SATIRE CLICKS IN SILICON VALLEY NOVEL.Byline: Kelleyanne Noone Dallas Morning News Title: ``The Last Best Thing'' Author: Pat Dillon Data: 288 pages, Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster U.S. publishing company. It was founded in 1924 by Richard L. Simon (1899–1960) and M. Lincoln Schuster (1897–1970), whose initial project, the original crossword-puzzle book, was a best-seller. ; $23 Our rating: Three Stars ``In the beginning there was a garage in northern California Northern California, sometimes referred to as NorCal, is the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. The region contains the San Francisco Bay Area, the state capital, Sacramento; as well as the substantial natural beauty of the redwood forests, the northern . And the garage plus two nerds begat the personal computer. And it was good. In fact, it was a best thing, the first best thing. And the first best thing begat a faster, slicker machine the next best thing and it begat the next and the next and so on and on until, one day, the best things begat Silicon Valley.'' Pat Dillon, an editor-at-large for the San Jose Mercury News The San Jose Mercury News is the major daily newspaper in San Jose, California and Silicon Valley. The paper is owned by MediaNews Group. Its headquarters and printing plant are located in North San Jose next to the Nimitz Freeway (Interstate 880). , takes us on a wild ride through the Silicon Valley in his satirical novel ``The Last Best Thing.'' Brad Roth is a marketing honcho Honcho A slang term describing the leader or person in charge of an organization. Notes: The CEO of a company could be referred to as the honcho or "head honcho." See also: CEO, CFO, COO, Insider, Leprechaun Leader at Microsoft who is unceremoniously fired for a slip of the tongue - ``Windows 95 equals Mac 89'' - and ends up in the Silicon Valley with a start-up that has a tantalizing tan·ta·lize tr.v. tan·ta·lized, tan·ta·liz·ing, tan·ta·liz·es To excite (another) by exposing something desirable while keeping it out of reach. new laptop. Only problem? They explode. And Brad is one of the first victims. But how can he explain to his colleagues, let alone his lawyer wife, that he was trying to engage in online sex when it happened? With bandaged hands, he starts trying to make sense of his new boss, a slippery character named J.P. McCorwin. J.P. was once a golden boy as head of product development at Infinity Computer and now wants to create the last best thing - a computer that will do everything for you. J.P. and his mentor, a guru named Baba RAM DOS who is really from Paris, actually might be making the laptops explode for their own nefarious reasons. Into the middle of this chaos steps J.P.'s executive assistant, Maria Cisneros, who's trying to keep the ship from going down but has no lifeboat. She's the soul of the company, the one person who actually has a conscience. A native of San Jose San Jose, city, United States San Jose (sănəzā`, săn hōzā`), city (1990 pop. 782,248), seat of Santa Clara co., W central Calif.; founded 1777, inc. 1850. , she recalls a time when the Silicon Valley was the Santa Clara Valley
The Santa Clara Valley is a valley just south of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California in the United States. , full of fruit orchards, not techno-geeks. Maria gets caught up in the web of intrigue J.P. and RAM DOS are spinning around the company and the venture capitalists they hope to attract. And she starts dealing with the FBI, which has received a tip - likely from J.P. and RAM DOS - that the person responsible for the exploding laptops might be the Unabomber. Maria and Brad try to figure out who is RoseD, an online sex goddess whose chat group can lead to being ``flamed'' - literally. And why is there a plot to kidnap Bill Gates (person) Bill Gates - William Henry Gates III, Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft, which he co-founded in 1975 with Paul Allen. In 1994 Gates is a billionaire, worth $9.35b and Microsoft is worth about $27b. , and who's behind it? Through this maze, Dillon writes authoritatively of his Silicon Valley back yard and peoples his novel with real-life characters. He got dozens of movers and shakers in the industry to open up to him and discuss how things really work in Silicon Valley. It is often hard to separate fact from fiction, and one wonders if Andy Grove of Intel and Bill Gates are flattered, or horrified hor·ri·fy tr.v. hor·ri·fied, hor·ri·fy·ing, hor·ri·fies 1. To cause to feel horror. See Synonyms at dismay. 2. To cause unpleasant surprise to; shock. , at their portrayals. ``The Last Best Thing'' has been made into an interactive World Wide Web site and can be read chapter by chapter at http://spyglass.sjmercury.com/lastbest/previous.htm. It has been registering as many as 750 people logged on at a time and about 450,000 visits every day. |
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