Balboa Films: A History and Filmography of the Silent Film Studio

Customer Reviews:

Comprehensive history of a little known studio.......2003-03-05

This book delves into the little-known history of the Balboa Film studio in Long Beach California. The Balboa studio gave Hollywood, California a run for its money in the 'teens. Hundreds of short dramas, westerns, serials, and features were shot there. Unfortunately, the studio was still expanding when a movie industry slowdown hit in 1918 due to World War I and the influenza epidemic. It was soon out of business, and was torn down in the mid-1920s when the oil business took over Long Beach.

This book is very well researched, and it has a very detailed filmography of the studio at the end. Several of the major stars of the era are profiled.

The book does have a couple of flaws though. Sometimes the authors reprint press agent puffery that makes the studio and the stars seem more important than they really were. Also, the authors relied on the book THE DEED OF DEATH for information on director William Desmond Taylor's murder. Subsequent research has revealed that DEED OF DEATH has several important facts about Taylor and the murder wrong.

Still, I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in silent film history or Long Beach, California history.

Valuable but cumbersomely presented early film history.......1999-07-25

This reader was frankly a bit disappointed by "Balboa Films." Yes, all the infomation is there but is is a tough task to separate the actual history of the little company from the hyperbole. The authors have for some reason bought into the era's flowery press agentry and their Balboa Amusement Producing Company is on several pages compared to the later M-G-M in importance. Still and all, any book on the early film industry -- especially local film-making away from Hollywood -- is greatly appreciated. Despite its flaws, "Balboa Films" is recommended reading.

This is a remarkable work in scope and depth........1999-07-04

I have read "Reel 4" twice, and I read it again last night. I must say that I am filled with awe at the amount of work you have put into your research.

One of the things that I found most interesting was the background of the stars at Balboa. Being such a small child I really did not know them. Now, after all these years, I feel I do, to a certain extent. You are gifted writers with a wonderful style of writing, so easy and natural--you make your readers "real page turners, eager to know what is coming next."

I enjoyed very much the sections on Baby Marie; you were so indulgent with me.

Very Important Book on Silent Film History.......1999-06-01

The authors of this book have blazed a trail through a previously uncharted area of film history. The information here is unique and no other source (in fact, no collection of sources) can compare to it. This book fills a real gap in the history of the American silent film. It's good to know that in the midst of a million different books full of nothing but gossip or fluff, a work of substantial historical value has appeared. I'd recommend this volume to anyone interested in learning the facts about silent filmmaking *beyond* the Hollywood city limits. "Balboa Films" is a winner!

An eye opener on Long Beach history and films........1999-05-27

This book is a most definate "MUST" for anyone who has ever seen a movie. It tells of when and where it all began. What a great book of history. A complete job and well done. My thanks to Mr. Jacques and Mr. Bardin.

Book Description

According to popular wisdom, humans never relate to a computer or a television program in the same way they relate to another human being. Or do they? The psychological and sociological complexities of the relationship could be greater than you think. In an extraordinary revision of received wisdom, Byron Reeves and Clifford Nass demonstrate convincingly in The Media Equation that interactions with computers, television, and new communication technologies are identical to real social relationships and to the navigation of real physical spaces. Using everyday language, the authors explain their novel ideas in a way that will engage general readers with an interest in cutting-edge research at the intersection of psychology, communication and computer technology. The result is an accessible summary of exciting ideas for modern times. As Bill Gates says, ‘(they) … have shown us some amazing things’.

Customer Reviews:

Nothing New.......2003-02-28

This book can be summed up in two sentences: "People instinctivly react to artificial interactions (with computers and media) the same way they react to interactions in real life. This can be used to manipulate people."

Except for the authors' pro-manipulation bias, this media=reality "equation" is nothing new - Steven Pinker talked about "new media and old brains" in his first book, published in the 1980's. Ted Nelson said that users instinctivly interact with computers "naturally" in "Thinkertoys", published in the 1970's. Even Arthur C. Clarke mentioned the phenomenon in "3010."

