I like it!

I bought this book used, have it in my hot little hands, and no, guys, it's not for sale. I have to admit that I haven't read very far into it, but I love what I see so far. Which is to say, Burgess writes a lot like me, giving more of a personal journal than a textbook.

Some reviewers seem to think that this approach disqualifies the book. It doesn't. Burgess wasn't _TRYING_ to write a textbook -- he says that up front. To complain because it isn't one misses the point entirely.

Another reviewer didn't like MMURTL because it's not competitive with Windows.

Huh?

Yet others didn't like it because it's not Linux. What can I say? For some people, Linux _IS_ their religion.

Let's get it straight: Burgess never claimed to be writing the next great commercial OS, the successor to Windows or Linux. He never claimed to be writing an OS that had only C or C wrappers; he never claimed that he was writing an OS that would be portable across platforms. He gave his goals at the very outset: To learn to write OS's by doing it; to eschew backwards compatibility to other versions, other OS's, or other designs. And to put in only the things he needed. He delivers all those things in spades. Anyone who doesn't like those goals, bought the wrong book and should have read the flyleaf first.

One reviewer has said that he didn't like Burgess' assembly language style or quality. I can't comment on that -- haven't gotten that far yet. But be assured that if I also don't like it, I won't write a bad review. What I'll do is what Burgess has urged us to do from the get-go, which is to change it and personalize it to taste.

Other Reviews

• What you need to Consider
• I like it!
• Lots of reviewers missing the point
• Not an educational textbook
• Haste makes waste