About the Authors
Had Richard McDougall lived 100 years ago, he would have had the hood open on the
first four-stroke internal combustion-powered vehicle, exploring new techniques for
making improvements. He would be looking for simple ways to solve complex problems
and helping pioneering owners understand how the technology worked to get the most
from their new experience. These days, Richard uses technology to satisfy his curiosity.
He is a Distinguished Engineer at Sun Microsystems, specializing in operating systems
technology and systems performance.
Jim Mauro is a Senior Staff Engineer in Sun's Performance, Architecture and Applications
Engineering group, where his most recent efforts have been Solaris performance on Opteron
platforms, specifcally in the area of file system and raw disk IO performance. Jim's
interests include operating systems scheduling and thread support, threaded applications,
file systems and operating system tools for observability. Outside interests include
reading and music; Jim proudly keeps his turntable in top working order, and still
purchases and plays 12 inch vinyl LPs. Jim lives in New Jersey with his wife and two Sons.
When he's not writing or working, he's handling trouble tickets generated by his
family on issues they're having with home networking and getting the printer to print.
