241 lines
6.1 KiB
HTML
241 lines
6.1 KiB
HTML
<HTML
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><HEAD
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><TITLE
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>The Official Printed Version</TITLE
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><META
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NAME="GENERATOR"
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CONTENT="Modular DocBook HTML Stylesheet Version 1.57"><LINK
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REL="HOME"
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TITLE="Linux Network Administrators Guide"
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HREF="index.html"><LINK
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REL="UP"
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TITLE="Preface"
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HREF="f3.html"><LINK
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REL="PREVIOUS"
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TITLE="About This Book"
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HREF="x425.html"><LINK
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REL="NEXT"
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TITLE="Overview"
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HREF="x-087-2-intro.outlook.html"></HEAD
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><BODY
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CLASS="SECT1"
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BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF"
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TEXT="#000000"
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LINK="#0000FF"
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VLINK="#840084"
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ALINK="#0000FF"
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><TR
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><TH
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COLSPAN="3"
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ALIGN="center"
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>Linux Network Administrators Guide</TH
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></TR
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><TR
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><TD
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WIDTH="10%"
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ALIGN="left"
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VALIGN="bottom"
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><A
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HREF="x425.html"
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>Prev</A
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></TD
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><TD
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WIDTH="80%"
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ALIGN="center"
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VALIGN="bottom"
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>Preface</TD
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><TD
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WIDTH="10%"
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ALIGN="right"
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VALIGN="bottom"
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><A
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HREF="x-087-2-intro.outlook.html"
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>Next</A
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></TD
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></TR
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></TABLE
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><HR
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ALIGN="LEFT"
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WIDTH="100%"></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="SECT1"
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><H1
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CLASS="SECT1"
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><A
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NAME="AEN453"
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>6. The Official Printed Version</A
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></H1
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><P
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>In Autumn 1993, Andy Oram, who had been around the LDP mailing list
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from almost the very beginning, asked Olaf about publishing this book
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at O'Reilly & Associates. He was excited about this book, never having
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imagined that it would become this successful. He and Andy
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finally agreed that O'Reilly would produce an enhanced Official
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Printed Version of the Networking Guide, while Olaf retained the
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original copyright so that the source of the book could be freely
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distributed. This means that you can choose freely: you can get the
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various free forms of the document from your nearest Linux
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Documentation Project mirror site and print it out, or you can
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purchase the official printed version from O'Reilly.</P
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><P
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>Why, then, would you want to pay money for something you can get for
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free? Is Tim O'Reilly out of his mind for publishing something
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everyone can print and even sell themselves?<A
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NAME="X-087-2-FNPR06"
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HREF="#FTN.X-087-2-FNPR06"
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>[1]</A
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>
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Is there any difference between these versions?</P
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><P
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>The answers are “it depends,” “no, definitely not,”
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and “yes and no.” O'Reilly & Associates does take a risk in
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publishing the Networking Guide, and it seems to have paid off for them
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(they've asked us to do it again). We believe this project serves as a fine
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example of how the free software world and companies can cooperate to produce
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something both can benefit from. In our view, the great service O'Reilly is
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providing to the Linux community (apart from the book becoming readily
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available in your local bookstore) is that it has helped Linux become
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recognized as something to be taken seriously: a viable and useful alternative
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to other commercial operating systems. It's a sad technical bookstore
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that doesn't have at least one shelf stacked with O'Reilly Linux books.</P
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><P
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>Why are they publishing it? They see it as their
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kind of book. It's what they'd hope to produce if they contracted with
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an author to write about Linux. The pace, level of detail, and style
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fit in well with their other offerings.</P
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><P
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>The point of the LDP license is to make sure no one gets shut out. Other
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people can print out copies of this book, and no one will blame you if you
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get one of these copies. But if you haven't gotten a chance to see the
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O'Reilly version, try to get to a bookstore or look at a friend's copy. We
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think you'll like what you see, and will want to buy it for yourself.</P
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><P
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>So what about the differences between the printed and online versions?
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Andy Oram has made great efforts at transforming our ramblings into
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something actually worth printing. (He has also reviewed a few other
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books produced by the Linux Documentation Project, contributing
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whatever professional skills he can to the Linux community.)</P
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><P
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>Since Andy started reviewing the Networking Guide and editing the
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copies sent to him, the book has improved vastly from its original
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form, and with every round of submission and feedback it improves
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again. The opportunity to take advantage of a professional editor's
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skill is one not to be wasted. In many ways, Andy's contribution has
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been as important as that of the authors. The same is also true of
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the copyeditors, who got the book into the shape you see now. All
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these edits have been fed back into the online version, so there is no
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difference in content.</P
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><P
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>Still, the O'Reilly version <I
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CLASS="EMPHASIS"
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>will</I
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> be different. It
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will be professionally bound, and while you may go to the trouble to
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print the free version, it is unlikely that you will get the same
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quality result, and even then it is more unlikely that you'll do it for
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the price. Secondly, our amateurish attempts at illustration will have
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been replaced with nicely redone figures by O'Reilly's professional
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artists. Indexers have generated an improved index, which makes
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locating information in the book a much simpler process. If this book
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is something you intend to read from start to finish, you should
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consider reading the official printed version.</P
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></DIV
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><H3
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CLASS="FOOTNOTES"
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>Notes</H3
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><TABLE
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BORDER="0"
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CLASS="FOOTNOTES"
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WIDTH="100%"
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><TR
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><TD
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ALIGN="LEFT"
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VALIGN="TOP"
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WIDTH="5%"
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><A
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NAME="FTN.X-087-2-FNPR06"
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HREF="x453.html#X-087-2-FNPR06"
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>[1]</A
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></TD
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><TD
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ALIGN="LEFT"
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VALIGN="TOP"
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WIDTH="95%"
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><P
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> Note that while you are allowed to print
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out the online version, you may <I
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CLASS="EMPHASIS"
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>not</I
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> run the
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O'Reilly book through a photocopier, much less sell any of its
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(hypothetical) copies.</P
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></TD
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></TR
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></TABLE
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><DIV
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CLASS="NAVFOOTER"
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><HR
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ALIGN="LEFT"
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WIDTH="100%"><TABLE
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WIDTH="100%"
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BORDER="0"
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CELLPADDING="0"
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CELLSPACING="0"
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><TR
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><TD
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WIDTH="33%"
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ALIGN="left"
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VALIGN="top"
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><A
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HREF="x425.html"
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>Prev</A
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></TD
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><TD
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WIDTH="34%"
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ALIGN="center"
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VALIGN="top"
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><A
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HREF="index.html"
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>Home</A
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></TD
|
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><TD
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WIDTH="33%"
|
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ALIGN="right"
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VALIGN="top"
|
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><A
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HREF="x-087-2-intro.outlook.html"
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>Next</A
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></TD
|
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></TR
|
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><TR
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><TD
|
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WIDTH="33%"
|
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ALIGN="left"
|
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VALIGN="top"
|
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>About This Book</TD
|
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><TD
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WIDTH="34%"
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ALIGN="center"
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VALIGN="top"
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><A
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HREF="f3.html"
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>Up</A
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></TD
|
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><TD
|
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WIDTH="33%"
|
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ALIGN="right"
|
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VALIGN="top"
|
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>Overview</TD
|
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></TR
|
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></TABLE
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></DIV
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></BODY
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></HTML
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> |