The setting of the first part of the novel is Redmond, Washington, a small city mostly consumed by Microsoft.  Redmond is set up for the thousands of computer people (or as Coupland would call them, "nerds") who work there.

Most of the first part of the novel takes place on the campus of Microsoft and in the communal house where the central characters reside.  Most of their waking hours are spent at the Microsoft campus, often fifteen hours a day. Although he does not make an appearance, "Bill" (assumed to be Bill Gates, though his last name is never mentioned), haunts the background. He is the super-genius who “leads a company like no one else could.” Fear of "Bill" is in every corner. The employees feel he is constantly watching them. The narrator watches the Microsoft stock rise and fall every day, calculating how much "Bill" has either won or lost.

The house this group lives in is described as being poorly furnished, rundown, dirty, and cluttered.  Interior decoration sways towards juvenile paraphernalia: blow-up sharks, collections of bottles, and a huge trampoline in the front yard. The natural surroundings are bundles of green nurtured by the Seattle area’s notoriously rainy climate. Tall evergreens, lush lawns, and mold that creeps insidiously up the sides of the houses are the norm.

When the group transfers to California, they set up their workstations inside Dan's parents' house in Palo Alto, because they do not have enough capital to rent an office. Since Dan's father has been recently fired, Dan's parents are glad to put them up in order to earn a little side cash. When Michael’s brainchild,  the game “Oop”!, looks like it might be a success, they finally manage to lease an office, which they decorate with Legos. Every nerd, Dan speculates, has played with Legos as a kid.

Defining the parameters of nerdiness is important to Dan.  He outlines the society of the computer nerd while in California: what nerds wear, where and what they eat, and what nerd parties are like. There is also a discussion about the differences between Silicon Valley nerds and San Francisco nerds, who live a bit farther north.

The move to California proves to be pivotal for Dan and his cohorts. Not only does the atmosphere in the work place change in California, so too does the weather. The California sun and the state's vast network of highways and its love of cars provide a whole new setting from what the characters experienced in Redmond. Moreover, the headquarters of several big computer companies, such as Hewlett/Packard and Apple, all co-exist in proximity to one another. One of the characters' constant dreams is to be invited into one of the enormous campuses so they can compare it to Microsoft.

Staying with Dan's parents for a long time, inviting Dan's father to become a part of Oop! after he loses his job, and then having one of the women give birth, gives the story a three-generational dimension. There are discussions of some of the characters' families. Many of the relationships between the characters and their families are strained, but Dan's parents fit right in. Dan's father becomes rejuvenated working with them. Dan's mother nurtures them when the group is struggling. Through their challenges, the group, plus Dan's parents, become like an extended family, supporting, counseling, and learning to love one another.

Aley, James. "Tales from Slacker Hell." In Fortune, September 18, 1995, Vol. 132, No. 6, p. 235. Mediocre review of Microserfs.

Bromberg, Craig. "Picks & Pans."...