Acknowledgments

THIS BOOK, LIKE most books, took a great deal of effort and time to write. I could not have written it without the help and support of a number of key individuals, who are as much a part of this book as I am.

In terms of emotional support, my wife, Robin, was the model of a patient and supporting spouse while watching me pass on far too many opportunities to spend time with her and with friends because I had to work on this book. My son, Nathan, born a few months before I finished the book, was probably too young to realize how much I was neglecting him. But that didn’t stop me from realizing it and promising myself that would be different in the future.

On the technical side, Joe Stegman, Steve Lasker, and Mark Rideout from the Windows Client team at Microsoft were invaluable and always available for me to ask questions, get great answers, and make sure that this book was technically correct and teaching best practices with the latest capabilities in .NET 2.0. In addition, Greg Robinson, David Mack, Norman Headlam, Martin Heller, Charles Parker, and Rajesh Patel all helped out considerably in making sure the manuscript was correct, readable, and flowed well.

Without the outstanding folks at Addison-Wesley, this book never would have happened, and their unflagging support throughout the writing and editorial process has been greatly appreciated. Thanks to Karen Gettman and Stephane Thomas for getting the project going; Elizabeth Zdunich and Ebony Haight for keeping me on track in the middle; most of all, Joan Murray and Jessica D’Amico for getting me to the finish line; and Julie Nahil and Rebeca Greenberg for providing all the (considerable) production support. After working with them on this book, I can’t image wanting to work with any other publisher. Any time I had a question or concern, it was answered within days if not hours, and they kept the pressure on to stay on schedule while still being very understanding of outside conflicts and pressures.

Last but not least, special thanks to my colleagues and friends Juval Löwy and Michele Leroux Bustamante at IDesign. Working with you both has been the pinnacle of my career, and I feel lucky to have the opportunity to work with and learn from you. I was especially pleased to have Juval write the foreword for this book, his clever analogies capturing the value of this book better than I could ever have summarized myself.