[Guest Blogger] It's Official, Windows Server 2008!

Good friend of mine, MVP and technical author Mitch Tulloch sent this post in and it could not be more timely....

--------------------------------------------------

Mitch Tulloch here as guest poster to the Canadian IT Pro Blog. Well, the word is out—at WinHEC today, as reported by Redmond Channel Partner, Bill Gates announced that the official name of Windows Server Code-Name "Longhorn" will be Windows Server 2008. If you're keen on learning all you can about this upcoming platform, I have some exciting news for you. Right after I finished my stint working with Microsoft Press as lead author for their flagship title, the Windows Vista Resource Kit, I was invited by Microsoft Press to write their first book about the upcoming Windows Server 2008 platform. This book is called Introducing Windows Server 2008 and it will be available in bookstores at the end of May.

Introducing_Windows_Server_2008_cover

Wait a minute. Windows Server 2008 has only reached the Beta 3 milestone. How can you publish a book about a product when it hasn't reached Release Candidate stage let alone RTM? Well, Microsoft Press always does just that with flagship products like desktop or server Windows versions, Visual Studio, and so on. These "Introducing" books are based on pre-release software, and in the past that has generally meant that these books were "throwaways" i.e. you'd read them and then chuck them out once the product reached RTM and a slew of more technically accurate books came out.

However, this is not the case with my book, which is going to be a "keeper" not a throwaway. Why? Because I had the privilege (the very, very intense privilege sometimes) of working closely with almost one hundred members of the Windows Server product team to ensure we "got it right" as far as the technical details of Windows Server 2008 are concerned in this book. These experts—and nobody knows Windows Server 2008 better than the team that developed it—contributed almost 100 "From the Experts" sidebars to my book on various aspects of deploying, configuring, maintaining and troubleshooting Windows Server 2008. The product team also thoroughly reviewed everything I wrote to ensure as much as possible that all the book's content will be as technically accurate as possible, not only as of Beta 3 but also for RTM. So this book is going to be a keeper and if you are eager to learn more about the exciting new features and capabilities of Windows Server 2008, you should pre-order the book today so you can get a copy as soon as it becomes available later this month. To get you even more excited here's a breakdown of the various chapter titles so you can see what topics are covered:

1. Introduction
2. Usage Scenarios
3. Windows Server Virtualization
4. Managing Windows Server 2008
5. Managing Server Roles
6. Windows Server Core
7. Active Directory Enhancements
8. Terminal Services Enhancements
9. Clustering Enhancements
10. Implementing Network Access Protection
11. Internet Information Services 7.0
12. Other Features and Enhancements
13. Deploying Windows Server 2008
14. Additional Resources

--------------------------------------------------

Mitch Tulloch is President of MTIT Enterprises, an Information Technology (IT) content-development business based in Winnipeg, Canada. Before starting his own business in 1998, Mitch worked as a Microsoft Certified Trainer for Productivity Point. Mitch is a widely recognized expert on Windows administration, networking, and security, and has been awarded Most Valuable Professional (MVP) status by Microsoft for his outstanding contributions in supporting users who deploy Microsoft platforms, products and solutions. Mitch has published over two hundred articles on different IT websites and magazines, and he has written more than a dozen books including the Microsoft Encyclopedia of Networking, the Microsoft Encyclopedia of Security, Windows Server Hacks and IIS6 Administration. Mitch is also lead author for the Windows Vista Resource Kit from Microsoft Press, which is the book for IT pros who will deploy, maintain and support Windows Vista in enterprise environments. For more information, see https://www.mtit.com/. You can also contact Mitch by email.