--------------------

Exploring the Internet: A Technical Travelogue
by Carl Malamud <[e-mail]>

publisher: Prentice Hall <[e-mail]>
available:  Aug 1992; ISBN 0-13-296898-3;  376 pages, +
photographs, price: US$ 26.95

This book is a classic travel book, but aimed at the computer
professional.  Carl Malamud went three times around the world in 6
months, visiting over 50 different cities.  He looks at efforts to
build national and global infrastructures, talks to key figures
who built today's Internet,  and visits research laboratories.
Throughout this amusing narrative, the reader sees the breadth and
diversity of the Internet and meets the people who make it work.

Exploring the Internet also has a serious side, documenting the
famous Bruno project and its demise.  The International
Telecommunication Union (ITU) gave Malamud permission to convert
and post CCITT standards on the Internet.  The book shows how the
"public standards cartel" of ISO and the ITU acted and reacted to
the information servers named "Bruno" and the Sons of Bruno that
made the standards available around the world, and portrays the
stark contrast between the public standards bodies and the
Internet culture.

----------------------------------

The Internet Companion: A Beginner's Guide to Global Networking
by Tracy LaQuey Parker <[e-mail]> with Jeanne C.
Ryer

publisher: Addison-Wesley
available: Oct 1992; ISBN: 0-201-62228-9; price: US$10.95

At the title implies, this book is aimed at anyone
interested in the Internet - including a guide through the
intricacies and unique culture of the Internet.  In clear,
non technical language, the book introduces you to the
worldwide community on the Internet, teaching the reader
how to tap into university research databases, online
archives, and vast social networks of up-to-date
information.

This probably has the lowest knowledge threshold of the
books reviewed, walking the reader through such steps
as:  why you should know about the Internet; lowdown on
the Internet; communicating with people; getting
knowledge; and hooking up.  Ms. Parker as one of the
leaders in K-12 networking and a key figure in
dramatically scaling the Texas Internet infrastructure,
has ample experience and credentials to author this
book.  She points out that in the future, users may not
even realize they're using a network!  As a side note,
Al Gore has apparently agreed to write the foreword, but
the U.S. political campaigns seem to have gotten in the
way.

----------------------------------------------
UNIX, POSIX, and Open Systems:
The Open Standards Puzzle
by John S. Quarterman <[e-mail]>
and Susanne Wilhelm <[e-mail]>

publisher: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company
tel: + 1 617944-3700 ext 2262
tel: [phone] (US)
Email: <[e-mail]>

Available: Nov 1992; ISBN 0-201-52772-3; price: US$
43.24

A fairly vast world of standards impinge on the
internetworking environment - probably more so than
any other sector of the telecommunication and
information field(s).  From user interfaces and
applications to operating systems to transport
links, it all interoperates (or not) through
internetworking protocols.  At these crossroads, the
Internet Society itself conducts what is generally
recognized as the most successful standards making
body today - the Internet Engineering Task Force
under the IAB.

There are few books that even attempt to pull together in
any kind of comprehensive way, information about standards
and standards making.  Quarterman and Wilhelm not only have
done more legwork - in terms of gathering information - than
anyone else, but have developed some of  the best conceptual
models and provided a better overall comprehension than
anything written in the field.  Everything else out there is
pretty anemic by comparison.

This is a book you will not only reference, but actually use
to help structure your conceptualization of standards. Its
scope includes computing models, UNIX and open systems,
POSIX and open standards, formal standards bodies, industry
organizations and user groups, processes, IEEE/CS TCOS
standards, protocols and standards, programming language
issues, conformance testing, internationalization,
frameworks, TCOS profiles, industry profiles, and
procurement profiles.

--------------------------------------------------

The Law of Electronic Commerce
EDI, Fax and E-Mail: technology, proof and liability
by Benjamin Wright <[e-mail]>

publisher: Little, Brown and Company
tel: [phone]
tel: [phone] (U.S.)
fax: [phone]

publication: 1991;  464 pages + current supplement;
hard cover; price: $95

The legal community lags years behind internetworking
technology and its implementation - which is probably
good.  On the other hand, as internets and supported
applications become material in legal disputes, a body
of law will emerge.  This has already occurred with
respect to EDI, fax, EFT, videotext, and EMail, and
this is what Wright's book is about.  Although a bit
pricy, it does include a current supplement.

In typical legal treatise fashion, the author also
provides copious citations to judicial decisions or
statutory provisions.  This legal research alone
justifies the price.

The primary purpose of this book is to give readers a
feel for what is significant in business settings as to
risk, proof, required record keeping and controls,
industry codes and liability.  In business and legal
settings, these are critically important
considerations.

There are also little nuggets tucked into this book
that should provide food for thought for those
interested in future legal issues.  For example, Wright
includes a section on "internetworking and remote
plaintiffs."  Rather than providing definitive answers,
you are walked though various alternative analogies and
legal analyses, and even provided useful insights on
desired evolutionary directions of the law.  Another
section deals with issues on the EDI horizon.

While I don't expect the next IETF to start a legal
issues working group, it is probably wise to consider
whether it wouldn't be advantageous for a knowledgeable
intra-Internet community begin dealing with these
issues.  It's obvious that a nascent body of
internetworking is already emerging.

-----------------------------------

These are good books.  ISOC News readers might consider
not only ordering copies, but help popularize the
Internet further by visiting your local Bookstore and
getting these books on shelves for others to discover
as well.
=======================================================