In this book, the authors report on previously done social science research they have replicated and repackaged with a popular, marketing spin. Academics working in the social or cognitive sciences will find nothing new here. The authors enjoyed a brief heyday among dot-commers, but these were the same people who were buying $500 office chairs.

Don't bother.

Must read popularization.......2002-02-20

The media equation, as introduced by Nass and Reeves, is that "media equals real life" and that our interactions with media are "fundamentally social and natural" (p. 5). This book is a popularization of established, replicated research on how people interact with television advertising, tutoring systems, error messages, loud noises, sudden movement, etc. For instance, one widely replicated result is that computer tutoring systems get better evaluations if the evaluation program is run on the same computer. Moving the reviewer to a new computer (with the same program), significantly lowers the score. The social science literature shows that teachers who collect their own evaluations score much more highly than those whose evaluations are collected by others. This is the kind of evidence Nass and Reeves bring to bear in support of the media equation. They don't claim that we are consciously thinking about the computer's feelings and don't want to hurt them. Rather, to the contrary, subjects claim they were doing no such thing. Yet the evidence of our behavior seems incontrovertible.

The media equation is a good enough predictor of user behavior, at least for telephone-based spoken dialog systems of the form my company builds, that it has informed our designs from top to bottom. Our applications apologize if they make a mistake. Callers respond well to this. Sure, the callers know they're talking to a machine, but this doesn't stop them from saying "thank you" when it's done or "please" before a query or feeling bad (or angry) if the computer can't understand them. Another strategy recommended by Nass and Reeves that we follow is trying to draw the caller in to work as a team with the computer; again, Nass and Reeves support this with several clever experiments. There is also a useful section on flattery, looking at the result of the computer flattering itself and its users; it turns out that we rate computers that flatter themselves more highly than ones that are neutral.

Among other interesting explanations you get in this book are why we're more tolerant of bad pictures than bad sound, why we focus on moving objects, speaking rate equilibrium, what we can do to make someone remember an event in a video, and the role of gender.

This book is very quick and easy to read. I read it in two days while on vacation it was so fascinating. In contrast to the classical yet dry social science format of hypothesis, experimental methodology, results, and essentially a summary of the results as a conclusion, Nass and Reeves only vaguely summarize their experimental methodology and take a no-holds-barred approach to drawing conclusions. This may annoy social scientists, most of whom expect their own kind to be far more circumspect.

This book is an absolute must-read for anyone designing mediated interfaces. For those who don't believe the results, I'd suggest running some experiments; our company did, and it made us believers.

The whole world is a media equation????.......2001-07-13

Reeves and Nass find that people use social conventions towards intelligent systems. Without further thinking they decide it is something new, something great. We are thinking of interactive systems as other social beings is their explanation. With some imagination you could come up with a number of other explanations, that equally well fit the data.

I do not disagree with their findings, but I really disagree with their conclusions, especially the eagerness and determination with which they jump to them. However I notice their ideas seem pretty convincing, and here lies my real worry with this book. So if you decide to read it anyway keep asking yourself if the conclusions Reeves and Nass jump to are really as worthwhile as they make them appear.

Back to Basics.......2001-04-09

This book is one of there rare ones that really is based on scientific material. Reeves and Nass make their extremely interesting and useful observations on how users react to media available to the HCI professionals in an intelligent and intertaining fashion. Their findings are of great value to anyone engaged in computers and media. The book is not a how-to-do guide, but at the end of each chapter you will find useful recommendations on how to help your users/viewers feel more comfortable with your product.

I highly recommend this book.

Solid Social Science.......2000-11-09

A previous review called this book "psuedo-scientific drivel."

In fact, this book is far from it. Well, as far from it as social science can get. In fact, is the most "scientific" of the user interface books I have read.

The main point I took away from the book is that people interact with objects, especially interactive and media devices, as if they were people. They demonstrate that when user interfaces are designed to be polite and interact in a positive social manner, the person has a much more enjoyable and profitable interaction.

Other books on the topic of user interface design are far less scientific, relying on generalizations and suppositions rather than constructing a study. Some use data from a usability evaluation, but these are often far from scientific.

