Ciprian was kind enough to provide me with a e-copy of this book. Mind you, I had thought it should be worth a closer look ever since I found it on the net.

In general, this is one well-written book (actually, better than the usual SBS line standard)! It manages to convey information in a penetrable manner which should appeal to laymen without becoming too simplistic, thereby irritating more advanced users. In this sense, the latter will have to skip at least a couple of chapters (those detailing the creation of libraries and the way folders can be shared, for sure), but I think everyone can find topics of interest.

The high points of the book are the chapters detailing interoperability between various OS's - even Ubuntu is in there! - and the mostly excellent writing style!

But there also are a couple of low points, too: firstly, the excruciatingly detailed final chapter of the book, which refers to security issues (I can understand why this is important, but sometimes it is just too much - especially in view of how the writer stressed in the beginning of the book it would not tread over issues which are addressed in other SBS books) and secondly, how the book fails to cover (at all!) issues concerning PS3 and XBOX connectivity (a major issue today - if this was deemed rather simple, then the same can be argued for several other topics that actually made into the book).

Overall, even though the book does have its faults, I must admit that I can recommend it wholeheartedly, both because it is a worthy standalone edition regarding home networking and because it singlehandedly enhances the SBS line of books!