1<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"><title>Foreword</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="../samba.css" type="text/css"><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.74.0"><link rel="home" href="index.html" title="The Official Samba 3.5.x HOWTO and Reference Guide"><link rel="up" href="index.html" title="The Official Samba 3.5.x HOWTO and Reference Guide"><link rel="prev" href="pr02.html" title="Attribution"><link rel="next" href="TOSHpreface.html" title="Preface"></head><body bgcolor="white" text="black" link="#0000FF" vlink="#840084" alink="#0000FF"><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">Foreword</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="pr02.html">Prev</a>�</td><th width="60%" align="center">�</th><td width="20%" align="right">�<a accesskey="n" href="TOSHpreface.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr></div><div class="preface" lang="en"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title"><a name="id2550920"></a>Foreword</h2></div></div></div><p> 2When John first asked me to write an introductory piece for his latest book, I was somewhat mystified as to 3why he chose me. A conversation with John provided some of the rationale, and he left it to me to fill in the 4<span class="emphasis"><em>rest</em></span> of the story. So, if you are willing to endure a little bit of background, I will 5provide the part of the story that John wouldn't provide. 6</p><p> 7I am the Director of Corporate Standards at Sun Microsystems, and manage Sun's standards portfolio. Before 8that, I was the Director of Standards at Netscape, which was when I met John. Before Sun, there was Digital 9Equipment Corporation, also standards. I've written several books on standards, and tend to observe (and 10occasionally help) the technical and business trends that drive standardization as a discipline. I tend to see 11standardization as a management tool, not as a technical discipline and this is part of the rationale that 12John provided. 13</p><p> 14The book that you have before you focuses on a particular standardized way of doing something hence, it is a 15book about a standard. The most important thing to keep in mind about a standard is the rationale for its 16creation. Standards are created not for technical reasons, not for business reasons, but for a deeper and much 17more compelling reason. Standards are created and used to allow people to communicate in a meaningful way. 18Every standard, if it is a true standard, has as its entire (and only) goal set the increasing of relevant 19communication between people. 20</p><p> 21This primary goal cannot be met however, unless the standard is documented. I have been involved in too many 22standardization efforts when it became apparent that <span class="emphasis"><em>everybody knows</em></span> was the dominant 23emotion of those providing documentation. <span class="emphasis"><em>They</em></span> of the ever present <span class="emphasis"><em>they 24say</em></span> and <span class="emphasis"><em>they know</em></span> are the bane of good standards. If <span class="emphasis"><em>they 25know</em></span>, why are you doing a standard? 26</p><p> 27A <span class="emphasis"><em>good standard</em></span> survives because people know how to use it. People know how to use a 28standard when it is so transparent, so obvious, and so easy that it becomes invisible. And a standard becomes 29invisible only when the documentation describing how to deploy it is clear, unambiguous, and correct. These 30three elements must be present for a standard to be useful, allowing communication and interaction between two 31separate and distinct entities to occur without obvious effort. As you read this book, look for the evidence 32of these three characteristics and notice how they are seamlessly woven into John's text. Clarity and 33unambiguity without <span class="emphasis"><em>correctness</em></span> provide a technical nightmare. Correctness and clarity 34with ambiguity create <span class="emphasis"><em>maybe bits,</em></span> and correctness and unambiguity without clarity provide 35a <span class="emphasis"><em>muddle through</em></span> scenario. 36</p><p> 37And this is <span class="emphasis"><em>the rest of the story</em></span> that John couldn't (or wouldn't) bring himself to 38state. This book provides a clear, concise, unambiguous, and technically valid presentation of Samba to make 39it useful to a user to someone who wants to use the standard to increase communication and the capability 40for communication between two or more entities whether person-machine, machine-machine, or person-person. 41The intent of this book is not to convince anyone of any agenda political, technical, or social. The intent 42is to provide documentation for users who need to know about Samba, how to use it, and how to get on with 43their primary responsibilities. While there is pride on John's part because of the tremendous success of 44the Samba documentation, he writes for the person who needs a tool to accomplish a particular job, and who has 45selected Samba to be that tool. 46</p><p> 47The book is a monument to John's perseverance and dedication to Samba and in my opinion to the goal of 48standardization. By writing this book, John has provided the users of Samba those that want to deploy it to 49make things better a clear, easy, and ultimately valuable resource. Additionally, he has increased the 50understanding and utility of a highly useful standard, and for this, as much as for the documentation, he is 51owed a debt of gratitude by those of us who rely on standards to make our lives more manageable. 52</p><p> 53</p><table class="simplelist" border="0" summary="Simple list"><tr><td>Carl Cargill, Senior Director</td></tr><tr><td>Corporate Standardization, The Office of the CTO</td></tr><tr><td>Sun Microsystems</td></tr></table><p> 54</p></div><div class="navfooter"><hr><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="pr02.html">Prev</a>�</td><td width="20%" align="center">�</td><td width="40%" align="right">�<a accesskey="n" href="TOSHpreface.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">Attribution�</td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top">�Preface</td></tr></table></div></body></html> 55