Last month, we addressed platonic concepts in this space, albeit in as surface-level a way as possible. Just added a little pretentiousness to what could have otherwise been a deadly dull column. The topic of hand was "ease-of-use" and the practical reality of achieving such a thing in the world of software development.

This month, we can quickly move forward a couple of millennia to the time of Shakespeare, as we ask the eternal question, "To Build or Not to Build?" This is the topic of one of the feature articles in this issue, and it addresses the buy versus build conundrum facing enterprises of all types and sizes.

Shakespeare also noted, of course, that sometimes the better part of valor is discretion, and we hope that this issue of .NET Developer's Journal will provide some guidelines as to when you should buy or build, and what specific frameworks, tools, and emerging approaches you should take.

Speaking of tools, it often seems that there aren't enough of them and the ones that are available aren't very good. At least this is the perspective of our article, "Overcome the Frustrating Lack of .NET Deployment Tools." We're interested to find out what you think of this. Does the writer make a valid point? If so, when and how will/should the situation change?

In the spirit of the Japanese concept of continuous improvement (aka "kaizen") and the American concept of continuous self-improvement (aka "West Coast B.S."), we offer an Introduction to BizTalk Server, information about the Third Mono Beta, and a .NET Framework 2.0 Application Development Foundation Self-Paced Training Kit.

(Full disclosure: I live on the West Coast, have for a long time, and am fully aware of the sense of humor, or lack thereof, in the region).

This publication addresses, as all IT publications address, a spectrum of readers. The spectrum for this publication may be a bit narrower than that of more general IT publications, but nevertheless, we are aware that our readers embrace a wide range of experience, skills, and aspirations.

So, for those for whom a "self-paced training kit" sounds more like training wheels, we offer a more advanced feature on Bulletproof .NET Code. This article, in my view, represents not only its apparent intrinsic value, but should also pique the deeper thoughts of our more advanced readers, who have made the decision to go with .NET in the first place, before deciding what to do with it.

How does an article such as this one validate your decision to work with .NET, and how can we continue to improve in this area?

In similar fashion, we offer up a major management piece that addresses "Requirements Definition and Management for Developers." We'd like to know how difficult is it for a developer - a writer of code - to become a manager? Is there a clear chasm that must be crossed at some point? For example, is it a major transition to have to manage one or two other people? Or does the crisis point occur when you're put in charge of a larger team? Meanwhile, no self-respecting technology magazine would be complete without an AJAX article today, and we have one! The specific article in this issue addresses "Forms Authentication with a Twist of AJAX."

In fact, SYS-CON Media has been pioneering AJAX coverage for the past year, with a continuous stream of daily coverage at www.sys-con.com, a series of "Real-World AJAX" seminars, and the upcoming AJAXWorld Conference & Expo, to be held October 2-4, 2006, in Santa Clara, CA. (This latter event has a special AJAX Bootcamp to boot on October 1.)

With the end of this commercial comes the question, "To Read or Not to Read?" Please do read the entire issue, and let us know what you think.