The authors construct hypotheses, usually based on the results of studies of interaction between humans, and see if the results of the results hold true for human-machine interaction.

Book Description

Why is talk about television forbidden at certain schools? Why does a mother feel guilty about watching Star Trek in front of her four-year-old child? Why would retired men turn to daytime soap operas for entertainment? Cliches about television mask the complexity of our relationship to media technologies. Through case studies, the author explains what audience research tells us about the uses of technologies in the domestic sphere and the classroom, the relationship between gender and genre, and the varied interpretation of media technologies and media forms. Television and New Media Audiences reviews the most important research on television audiences and recommends the use of ethnographic, longitudinal methods for the study of media consumption and computer use at home as well as in the workplace. The book discusses reactions of audiences to many internationally known television programmes including The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Street Fighter, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, X-Men, Sesame Street, Dallas, Star Trek, The Cosby Show, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, National Geographic, etc.

Customer Reviews:

Serious stuff about TV.......2001-01-29

An exceptonally thoughtful analysis of television and how it influences opinions and attitudes. As you read this book, you'll get some insight into the ways you are being subtly manipulated every day. Lots to think about!

The Playful Audience: From Talk Show Viewers to Internet Users (New Media: Policy & Research Issues)

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The Playful Audience: From Talk Show Viewers to Internet Users (New Media: Policy & Research Issues)
Tony Wilson
Manufacturer: Hampton Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1572735295

The Audience in the News (Lea's Communication Series)

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The Audience in the News (Lea's Communication Series)
Dwight DeWerth-Pallmeyer
Manufacturer: Lawrence Erlbaum
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0805821104

Book Description

In recent years, communication scholars have taken a renewed interest in analyzing the audience and its impact on the communication process. Similarly, news editors and producers have often turned toward a marketing orientation which seeks to give new readers and viewers what they want, or at least what they say they want. Yet, there has still been little written about just how the audience factors into the news which is produced. Seeking to fill that niche, this book argues that audience images are quite important in the construction of news, but not easily detected. That is because journalists are not principally interested in their audience; they are interested in the news.

USE THIS PARAGRAPH ONLY FOR GENERAL CATALOGS... This volume argues that although journalistic images of the audience may be "incomplete," they do exist and powerfully help shape the work of journalists in producing journalistic texts. Using a case study of news workers and news texts at two Chicago newsgathering organizations, the Chicago Tribune and WGN-TV, this book:
* examines notions of audience and how they have been treated by academicians,
* presents a detailed description of the ways in which audience is embedded within the news construction process,
* presents a very representative set of journalistic news values,
* presents differing ideas of audience at three key levels of the news organizations -- reporters and news gatherers, editors and producers, and senior editors, producers, and news directors, and
* seeks to summarize and position this study within the larger body of mass communication research.

Cultivation Analysis: New Directions in Media Effects Research (SAGE Focus Editions)

Average customer rating:

Informative and Useful

Cultivation Analysis: New Directions in Media Effects Research (SAGE Focus Editions)
Nancy Signorielli , and Michael Morgan
Manufacturer: Sage Publications, Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Television | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0803932960

Book Description

Cultivation analysis is an active, ongoing and influential research tradition, designed to assess the contributions of television viewing to people's conceptions of social reality. It attempts to determine the extent to which people who watch greater amounts of television hold different conceptions of social reality from those who watch less. It is concerned with cumulative correlates and consequences of television exposure rather than short-term responses to or individual interpretations of television contents. It focuses on the implications of accumulated exposure to television's most general, insidious, and inescapable images and values. This unique volume brings together some of the most recent developments in the conceptual, methodological, and substantive aspects of cultivation analysis, and includes chapters by the original investigators as well as by independent researchers who have taken up the questions and challenges of this approach.

Customer Reviews:

Informative and Useful.......2003-11-17

The experts who contributed to this book are highly knowledgeable in their areas, thus making for a very authoritative book. Cultivation Analysis is a methodology that has been used by researchers to view long term as opposed to short term media effects. In the first chapter, Professors Morgan and Signorielli provide the overview to this method.

