BK95NTNT.RVW   980320

"Windows 95 and NT Networking", Wayne Robertson/Edward Koop, 1997,
0-07-912983-8, U$49.95/C$71.95
%A   Wayne Robertson
%A   Edward Koop
%C   300 Water Street, Whitby, Ontario   L1N 9B6
%D   1997
%G   0-07-912983-8
%I   McGraw-Hill Ryerson/Osborne
%O   U$49.95/C$71.95 800-565-5758 fax: 905-430-5020
%P   389 p. + diskette
%T   "Windows 95 and NT Networking"

The intended audience seems to be everyone.  This makes it difficult
both to write the book and to assess it.  For a rank beginner the book
should provide some introduction to the areas to be addressed, but
overall it fails to provide the detail at any level necessary to get
networks to run.

Chapter one purports to be an overview of the two operating systems,
but reads more like a sales brochure, failing to look seriously at the
competition or the shortcomings of the products.  Network architecture
is discussed in chapter two, but so is a whole range of topics from
cabling to IP (Internet Protocol) addressing, and therefore the
coverage in any area is quite brief.  Windows NT is presented in more
detail, but still in promotional mode, in chapter three.  Chapter four
does start to get into a useful level of technicality, but this only
serves to point out the surprising fact that the book is based
strictly on NT version 3.5.  Therefore the connectivity discussion in
chapter five becomes moot, since most of the setup options have been
significantly changed in the more recent version.  The same holds true
for the coverage of Novell NetWare support in chapter six.

The look at Windows 95 is chapter seven is slightly more realistic. 
The authors do admit that "Plug and Play" promises more than it
delivers, and that installation of 95 might not be a cakewalk.  I
found it odd that the book did not address questions of more concern
to experienced MS-DOS and Windows 3.x users, such as the fact that
MSDOS.SYS has changed from an untouchable binary file to a text file
that the authors recommend modifying.  Chapter eight is supposed to
deal with network settings in the Registry, but most of the material
describes other, general areas of configuration.  A number of aspects
of Microsoft networking are mentioned in chapter nine, but without a
lot of logic to the organization.  The explanation of Windows 95
connectivity to Novell NetWare is much more detailed in chapter ten
than was the case in chapter six, but chapters eleven and twelve seem
to cover the same ground, albeit from slightly different perspectives. 
Chapter thirteen looks very briefly at other networks.

The lack of coverage of NT 4.0 would be a major failing were it not
for the fact that the book does not deal with NT at any depth. 
Windows 95 gets by far the larger share of the ink, and the work may
be useful for those who are still integrating 95 clients into a
NetWare environment.

copyright Robert M. Slade, 1998   BK95NTNT.RVW   980320