Title: Technical Reference for Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Published: © May 2011 by Microsoft Corporation
Pages: 505
File size: .DOC, .PDF, .XPS, .EPUB, .MOBI (1-3 MB)
Price: FREE
Download URL: Click here for download.

Description:

This book includes technical information about the Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 provider for Windows PowerShell and other helpful reference information about general settings, security, and tools.

Title: For IT Professionals: Getting Started with Office 2010
Publisher: Microsoft Corporation
Published: © March 2011 by Microsoft Corporation
Pages: 341
File size: Available in .EPUB, .MOBI, .DOC, .PDF & .XPS (1-2 MB)
Price: FREE
Download URL: Click here to download

Description:

This book provides an overview of the Microsoft Office 2010 suites and information about how to get started with Office 2010. Heavy emphasis on what has changed from the previous version to help you get up to speed quickly.

Title: Understanding Microsoft Virtualization Solutions – From the Desktop to the Datacenter (Second Edition)
Author: Mitch Tulloch w/ the Microsoft Virtualization Teams
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Published: © 2010 by Microsoft Corporation
Pages: 480
File size: PDF 10.5 MB / XPS 22.6 MB
Price: FREE
Download URL: Click here for PDF or XPS

Description:

Learn about the benefits of the latest virtualization technologies and how to plan, implement, and manage virtual infrastructure solutions based on these technologies. Updated for Windows Server 2008 R2

Title: The Windows 7 Power Users Guide
Author: Mike Halsey
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Date Published: © 2009 Mike Halsey 
Pages: 174
File size: PDF 23.3 MB
Price: FREE
Download URL: Click here for PDF

Description:
The Windows 7 Power Users Guide, by Microsoft MVP Mike Halsey, shows you to how to get the very best out of Windows 7. It’s suitable for users of every ability, from complete novices to tech pros, and includes step-by-step guides, illustrations and diagrams on every page and quick tips throughout.

Title: Microsoft Office 365: Connect and Collaborate Virtually Anywhere, Anytime
Authors: Katherine Murray
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Date Published: © 2011 Katherine Murray 
ISBN: 978-0-7356-56949 
Pages: 337
File size: PDF 21.0 MB
Price: FREE
Download URL: Click here for PDF

Description:
This book shows you how you can use cloud computing—and ­specifically, ­Office 365—to get more done, collaborate more easily, and work more ­flexibly than you ever have before. From the necessary how-tos about ­creating and administering your Office 365 account and working with the various Office 365 programs to sharing files with your team, creating a team site, using Office Web Apps, and holding online meetings, you’ll discover how easy it is to work online and off, accessing and sharing your files whenever you need to.

Eight More eBooks on Microsoft Office 2010

eBook Titles:

• Best Practices for Outlook 2010
• Creating Everyday Documents That Stand Out From The Crowd
• Basic Tasks in Word 2010
• Basic Tasks in Excel 2010
• Basic Tasks in Outlook 2010
• Basic Tasks in OneNote 2010
• Basic Tasks in Visio 2010

These Office 2010 eBooks are available in both .EPUB (Nook, Sony Reader, etc.) and .MOBI (Kindle) formats.

Download URL: Click here for .EPUB or .MOBI

Title: Programming Windows Phone 7
Authors: Charles Petzold
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Date Published: © 2010 Microsoft Corporation
ISBN:  978-0-7356-43352
Pages: 1013
File size: PDF 38.6 MB
Price: FREE
Download URL: Click here for PDF

Description:
This book assumes that you know the basic principles of .NET programming and that you have a familiarity with the C# programming language. If not, you might benefit from reading the free online book .NET Book Zera: What the C or C++ Programmer Needs to Know About C# and the .NET Framework.

This is divided into three parts:

• Basic Concepts of Windows Phone 7 Programming
• Silverlight
• XNA

More Info: Microsoft Press Blog

Source: Erig Ligman via Twitter

The new book “Windows Home Server Unleashed (2nd Edition)” by author Paul McFedries is in stores now. This is the third book I’ve worked on for SAMS Publishing, this time as a Technical Editor instead of a co-author. 

The “Unleashed” series of books strives to provide unparalleled technical depth and accuracy, and this book is no exception. The second edition has been updated to include information about Power Pack 3, Windows 7, and other improvements. Paul is an author of over 60 books and has an excellent knowledge of networking, Office, Windows, Macs and the web. He’s even got a book on the iPad!

Title: Windows Home Server Unleashed (2nd Edition)
Publisher: Sams Publishing; 2 edition
Published: April 15, 2010
ISBN-10: 0672331063
Paperback: 792 pages
Language: English
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Buy.com | InformIT / Sams

If you’ve never installed WHS before, or even if you’ve been using it for quite a while, this book has something for everyone; from beginning setup instructions to advanced topics like connecting Linux, Macs, wireless photo frames, setting up SharePoint, and even scripting. I had an absolute blast editing it, and at one point I had 12 machines running at the same time testing out different scenarios and configurations. I really hope you enjoy this book!

