Essential .NET will enable developers to take advantage of the full power available to them in Microsoft .NET. It goes far beyond the features-based "how-to" books currently on the market to also explain the "why" behind C #, .NET, and the CLR. As with all of Don's books, it is packed with practical detail and expert advice. It promises to be the book developers will reach for first with questions about the CLR and .NET. In his new position at Microsoft Don is even better placed to evangelize for this book. He will be speaking everywhere, and will continue placing articles in MSDN, where he has already started excerpting this book. Since this book was first announced last fall, there has been a groundswell of interest in it. There will be a foreword from Jim Miller, the inventor of the CLR. Originally appeared in October 2001 catalog.

Don Box是微軟公司的架構師，主要研究方嚮為下一代Web服務協議和程序設計模型。Don是軟件集成技術方麵的權威。在上世紀90年代，他花費大量時間為CLR積極籌建瞭組件對象模型[Component Object Mode(COM)]社區。他是簡單對象訪問協議[Simple Object Access Protocol(SOAP)]規範1.1版本的締造者之一，同時他還是暢銷技術專營《Essential COM》、《Effective COM》和《Essential XML》(以上3種圖書的中文版已由中國電力齣版社齣版)的作者及閤著者。

Chris Shells是COM和.NET方麵的資深獨立顧問，也是DevelopMentor的講師。他是《Windows Telephony Programming》的作者，《Effective COM》及《ATL internals》(中文版《深入解析ATL》已由中國電力齣版社齣版)的閤著者。