The second chapter talks about how divergent psychological processes exist in the construction of social reality from mass communication sources. Professors Hawkins and Pingree explain that "the messages that lead to cultivation are aggregate patterns of action and characterization across many programs or even seasons of entertainment television."

Book Description

This digital document is an article from St. Louis Journalism Review, published by SJR St. Louis Journalism Review on December 1, 1994. The length of the article is 1338 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

From the supplier: Television news programs often fail to meet the public's demand for more relevant information. Too often, television executives ignore people's hunger for obtaining news on issues of great importance and busy themselves with ratings and catering to some viewer's fascination for tabloid shows and programs which little substance. The industry should take steps to meet the task of producing shows with better content and which deftly deal with complex matters.

Citation Details
Title: Channels. (television news programs' responsibility to their audience) (Column)
Author: Ian MacBryde
Publication: St. Louis Journalism Review (Magazine/Journal)
Date: December 1, 1994
Publisher: SJR St. Louis Journalism Review
Volume: v24 Issue: n172 Page: p8(1)

Article Type: Column

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Discursive Texts, Reflexive Audiences: Global Trends in Television News Texts and Audience Reception.: An article from: Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media

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Discursive Texts, Reflexive Audiences: Global Trends in Television News Texts and Audience Reception.: An article from: Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media
Anandam P. Kavoori
Manufacturer: Broadcast Education Association
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, published by Broadcast Education Association on June 22, 1999. The length of the article is 6564 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

From the author: This study examines the process of media globalization at the level of meaning generation (by television news texts) and interpretation (by audiences) based on the analysis of news-texts and focus groups from four countries. It is suggested that the narrative of television news is discursive: it provides a specific vision of cultural "others". At the audience level there is the emergence of a global culture of critical media consumption. This reflexive mode is born of a familiarity with the narrative conventions of the genre and the institutional imperatives of the media industries.

From the supplier: The manner in which global events are presented on television news programs is examined, focusing on how narrative strategies are received by viewers. Topics include cultural otherness and how domestic viewers make sense of foreign events.

Citation Details
Title: Discursive Texts, Reflexive Audiences: Global Trends in Television News Texts and Audience Reception.
Author: Anandam P. Kavoori
Publication: Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media (Refereed)
Date: June 22, 1999
Publisher: Broadcast Education Association
Volume: 43 Issue: 3 Page: 386

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KTLA tops local morning news ratings.(Media & Technology): An article from: Los Angeles Business Journal

Average customer rating:

KTLA tops local morning news ratings.(Media & Technology): An article from: Los Angeles Business Journal
James Nash
Manufacturer: CBJ, L.P.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B0009H2UVG
Release Date: 2006-07-14

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Los Angeles Business Journal, published by CBJ, L.P. on March 14, 2005. The length of the article is 612 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: KTLA tops local morning news ratings.(Media & Technology)
Author: James Nash
Publication: Los Angeles Business Journal (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 14, 2005
Publisher: CBJ, L.P.
Volume: 27 Issue: 11 Page: 16(1)

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Average customer rating:

vim&vinegar

Grab the Vinegar Bottle

Too much ammonia, not needed food recipes

A "must have" for every household.

A WONDERFUL BOOK TO READ AND USE EVERYDAY!!

Vim & Vinegar: Moisten Cakes, Eliminate Grease, Remove Stains, Kill Weeds, Clean Pots & Pans, Soften Laundry, Unclog Drains, Control Dandruff, Season Salads
Melodie Moore
Manufacturer: Harper Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Baking Soda: Over 500 Fabulous, Fun, and Frugal Uses You've Probably Never Thought Of (Lansky, Vicki)

Vinegar: Over 400 Various, Versatile, and Very Good Uses You've Probably Never Thought Of

Lemon Magic: 200 Beauty and Household Uses for Lemons and Lemon Juice

The Healing Powers of Vinegar, Revised and Updated

The Naturally Clean Home: 100 Safe and Easy Herbal Formulas for Non-Toxic Cleansers

ASIN: 0060952237

Book Description

Vinegar is inexpensive, safe and 100 percent natural, and nearly every household has a bottle tucked away somewhere, but few people ever take advantage of its full potential. Yes, it's great for dying Easter eggs and making salad dressing, but there's so much more it can do. In Vim & Vinegar, Melodie Moore tells all. Here are hundreds of tips to help readers tenderize meats, soup up soups, eradicate odor, firm fish fillets, cut grease, ease arthritis, cure cramps and more. Versatile vinegar also does wonders for flavoring food (plus, it has no fat or calories), and readers will be amazed at the range of tasty recipes, which include such treats as Vinegar Pie, Crazy Cake and Vinegar Hard Candy.

