Rating: 

The main feature that sold me on this book is the labs. That is what I hate most about this book. After the first one or 2 labs you need the starter files to do the lab. I don't understand why everytime I open up one of the downloaded lab/sample files it loads up with .NET Framework 2.0. I thought WCF didn't come to be until .NET 3.0. It took me a long time to remember to convert the .NET framework version to v 3.5 when starting a lab.

In addition, a lot of the labs won't run. I get exceptions. the completed labs (at least the ones I've tried) have all compiled and run. when I encounter a lab that won't compile or run, I compare it to the completed lab file by file and very often I can't find any differences except that the completed labs will run and the ones that started from the starte files won't.

I think the info in the book is good but is no better or worse than I'd seen in other WCF titles.

I bought it because of the labs and that is the books weakest feature.

If all the labs using the starter files worked as expected, I would give this book a 5. However, I was torn between a 2 and a 3 and I decided to go with a 3.

Ira Idelson