Hello all,

Allow me to quickly introduce myself: I'm Tom's editor. I worked with him on
his first book, Expert one-on-one Oracle, and am actually responsible for
all Oracle titles here at Wrox. I'd like to welcome you all to the book beta
program. This is an invite-only program and you're all here based on your
Oracle expertise and excellent contributions to various other discussion
lists etc. So, over the next few weeks, I hope we can have a very productive
debate on the content, scope, style, and depth of "Expert one-on-one Oracle
Performance by Design". Both Tom and I will be involved in the debate and
your comments and opinions will help determine exactly how the final book
will look, so please be as forthright as possible in your feedback.

In the first instance, we'd welcome your general thoughts on the book
concept, and its proposed content and style. I'd like to start a discussion
around the following - in order to focus each part of the debate, it might
be useful if you responded to them one at a time:

1) When you read the proposed title "Expert one-on-one: Oracle Performance
by Design", what does that say to you? Do you like the title? What does it
lead you to expect?

2) The specification should give you a good feel for Tom's philosophy and
the proposed content. What are your thoughts about the content? Is this the
sort of information you really need? Are there any issues not covered that
you'd like to see or, conversely, anything you feel is not central to the
book theme?

3) The style of the book is very different form Tom's last book. Having
looked through Chapter 1, what are your initial thoughts about it?

4) How do you feel about the fact that the book does rely to some extent on
you having read Tom's previous book? Since the book needs to focus on the
"whys and whens" rather than the "whats", it does make cross-references to
the last book for some of the background information. For example, in order
to focus on when you should use a particular type of index/table, Tom has to
assume basic knowledge of what each type is...and this is covered in E1-1
Oracle. Do you feel that this is acceptable? (We will be making relevant
sections from E1-1 Oracle freely available in pdf format from the Wrox web
site).

Looking forward to a great discussion.

Best regards,

Tony.

Tony Davis 
Commissioning Editor, Wrox Press 
Tel +44 (0)121 6874 178 



The sender cannot accept any liability for any loss or damage sustained as a
result of software viruses. It is your responsibility to carry out such
virus checking as is necessary before opening any attachment.