For tightwads, environmental activists, health advocates and curious cooks -- in fact, anyone who appreciates good old American ingenuity -- Vim & Vinegar is the perfect book.

Customer Reviews:

vim&vinegar.......2006-11-06

the book was well written and had all the info. i was looking for.

Grab the Vinegar Bottle.......2005-11-16

"Mom knew - vinegar is magic. It makes chocolate cakes fluffier, candy tastier, windows more sparkling, even socks whiter. This book tells all there is to know about using vinegar for better gardening, cleaning, health, and, of course, cooking." (reviewed by Carol Garriott)

Too much ammonia, not needed food recipes.......1999-10-24

I bought this book for the purpose of making home-made(safer than store-bought) cleansers. Most of her cleaning recipes call for ammonia-which is not good for your health. It talks about how to make different vinegars, which is acceptable although I don't think I would make my own. But I do not understand why she included food recipes that call for some(2-3tbs) vinegar.(Sloppy Joes, BBQ hamburger,etc) There are plenty other cookbooks for these types of recipes.

A "must have" for every household........1998-07-09

The receipe for the Kitchen Grease-Cutting Cleaner is worth the cost of this book. Whether you need to remove set-in stains in vintage clothing or clean a mildewed shower curtain, this book has lots of great ideas that really work. It even has suggestions for losing weight! Well, we'll see.

A WONDERFUL BOOK TO READ AND USE EVERYDAY!!.......1997-07-20

I LOVED IT.. SO MUCH INFORMATION AND USES THAT I NEVER KNEW EXISTED.

I WOULD RECOMMEND THIS BOOK TO ANYONE WHO LOVES SOMETHING SIMPLE THAT DOES SO MUCH!!!!

OUR HAIR LOOKS GREAT, AND MY SHOWER SPARKLES..
THANKS VIM AND VINEGAR!!!!!

Average customer rating:

Hold'em Poker: Kill Pot: A Fact and Fiction Novel about One of California's Oldest Card Clubs
George O. Bosma
Manufacturer: B&G Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Kill Pot
George O. Bosma
Manufacturer: New Century Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Puzzles & Games | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0974785407

Book Description

A Fact and Fiction Novel about one of California's oldest card clubs.

Product Description

Microsoft Windows Scripting Self-Paced - Learning Guide - self-training course - CD

Customer Reviews:

Self paced bad practices .......2007-07-19

I got this as a freebie ebook when I bought the WMI scripting book.
What a total waste. I am new to Widows scripting but an old hack at *Nix shell scripting and perl. I needed to do some scripting for a client that doesn't have perl installed universally, but wants scripts to run universally on their windows servers.

I wasted a couple of days beating my head against the wall because I used this book. I finally bought "Windows 2000 Scripting Guide" and got my scripts working.

In addition to the complaints others have left indicating the the author does not explain the programming model, I found myself with a large hole in my foot because this author directed me to point a gun at my boot before pulling the trigger.

I used the sample scripts in the book as a starting point in my scripts, but unwittingly injected really bad practices into my programs.

The author states in Chapter 1:
"So 'On Error Resume Next' tells the computer that when something is messed up (causing an error), you want the computer to just skip that line and try the next line in the script. This process is called error handling,"

Actually, this is called ERROR HIDING (not handling) and it causes things that are messed up (causing an error) to be hidden from your view so you CAN'T find or fix them.

This is the worst bad practice that can be taught

Here is an example of how bad it is:
while using this directive your code that looks like:
IF condition THEN
positive_action
ELSE
negative_action
END IF

will, when an error is encountered in evaluating the condition, get transmogrified into simply:

positive_action

The "condition" that includes an error ALWAYS evaluates to true.
I can't think of a worse logic bomb to inject into your code or a better reason to skip this book.

