Acknowledgments

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First and foremost, our thanks goes out to Claudette Moore and Debbie McKenna at the Moore Literary Agency, and Kong Cheung, the acquisitions editor at Microsoft Press, for making this book possible in the first place. In addition, we sincerely appreciate the work and almost superhuman effort exerted by the entire group of people who had a hand in seeing this book to fruition. In particular, we thank Kristen Weatherby, project editor at Microsoft Press, for her persistent and personable shepherding; Steve Sagman for his ever-watchful eye as the project coordinator; Gail Taylor and Jennifer Harris for their conscientious and professional editing; Jack Beaudry, for his terrific work and helpful suggestions as he tech-edited his way through this entire book; Sharon Bell, the principal compositor, for the great-looking, easy-to-read pages; and Tom Speeches, the principal proofreader. Furthermore, we thank Al Gordon, an expert in on-line speech and handwriting technologies, for sharing his knowledge in Chapter 39, "Putting Speech and Handwriting Recognition Features to Work." And, we thank Archie Millhollon, a networking and hardware guru (and the originator of Frankenstein computers), for sharing his expertise in Appendix D, "Quick Guide to Peer-to-Peer Networks," that readers will certainly find useful.

Writing computer books is often an isolating process that matches up three odd companions: a person, a computer, and a program. But in writing this book with my co-author Mary Millhollon, I was blessed to be a part of a team, to give and receive support, trading both technical information and stories about our sons (which turned out to be really important stress-reducers when the deadlines loomed large!). Thanks, Mary, for your partnership and your friendship. I also found the Microsoft Press team to be among the most responsive and supportive publishing groups I've ever worked with. I especially enjoyed working with Kristen Weatherby, Steve Sagman, and Gail Taylor, who made this extremely challenging project not only possible, but pleasurable. I hope we all get the opportunity to work together again sometime.

Last but not least, (now it's Mary's turn) I'm extremely grateful for having the opportunity to collaborate with Kathy Murray; her unique blend of intelligence, wit, and insight is truly phenomenal. After typing at least a dozen sentiments here and deleting all of them because they sounded a tad too smarmy, I think simplicity says it best—Thanks Kathy! I'm also grateful to the Microsoft Press team—especially Kristen, Steve, Jennifer, and Jack—whose professionalism and responsiveness helped to make this project a success. Also, thanks to friends and family for tolerating my invisibility while I wrote my share of this book. Most notably, thanks to Jeff Castrina for providing constant inspiration; Julie Pickering, because, in a perfect world, everyone would have a sister like her just to keep life interesting; and Jason Millhollon, who periodically knocked on my door to make sure I was getting those chapters wrapped up (now, let's catch a movie!). Finally, as always, my heartfelt thanks goes to Cale and the two boys who spontaneously bring sunshine and color (and lizards and worms) into my life on a daily basis, Robert and Matthew.