Title: Introducing Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2
Author: Ross Mistry and Stacia Misner
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Date Published: © 2010 Microsoft Corporation
Pages: 236
File size: PDF 7.7 MB
Price: FREE
Download URL: Click here to download PDF

Description:

The purpose in Introducing Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 is to point out both the new and the improved in the latest version of SQL Server. Because this version is Release 2 (R2) of SQL Server 2008, you might think the changes are relatively minor—more than a service pack, but not enough to justify an entirely new version. However, as you read this book, we think you will find that there are a lot of exciting enhancements and new capabilities engineered into SQL Server 2008 R2  that will have a positive impact on your applications, ranging from improvements in operation to those in management. It is definitely not a minor release!

Organization:

PART I   Database Administration

• CHAPTER 1   SQL Server 2008 R2 Editions and Enhancements
• CHAPTER 2   Multi-Server Administration
• CHAPTER 3   Data-Tier Applications
• CHAPTER 4   High Availability and Virtualization Enhancements
• CHAPTER 5   Consolidation and Monitoring

PART II   Business Intelligence Development

• CHAPTER 6   Scalable Data Warehousing
• CHAPTER 7   Master Data Services
• CHAPTER 8   Complex Event Processing with StreamInsight
• CHAPTER 9   Reporting Services Enhancements
• CHAPTER 10   Self-Service Analysis with PowerPivot

Source: Found via Eric Ligman’s blog

I have a lot of reading to do and I need to plow through an average of 40-80 pages from books on a daily basis. (That excludes 180-220 emails per day, blogs and websites). I don’t know if that number is high or low by your standards, but I find that each year the amount of reading I need to do always goes up.

Now, even though I’m a geek, I don’t want to be a nerd. And carrying a fake book around is getting pretty deep into nerd territory. But i figure that with features like playing MP3s and cellular wireless, that swings me back over to the geek camp. So, after an inordinate amount of online research, I purchased a Kindle 2 from Amazon.com. I picked the Kindle 2 model over the Kindle DX for several reasons.

My considerations for which Kindle to purchase:

Note: My winner for each category is shown in the far right column, and the spec I like best is highlighted in under each Kindle. Keep in mind that this is based on my research, not official Amazon specs / info.

Also: You can click on any picture for a larger view.

SPECS

	Kindle 2	Kindle DX	Winner
Weight	10.2 oz.	18.9 oz.	K2 – 46% lighter
Overall size	8” x 5.3”	10.4” x 7.2”	K2 – 25% smaller
Screen size	6”	9.7”	DX – 2.5 x bigger
Resolution	800×600 @167ppi	1200×824 @150 ppi	N/A
Max # books	1,500	3,500	DX – 2,000 more
Storage	2 GB, 1.4 usable	4 GB, 3.3 usable	DX – 1.9 GB more
Battery life	Up to 1 week	Up to 1 week	N/A
Free Wireless	Yes	Yes	N/A
Free Case	No	No	N/A
Price	$259 US	$489 US	DX – 47% cheaper

GOOD – The DX has 2x the screen & 2x the storage.

BAD – The DX has nearly 2x the weight and 2x the cost.

WINNER – At half the price and half the weight, I opted to buy the Kindle 2.

OK, so all that looks good on paper, but what about the real test? How does this really look and feel? Let’s look at some key categories.

SIZE
As I mentioned in a previous post, I hate hauling around bulky or unnecessary items. When it comes to packing your toolkit or travel bag, size matters. Here is the K2 next to some everyday items for perspective: 4GB Zune, dollar bill, K2 & Matt’s new book. (The Kindle 2 is shown in the optional case)

The K2 is definitely smaller than a standard geek book, not as wide as a dollar bill, slightly thicker than a Zune, & a lot thinner than my Palm Treo Pro phone (not shown).

READABILITY
In spite of the resolution and poor focus of my camera phone, you have to see the screen to believe it.

When I unboxed the Kindle 2, I thought there was a sticker on it, but that was the actual screen.

Other than the background having a gray tinge to it (rather than a true white) it looks like a real printed page. For me the gray was a bit distracting at first, but I’m already used to it. The picture above is showing my website, not an eBook. The camera phone doesn’t do the Kindle justice. This is a VERY impressive screen.

GLARE
Though contrary to popular belief, geeks do go outside in the sun for things other than driving to a customer site to fix a computer. Here is the Kindle 2 outside at noon with the sun behind me as I took the picture.

That’s full daylight, no clouds, with the sun shining right on it.

If you try to use the Kindle as a mirror, it is possible to get a flare on the screen, but I really had to aim just right to get this much glare.

Just a slight shift and the sun spot was gone. Readability outside is as-good, if not better than indoors.

WEB BROWSING
The Kindle is designed to access the web, not to surf it. The screen shots above show that you can indeed surf the web though and read blogs and such. Just don’t expect a desktop PC web experience.

READING PDF DOCUMENTS
One of the killer features for me (and pretty much the primary reason I bought the Kindle) was the native ability for the Kindle 2 to read PDF documents. You just plug in your USB / charging cable and the Kindle shows up in Windows Explorer like a USB drive.

