Microserfs

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Microserfs
Author Douglas Coupland
Cover Artist William Graef
Country USA
Language English
Genre(s) Epistolary
Publisher Regan Books, HarperCollins
Released June, 1995
Media Type Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages 371 (Hardback)
ISBN ISBN 0-06-039148-0 (USA hardback), ISBN 0-00-224404-7 (Canada hardback)
Preceded by Life After God
Followed by Polaroids from the Dead

Contents

[edit] Plot introduction

Microserfs, published by HarperCollins in 1995, is a novel by Douglas Coupland. It first appeared in short story form [1] as the cover article for the January, 1994 issue of Wired [2] and was subsequently expanded to full novel length. Set in the early 1990s, it portrays the lives of coworkers and friends in the software industry, and the effects that their unique form of work have on their relationships and lives.

The novel is presented in the form of diary entries maintained on a computer by the narrator. Because of this, as well as its formatting and usage of emoticons, this novel is similar to the modern blog format, although its setting for the most part predates the widespread usage of the web.

Coupland revisits many of the ideas in Microserfs in his 2006 novel JPod.

[edit] Explanation of the novel's title

The novel's title is a play on words involving the software company Microsoft (as most of the major characters in the novel are initially employees of that company) and the term Serf (the lowest almost slave-like social class of the feudal society).

[edit] Plot summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The novel begins with a glimpse into the lives of employees of Microsoft: the people that create the technology that sits on the majority of office desks in the world. Microsoft is portrayed as having a feudalistic structure with Bill Gates as its lord, and the employees as Microserfs. The characters, most of them in their early to mid-twenties, share the same workplace and home in the Seattle area. They generally decry their employment situation and the effects it has on their social lives: their daily schedules are dictated by software product cycles.

When one of them decides to leave Microsoft and found a software company to create a Lego-like software toy called "Oop!" (a reference to object-oriented programming), the others jump at the opportunity to join him in California. They leave behind stability and job security for the relative unknowns of a start-up company. The characters are driven not only by the chance that their software product will be financially successful, but also by the chance to be "One-Point-Oh": "To be the first to do the first version of something". The novel examines the effects on their personal lives as they struggle for venture capital, and the need to get their software to market first.

[edit] Characters in "Microserfs"

Daniel 
The book's narrator and main character. Initially a software tester for Microsoft.
Susan 
A programmer initially working for Microsoft. Throughout the novel, Susan attempts to find and maintain a meaning to life outside of work, not always successfully. She eventually founds a group called Chyx, a support group for Valley women who code.
Todd 
A tester and coworker of Daniel who is obsessed with body building. He eventually fathers a baby by Dusty and is continually searching for something to believe in.
Bug 
A tester and coworker of Daniel - "the World's Most Bitter Man". Older than most of the other characters, and as a result likes to remind everyone else of his longer experience in the software industry. Eventually he comes out of the closet.
Michael 
A highly gifted, yet somewhat stereotypically socially awkward, programmer initially working for Microsoft. Michael's decision to leave Microsoft and found a software start-up company is the impetus that changes the lives of the characters of the novel. Michael lives on a "Flatlander" diet, meaning he eats only things that are two dimensional. His screen name is "Kraft Singles."
Amy 
Michael's fiance whom he met over the internet. She is also on a "Flatlander" diet. Her screen name is "Barcode" and she has a barcode tattoo on her wrist.
Karla 
A coder, coworker, and girlfriend of Daniel. Karla's developing relationship with Daniel forms a major component of the novel.
Abe 
MIT graduate coder who stays with Microsoft when the rest of the characters leave for California, although he eventually joins them. His emails with Daniel are an integral part of the novel.
Anatole 
French coder who lives near Daniel and used to work for Apple. Anatole is the only coder of the group that has been to Las Vegas more than once and his accent becomes stronger around women.
Ethan 
President and co-founder of Oop!, primarily business-minded, has been a millionaire three times over with various (later failed) projects. He devotes his time to seeking venture capital for the start-up company. Ethan's personality is diametrically opposed to the other characters, in part because of his relative lack of technical knowledge.
Dusty 
Female body builder / coder who is introduced later in the novel. She is romantically involved with Todd, and they have a baby together (Lindsay). Becomes an employee at Oop! She and Todd are obsessed with creating their bodies to be perfect "machines" by going to the gym everyday and taking protein pills and drinks.
Lindsay 
Dusty and Todd's infant daughter.
Daniel's Father 
An mid-manager at IBM who becomes a victim of IBM's layoffs and represents the old generation of techies. After the IBM layoffs, he begins to work closely with Michael on a secret project that evokes feelings of jealousy from Daniel.
Daniel's Mother 
A librarian with little technical knowledge who serves to give the group insight into what the laypeople understand about technology.
Jed 
Daniel's younger brother who passes away in a drowning accident. He is referenced in the book, and but is a looming presence in Daniel's mind throughout.
Misty 
The Underwood's overweight dog. She was originally trained to be a seeing eye dog, but did not pass her exam because she was too affectionate.
Jeremy 
Bug's partner. He is "highly into body manipulation: tattoos, piercings, and (scary) branding." Bug breaks up with him because he is "too politicized and too extreme."
Spoilers end here.

[edit] Allusions To Actual History, Geography, and Current Science

The book takes place first at Microsoft in Redmond, Washington (near Seattle) and then Silicon Valley (near San Fransisco). In 1995 these locales were rife with technology companies and people; "Silicon Valley" is actually a nick-name for the Santa Clara Valley that comes from the use of Silicon in a lot of technologies. The story really couldn't have taken place anywhere else in the world since these cities provided the proper environment to explore the lives of tech people. Both these cities' have a culture comprised mostly of tech people.

On January 17, 1994 a 6.7 earthquake hit just northwest of Los Angeles. The Northridge earthquake takes place during the story and has a profound effect on Ethan, who eventually constructs a replica highway clover leaf out of legos to honor the highway infrastructure lost to the earthquake.

[edit] Trivia

  • Matthew Perry recorded the abridged audiobook version of Microserfs
  • 'Building Seven', the office block on Microsoft's Redmond campus where Daniel and his colleagues work before they move to California, does not exist.
  • Several coded messages are included within the text and never translated. Those translations are here:http://www.eeggs.com/items/33319.html
  • On page 104-105 there is an encoded binary message that reads, when decoded-

I heart LiSA Computers This is my computer. There are many like it, but this one is mine. My computer is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it, as I must master my life. Without me, my computer is useless. Without my computer, I am useless. I must use my computer true. I true. I must compute faster than my enemy who is trying to kill me. I must outcompute him before he outcomputes me. I will. Before God, I swear this creed. My computer and myself are defenders of this country. We are masters of our enemy. We are the saviours of my life. So be it until there is no enemy, but peace. Amen. Tinned Peaches Yttrium San Fran

This message is an adapted version of the Rifleman's Creed.

  • Pages 308-309 of the book where the consonants are on one page and the vowels are on the other is actually a copy of Patty Hearst's letter to her parents when she was kidnapped.

[edit] Release details

[edit] Sources, references, external links, quotations

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