Acknowledgments

This book would not be possible without the help of Chris Polk, who supported me both emotionally and technically throughout the entire project. Every chapter was influenced by her helpful suggestions.

Thanks to David Blank-Edelman for his touching Foreword, and to Illiad for his User Friendly comic strips. I feel doubly blessed to have both of you involved.

I'd also like to thank the O'Reilly staff for their help, especially Mike Loukides for bringing this project to O'Reilly and helping to define the book, and David Brickner who got the book into shape so it could be published. David took an OK book and turned it into a great book. I couldn't have done it without him. Marlowe Shaeffer, my production editor, brought these pages to life. Thanks to everyone at O'Reilly!

If I see farther than others, it's because I stand on the shoulders of greatness. Some of these great people are: Mary Clark, Benji Feen, Doug Furlong, Trey Harris, Jennifer Joy, Andy Lester, R. A. Lichtensteiger, John Linderman, Les Lloyd, Ralph Loura, Tina Mancuso, Cliff Miller, Adam Moskowitz, Daisy Nguyen, Cat Okita, JP, Victor Raymond, Tom Reingold, Michael Richichi, Strata Rose-Chalup, Glenn Seib, Frank J. T. Wojcik, and apologies to anyone I have forgotten!