Drag-and-drop, you’re done. I have gobs of Microsoft Press books that include a CD in the back with a PDF version of the book. You can just plug in the Kindle, insert the CD, and drag and drop the PDF into the Kindle.

GOOD – All the PDF documents I tested rendered accurately on the Kindle.

BAD – Many PDFs are smaller on the 6” screen than they would be in real life, making them harder to read. And the cool font size changing feature doesn’t work on PDFs as far as I can tell.

MORE GOOD – Even though the text is smaller, I was able to search PDFs, bookmark them, and the Kindle remembered which page I left off reading.

MORE BAD – I couldn’t add notes or highlights to a PDF like I could with a ‘real’ kindle book.

Small fonts aside on PDFs, this feature still rocks.

FILE CONVERSION
The drag and drop on the Kindle 2 means I didn’t even have to email the document to Amazon for conversion like the Kindle 1. I did send a PDF to “name”@free.kindle.com (the way to convert files to the Kindle AZW format without the $0.15/MB wireless fee), but that has a file limit of 5 MB.

For a test I took the 1.92 MB “Windows Server 2008 Technical Overview.pdf” file and sent it to Amazon for conversion. It came back to me in under 2 minutes as an AZW file that only weighed 5.4 KB. I pulled the AZW file into the Kindle 2 and it was just my sig line from the e-mail. A few seconds later another email came in from Amazon with an attached PDF but now it was called “Windows_Server_2008_Technical_Overview.pdf” and was the exact same size as the original. It still doesn’t change font sizes in the Kindle, but it works the same as before the ‘conversion’. I suspect I’ll be spending a lot of time learning the ins and outs of file conversion because I’d like to be able to shrink and grow the text if possible on a PDF.

OPTIONS
The only option I recommend (other than a warranty if you’re the fumblefingers type) is the Amazon Kindle Black Leather Cover.

At $39.99 US, it’s not cheap by any stretch, but then again it’s not cheaply made either. It fits like a glove, and it still gives you access to the important bits for charging and such. I wonder how long the elastic band / strap will last. Still, I think that the leather cover is a must-have.

VERDICT
So far I’m a very happy camper. This is the best (and most fun) technical purchase I’ve made since I got my Acer Aspire One netbook. The Kindle 2 can do text-to-speech and there’s supposed to be experimental support for MP3s, but I don’t care about that. This is a great device as-is.

Title: First Look: Microsoft Office 2010 
Author: Katherine Murray
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Date Published: © 2010 Microsoft Corporation
Pages: 202
File size: PDF 10.5 MB
Price: FREE
Download URL: Click here to download PDF

Description:

For a limited time, Microsoft is offering a free download of the eBook “First Look: Microsoft Office 2010” which provides an overview of the updated features in the newest version of Microsoft Office. The book is broken into 14 chapters (shown below) and further organized into three parts.

• Part I – Envision the Possibilities (Chapters 1-3)
• Part II – Hit the Ground Running (Chapters 4-11)
• Part III – Next Steps with Office 2010 (Chapters 12-14)

Table of Contents:

1. Welcome to Office 2010
2. Express Yourself Effectively and Efficiently
3. Collaborate in the Office and Around the World
    
4. Create and Share Compelling Documents with Word 2010
5. Create Smart Data Insights with Excel 2010
6. Manage Rich Communications with Outlook 2010
7. Produce Dynamic Presentations with PowerPoint 2010
8. Organize, Store, and Share Ideas with OneNote 2010
9. Collaborate Effectively with SharePoint Workspace 2010
10. Create Effective Marketing Materials with Publisher 2010
11. Make Sense of Your Data with Access 2010
     
12. Putting It All Together
13. Security in Office 2010
14. Training Made Easy

Source: Eric Ligman’s blog

Title: Introducing Windows Server 2008 R2
Authors: Charlie Russel, Craig Zacker with the Windows Server Team at Microsoft
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Date Published: © 2010 Microsoft Corporation
Pages: 200
File size: PDF 11 MB / XPS 28 MB
Price: FREE
Download URL: Click here for PDF / Click here for XPS

Description:

Charlie has done it again! Learn about the new features of Windows Server 2008 R2 in the areas of virtualization, management, the Web application platform, scalability and reliability, and interoperability with Windows 7. Download Introducing Windows Server 2008 R2, written by industry experts Charlie Russel and Craig Zacker along with the Windows Server team at Microsoft.

Contents at a glance:

• Chapter 1 – What’s New in Windows Server R2
• Chapter 2 – Installation and Configuration: Adding R2 to Your World
• Chapter 3 – Hyper-V: Scaling and Migrating Virtual Machines
• Chapter 4 – Remote Desktop Services and VDI: Centralizing Desktop and Application Management
• Chapter 5 – Active Directory: Improving and Automating Identity and Access
• Chapter 6 – The File Services Role
• Chapter 7 – IIS 7.5: Improving the Web Application Platform
• Chapter 8 – DirectAccess and Network Policy Server
• Chapter 9 – Other Features and Enhancements