About the Authors Cary N. Prague is an internationally best selling author and lecturer in the database industry. He owns Database Creations, Inc., the world's largest Microsoft Access add-on company. Their products include a line of financial software; Business! for Microsoft Office, a mid-range accounting system, POSitively Business! Point of Sale software, the Inventory Barcode manager for mobile data collection, and the Check Writer and General Ledger. Database Creations also produces a line of developer tools including the appBuilder, an application generator for Microsoft Access, the EZ Access Developer Tools for building great user interfaces, appWatcher for maintaining code bases among several developers, and Surgical Strike, the only Patch Manager for Microsoft Access. Cary also owns Database Creations Consulting, LLC., a successful consulting firm specializing in Microsoft Access and SQL Server applications. Local and national clients include many Fortune 100 companies including manufacturers, defense contractors, insurance, health-care, and software industry companies. His client list includes Microsoft, United Technologies, ABB, Smith & Wesson Firearms, Pratt and Whitney Aircraft, ProHealth, OfficeMax, Continental Airlines, and other Fortune 500 companies. Formerly, he has held numerous management positions in corporate information systems, including Director of Managed Care Reporting for MetraHealth, Director of Corporate Finance and Software Productivity at Travelers Insurance where he was responsible for software support for 35,000 end users, and Manager of Information Systems support for Northeast Utilities. He is one of the top best-selling authors in the computer database management market having written over forty books which have sold over one million copies on software including Microsoft Access, Borland (Ashton-Tate) dBASE, Paradox, R:Base, Framework, and graphics. Cary's books include eleven books in the Access Bible series (recently number one on the Ingram Bestselling Database Titles list and in the Amazon.com top 100), Access 97 Secrets, dBASE for Windows Handbook, dBASE IV Programming (winner of the Computer Press Association's Book of the Year award for Best Software Specific Book), and Everyman's Database Primer Featuring dBASE IV. He previously completed three books for Access 2000 including Weekend Crash Course in Access 2000 Programming. Cary recently sold a product line named eTools for Microsoft Access to MightyWords, a division of FatBrain.com and Barnes and Noble. Cary is certified in Access as a Microsoft Certified Professional and has passed the MOUS test in Access and Word. He is a frequent speaker at seminars and conferences around the country. He is on the exclusive Microsoft Access Insider Advisory Board and makes frequent trips to Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, WA. He has been voted the best speaker by the attendees of several national conferences. Recently, he was a speaker for Microsoft sponsored conferences in New Orleans, Hawaii, Phoenix, Chicago, Toronto, Palm Springs, Boston, and Orlando. He has also spoken at Borland's Database Conference, Digital Consulting's Database World, Microsoft's Developer Days, Computerland's Technomics Conference, COMDEX, and COMPAQ Computer's Innovate. He was a contributing editor to Access Advisor magazine and has written for the Microsoft Office Developer's journal. Cary holds a master's degree in computer science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and an M.B.A. and Bachelor of Accounting from the University of Connecticut. He is also a Certified Data Processor. Michael R. Irwin is considered one of the leading authorities on automated database and Internet management systems today. He is a noted worldwide lecturer, a winner of national and international awards, best-selling author, and developer of client/server, Internet, Intranet, and PC-based database management systems. Mr. Irwin has extensive database knowledge, gained by working with the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C. as a developer and analyst for the Information Systems Division for over 20 years and assorted Federal Agencies of the United States Government. Since retiring in June 1992, he runs his own consuiting firm, named The Irwin Group, and is principal partner in the company - IT in Asia, LLC, specializing in Internet database integration and emphasizing Client/Server and net solutions. With consulting offices in Cincinnati Ohio, Bangkok Thailand, and Manila Philippines, his companies offer Training and Development of Internet and database applications. His company has the distinction of being one of the first Microsoft Solution's Providers (in 1992). His local, national, and international clients include many software companies, manufacturers, government agencies, and international companies. His range of expertise includes database processing and integration between mainframe, minicomputer, and PC-based database systems, as well as B-2-B and B-2-C integration between back-end databases; he is a leading authority on PC-based databases. He is one of the top best-selling authors in the computer database management market having authored numerous database books, with several of them consistently on the best sellers lists. His books, combined, have sold nearly a million copies worldwide. His most recent works include The OOPs Primer (Borland Press, dBASE 5.5 for Windows Programming (Prentice Hall), Microsoft Access 2000 Bible, Microsoft Access 2000 Bible Gold Edition (co-authored), and Working with the Internet. The Access Bible series have recently been number one on the Ingram Bestselling Database Titles list and is always in the Amazon.com top 100. He has also written several books on customs and cultures of the countries of Asia (including China, Japan, Thailand, and India). Two of his books have won international acclaim. His books are published in over 24 languages worldwide. He has been a contributing editor and author to many well-known magazines and journals. He is a frequent speaker at seminars and conferences around the world and has been voted the best speaker by the attendees of several international conferences. Michael has developed and markets several add-on software products for the Internet and productivity related applications. Many of his productivity applications can be obtained from several of his Internet sites or on many common download sites. Many of his application and systems are distributed as freeware and careware. He has also developed and distributes several development tools and add-ins for a wide range of developer applications.