Not a bad little intro.......2007-06-29

I admit I avoided purchasing this book as I felt I was beyond it since I know Perl. I ran into it again when I purchased Microsoft Windows Administrator's Automation Toolkit (Pro-One-Offs). On the CD there is a e-book form of the book.

I figured why not read it? One possible drawback exists if you pick up the automation toolkit book. You will not get a copy of the scripts. It's not an issue if you don't mind typing. Which for me is better as making mistakes and debugging helped me more then simply watching a script run.

I noticed that the e-book might be an earlier version of the printed book as the scripting style changes for a copy of the scripts.

As to the claims of the scripts not working; I ran into that as well but they are easy to solve. Well except one. You look for computers in AD, the scripting didn't know how to handle a Linux Samba entry.

Overall the book is decent. I was looking for something to give me an introduction to vbscript. Something more then a beginning "howto" script book.

There is not much discussion about the WSH engine. However, for me that was not an issue as I am still in the beginning stages of vbscript. This might be more of an issue as I get more advanced. But, this will probably get solved by an advanced book or looking on the Net.

The book does some basic stuff in the beginning. Loops, if/then, Arrays. Part 2 of the book introduces basic administration. There you will be introduced to file system objects, WMI, and WMI queries. Part 3, takes more advanced administration issues with and introduction to LDAP, ADSI, Searching AD, Configuring Network components, logon scripts, working with registry, and working with printers. Part 4, deals with other apps such as IIS6 and exchange 2003.

The appendix has some info on ADSI, and WMI. It's ok if you are starting out but I think it will grow past it's usefulness.

The scripts in book are simple and straightforward. They don't have a great deal of intelligence built in to deal with unknowns. Probably, not needed as this is an introduction book.

Overall I am happy with the book. It gave me an idea as to some possibilities and it helped me understand better on where to look for stuff.

Fast Paced Learning Tool.......2006-10-30

I use the book all the time to help groups of customers learn scripting. It jumps into useful examples early in the book. You build on those examples until you get to the point where you are combining the technologies to build useful scripts, like using Active Directory to create a list of computers which you then analyze and configure using Windows Management Instrumentation ( set of extensions to the Windows Driver Model that provides an operating system interface through which instrumented components can provide information and notification ). If you read only to chapter 15 you get a solid background of how WMI exposes a collection of COM scriptable objects that allow various applications to take advantage of the management information, including information about how Active Directory can be manipulated with VB Script.

Excellent Book.......2006-07-04

I've found this book with excellent content and very helpful for my clients ( I Work in a Technical Support Group for VIP Customers). The author drives you through with very clear language and at the same time funny and keeps you hooked to it.

Highly Recommended! Specially for those deep into Thechnical stuff.

Good information.......2006-03-20

This book had everything I was looking for and is a good source of information.

Microsoft Windows Scripting with WMI: Self-Paced Learning Guide (Self Paced Learning Guide)

Average customer rating:

A book for IT PROs
Great book with lots of good examples. Note correction below.
Its all good
Stongly advise against this book
Finally an excellent, well written indpeth wmi book

Microsoft Windows Scripting with WMI: Self-Paced Learning Guide (Self Paced Learning Guide)
Ed Wilson
Manufacturer: Microsoft Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0735622310

Book Description

Get the inside track on how to write system administration scripts with Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI), straight from Microsoft scripting experts. This practical learning guide teaches how to use WMI scripting techniques to gain control over your Microsoft Windows-based, IIS-based, and Microsoft Exchange Server-based environments—all at your own pace.

Build practical skills on everything from understanding the ins and outs of WMI and producing your first WMI Script to writing advanced WMI scripts that automate the management of systems, network services, files, printers, the registry, network services, and more. The companion CD features the complete eBook, 140 sample scripts, and timesaving scripting tools, plus more than 500 bonus scripts!

