如今，大多数硬件评论都是从“拆箱”开始的，一系列照片显示了盒子的外观以及在移除使用的各个阶段的内容。我对Windows 8(Windows 8) “拆箱”的想法很感兴趣，这就是我想到的Windows 8 Out of the Box的标题。这真的是作者想要通过这本书完成的目标吗，对Windows 8进行“拆箱”，然后提供使用说明？让我们看看我是否猜对了，在这本书的评论中(book review)。
开局艰难
好吧，这并不完全是我所认为的“拆箱”，但这更多地与我的期望有关，而不是与作者的意图有关。那么这本书到底是关于什么的呢？使用Windows 8(Windows 8)的许多新功能的说明。这本书的设置使得每一章都以一个重要提示(Top Tips)摘要开头，然后是解释事情如何工作的部分。
不幸的是，我从第一页就跳出来的是这本书的编写和编辑多么糟糕。它看起来不像是像O'Reilly(O'Reilly)这样受人尊敬的出版商发布的适当版本，而是像某人自行出版的“杰作”。很明显，出版商的文案编辑从来没有接触过这个，坦率地说，这让我大吃一惊。不是每个人都阅读版权页面，显然应该复制编辑这本书的人是那些非阅读者。
以下是一些应该被编辑发现的手稿错误示例，来自第一章的第一页。
不幸的是，当整个文本出现错误时，许多读者（如我）会被它们分散注意力，他们对本书质量的看法也会因此而受到影响。开箱即用的 Windows 8(Windows 8 Out of the Box)充斥着这种 lah-di-dah 编辑。
结构和物质
每章都从重要提示(Top Tips)开始。“最重要的提示”都只是三个项目的列表。我的想法是，“最重要的提示”将是对即将发生的事情的总结，读者会受到启发继续阅读本章的其余部分，以查看“最重要”的完整解释，以及额外的“提示”，以使阅读本章值得(chapter worthwhile)。不幸的是，许多技巧并没有达到这个目的。例如，以下是标题为“观看和收听视频和音乐”一章的“重要提示”。(Watching and Listening to your Videos and Music.)
为什么Windows 8 与大多数以前的Windows版本一样，带有用于播放音乐和视频的应用程序这一事实是“顶级提示”？每章都以对本章内容的简要总结结束，其中大多数对本章的总结比Top Tips做得更好。
内容和信息
Windows 8 Out of the Box显然是为初学者设计的。虽然执行各种任务的说明已经足够，但它们有些缩写，其中许多听起来像是为填充空间而编写的（请参阅上面的“ Windows 8附带用于播放音乐和视频(music and videos)的应用程序”）。本书末尾的“使用 Windows 8的更多重要提示”一章包含了之前章节中应该包含的信息。(More Top Tips for Using Windows 8)似乎没有真正的理由将事情拉开并把它们放在最后一章中，除了创建一个实际上不需要在那里的最后一章。
虽然这本书的插图很好地体现了 Windows 8 的多彩界面，但在(interface justice)Windows 8 Out of the Box中确实没有任何其他书籍无法找到的东西。在明显缺乏副本编辑(copy editing)和没有真正提示任何东西的“提示”之间，我不得不说，如果我没有阅读这本书进行评论，我就不会完成它。
判决
开箱即用的 Windows 8(Windows 8 Out of the Box)表现不佳，并且没有任何其他地方找不到的内容。这本书的结构阻碍了而不是鼓励读者做出新的发现。它的全部价值在于其 9.99 美元的标价(list price)，明显低于许多其他科技书籍的价格。对于完全的初学者，我建议改为Windows 8 Plain & Simple或Windows 8 For Dummies，它们没有Windows 8 Out of the Box的任何错误，并提供更令人满意的解释。
Book Review - Windows 8 Out of the Box, by Mike Halsey
Nowadays, most hardware reνiews start with an "unboxing," a series of photos showing what the bоx lоoks like and what the contеnts look likе at various stages of being removed for use. I was intrigued by the idea of an "unboxing" for Windows 8, which is what the tіtle of Windows 8 Out of the Box brought to my mind. Was this actually what the author wanted to accomplish with this book, an "unboxing" of Windows 8 followed by instructions for using it? Let's see if I guessed correctly, in this book review.
Off to a rocky start
OK, it wasn't exactly what I would have thought of as an "unboxing," but that has more to do with my expectations than with what the author intended. So what is this book all about? Instructions for using the many new features of Windows 8. The book is set up so that each chapter begins with a Top Tips summary, followed by sections explaining how things work.
Unfortunately, what jumped out at me from the very first page is how poorly this book was written and edited. Instead of looking like a proper release from a highly respected publisher like O'Reilly, it came across like someone's self-published "masterpiece." Clearly the publishers' copy editors never laid a hand on this one, which quite frankly surprised the heck out of me. Not everyone reads the copyright pages, and apparently the people who were supposed to copy edit this book were among those non-readers.
Here are a few examples of mistakes in the manuscript that should have been caught by an editor, from the first pages of the first chapter.
Unfortunately, when there are mistakes all over the text, many readers (like me) will be distracted by them, and their opinion of the book's quality will suffer because of it. And Windows 8 Out of the Box is riddled with this kind of lah-di-dah editing.
Structure and substance
Each chapter starts out with Top Tips. The "top tips" are all just lists of three items. I gather the idea was that the "top tips" would be a summary of what was to come, and the reader would be inspired to go on to read the rest of the chapter to see the "top" explained in full, with additional "tips" to make reading the chapter worthwhile. Unfortunately, many of the tips don't accomplish this purpose. For example, here are the "top tips" for the chapter titled Watching and Listening to your Videos and Music.
Why is the fact that Windows 8, like most previous versions of Windows, comes with apps for playing music and videos a "top tip"? Each chapter ends with a brief summary of the chapter's contents, and most of them sum up the chapter a lot better than the Top Tips do.
Content and information
Windows 8 Out of the Box is apparently intended for beginners. While the instructions for doing various tasks are adequate, they're somewhat abbreviated and many of them sound like they were written to fill space (see "Windows 8 comes with apps for playing both music and videos" above). The More Top Tips for Using Windows 8 chapter at the end of the book includes information that should have been included in earlier chapters. There seems no real reason for pulling things out of place and putting them in the final chapter other than to create a final chapter that didn't really need to be there.
While the book's illustrations do Windows 8's colorful interface justice, there really isn't anything in Windows 8 Out of the Box that can't be found in other books. Between the obtrusive lack of copy editing and the "tips" that don't really tip anything, I have to say that if I hadn't been reading this book for review I wouldn't have finished it.
Verdict
Windows 8 Out of the Box presents itself poorly and contains nothing that can't be found elsewhere. The structure of the book gets in the way rather than encouraging the reader to make new discoveries. About all it has going for it is its $9.99 list price, which is noticeably lower than the prices of many other tech books. For complete beginners, I'd recommend instead Windows 8 Plain & Simple or Windows 8 For Dummies which suffer none of the faults of Windows 8 Out of the Box and provide a much more satisfying explanation.
