Red Hat Linux 6 Unleashed David Pitts, Bill Ball, et al SAMS, 1999 My experience with operating systems has been DOS & Windows. However, my perturbations with Windows 95 crashing several times a day, has lead me to Linux. It's time to step over the threshold with a new partner. "Red Hat Linux 6 Unleashed" is a thick tome filled with clear instructions, advice, and tips to make the conversion easier. This is not to say 'easy'. At 1252 pages, the book won't make you an overnight Linux guru, but it's comprehensive and aims to instruct both the beginner and the advanced user. As reference material, it should allow me to keep from pulling more hair. The CD-ROM packaging was very neat. Having been in the print industry, I always enjoy the creativity of people using presentation to sell a product. The two CD-ROMs are chock full of information that can be easily accessed in HTML or text formats. The online product support and links are helpful additions. The only qualm I had - the title of the CD screen was 'Microsoft FrontPage 2000 Unleashed'. The reading format is utilitarian and allows you to access what you need when you need it. Proper indexing is important to me, and I've found information quickly. Contents at a Glance and the Table of Contents are easy to follow. A useful fact: when you have questions that may not be answered by the book, you can e-mail the authors directly. For some of us puzzled by the jargon, this may be a fortunate boon. There is no doubt that Microsoft and the Windows environment will dominate those not willing to dive deep into a new learning curve. However, this book will make that learning much more satisfying and spare us frustration. Rick LeBlanc is an adult educator, web designer and Internet data junkie. Driven mostly by curiousity, the term lifelong learner is easily applicable. Add to that a wife and daughter, two cats and two goldfish, and you see that sleep is not a priority. BACK