That said, I do have a couple of gripes. For a networking book to basically ignore Unix and Linux for the first 70% of the book is absurd. Halberg mentions Windows 7 times in the first chapter and does not mention Linux until chapter 6 and then only to state that Unix and Linux treat each computer as a host.

I understand that Windows dominates the corporate server market but to ignore the fact that 'nix dominates the web server market is silly. Does Redmond hold his first-born captive?

When Linux is mentioned it is suddenly with instructions on how to install Red Hat 6.1, an already dated release. And, the sudden introduction of Linux seems odd, since it was basically ignored through the rest of the book. The discontinuity is strange.

I didn't read the first edition of this book but wonder if the Linux information was updated. For a book written in 2001 the failure to include current information on Linux, Mac OS X and 802.11b networking, which Apple had fully introduced as a home/small office solution is almost criminal.

Conclusion: A good primer on general networking principles and practices especially in the Intel/Microsoft world. Somewhat lacking when it comes to the larger world of the net.