Customer Reviews:

A book for IT PROs.......2007-05-02

What a great book! I resolved a complex problem I had in less than 12 lines of code when I discovered the power of Associators on page 83. I have been using consumer events in other languages for many years, until I read Ed's book, I had no idea they could be used with WMI. This book is a very nice complement to chapters 8, 9 and 10 from his Microsoft Windows Scripting Self-Paced Learning Guide.

Although Ed's book is not a technical reference book (MSDN already provides syntax information), the appendixes provide all the key information required to search MSDN, SDK, CIM studio and other tools presented in the book. Rather than being focused on syntax and formal grammar, Ed's approach is to show IT PROs how to use WMI to resolve real life problems that need to be addressed on a daily basis. The CD contains many scripts that can be put to work with no or little modifications for your environment.

Ed's book goes further. It has a complete chapter on configuring and administering WMI, material which is typically not found in manuals but that are key for understanding and working with WMI.

Being a consultant, I consult the printed book on a regular basis and I have a copy of the electronic version on my laptop.

Great book with lots of good examples. Note correction below........2007-02-09

I recently attended a Microsoft sponsored workshop that was taught by the author of this book. I learned a great deal. If for nothing else, this book is worth purchasing to get a hold of the event consumer scripts. Important note: The author made the class aware that a line was missing in the event consumer script in both the print and companion CD versions.

To get the script to run, at the bottom of page 110 add the following line of code.

objfilter.EventNameSpace = "root\cimv2"

Its all good .......2007-01-09

They were real good at keeping me up to date on the shipment and it arrived on time.

Stongly advise against this book.......2006-07-07

I don't like being so harsh, but I strongly advise you NOT purchase this book. My reason for this is the poor coverage of the material presented.

The first three chapters were fine. The author was building logically, presenting material in a logical fashion. He demonstrated some simple queries, and described them clearly. The examples were pretty basic, and served no signifcant purpose.

Chapter 4 is where the wheels started to come off (and continued through to chapter 6). With no explanation, or background material, terms and undocumented examples began to show up everywhere. By the time the author got to event queries, it was obvious this was a lost cause.

For example, page 70 of the book used an query example that included the additional clause "WITHIN 10". I skipped around through pages, checked the indexed (and non existant glossary), but couldn't find an explanation. Eventually a check of MSDN explained what it was.

The section describing 'associators' on page 83 and 'references of' on page 85 were ambigious. The code examples provided no clarity, nor explanation.

I'm an experienced developer and administrator with 17 years in system's level programming. I had picked up this book to help get my hands around the topic of WMI -- to assist our administrative staff managing DFS-Replication services.

After two days, I've given up on the text, and purchased another more substantive manual "Developing WMI Solutions: A Guide to Windows Management Instrumentation".

BTW: So as not to completely trash this book, it does provide an excellant CD. There are a terrific number of tools, sample source code and script templates. In addition, the CD includes an electronic version of the book, and an electronic copy of "Microsoft Windows Scripting Self-Paced Learning Guide". Also, the later chapters develop some more useful scripts. If you need a cook-book to drop in one of these, you may find it useful.

In my advice, you'd be better off purchasing something else.

Finally an excellent, well written indpeth wmi book.......2006-05-05

Over the years, I have purchased at least 5 wmi books. These books fall into two categories: the ones that never seem to go beyond the basics of running simple wmi queries, and those that are so far advanced, as to be virtually meaningless to a mere mortal. Now comes this book. This book is well written, with loads of analogies. It breaks the subject of WMI in to small enough chunks of information (each chapter is around 25 pages or so) so you can sit down read the book, and then do re-inforce the material by doing the labs. The fact that the person who wrote the book is a consultant, means the labs have real world application. I have taken many of the scripts from the book, and with only a few small changes, made them perform usefull work for me on my network. High points of the book: excellent coverage of WMI event driven scripts, and associators of type of queries. This has open new horizons for my scripts. Low points of the book: the labs for chapter one are lame ... I do not get this one. Every other chapter has awesome labs, but somehow chapter one kind of missed out. There are labs for chapter one, they just are not all that interesting. Would I buy this book again? You bet. In fact, I purchased 10 copies for the other network administrators at my company! I liked it that well.

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