| We are indebted to Mike Meehan for helping to get this project off the ground, starting at a meeting at the PDC when Microsoft announced .NET. That conversation put into motion what has become a substantial series of books on .NET technology, in which this volume is the sixth . We would also like to thank Jill Harry from Prentice Hall for her ongoing support with this ambitious book project. Our editor, Nick Radhuber, has been very helpful, not only with this book but also in coordinating the whole series. Several people at Microsoft helped in many ways with this book series: Steven Pratschner, Jim Hogg, Michael Pizzo, Michael Day, Krzysztof Cwalina, Keith Ballinger, and Eric Olsen. We thank them for taking time out from their very tight schedules to provide insight and clarification for a previous book in the series, contributing to a firm foundation for the current book. Any errors remaining, naturally, are the responsibility of the authors. Connie Sullivan and Stacey Giard coordinated technical sessions and helped assure our access to resources at Microsoft. Michael Stiefel, an author of another book in our series, was a valuable resource for many of the chapters in this book. Michael was also instrumental in coordinating the previous technical reviews with people from Microsoft. Robert would like to thank his wife, Marianne, for enormous support and encouragement of my extensive writing efforts, especially over the last 18 months. This book is almost the last for a while, and so you should be seeing more of me again real soon! I also want to thank my business associate, Ed Soong, for keeping things going at Object Innovations while I wrote. You will be seeing more of me in the business, too!" Peter would like to thank his wife, Beth, and his daughter , Katie, for their pleasantness and charm . Peter would also like to thank Midas for being very patient about the issue of not being taken on enough walks lately. Dana would like to thank Bob, a most patient co-author , for inviting her along on the roller coaster ride of book authorship. These VB.NET books have been a thrill. I'd like to thank Richard Reese for his insightful reviews of this manuscript. I'd like to thank my family, friends , and colleagues for allowing me to be distracted during this project. And, finally, I'd like to extend a special thanks to Brenda for her encouragement and belief that all things do come to an end!"  |
