September, 2010

We are pleased to announce the release of MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-662): Configuring Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 , by Orin Thomas and Ian McLean, to the printer. This book, for IT professionals preparing for the MCTS certification exam Microsoft Exchange Server 2010, Configuring, will be available soon. In the meantime here are the Contents at a Glance and an excerpt from the Introduction. Contents at a Glance Introduction CHAPTER 1 Installing Exchange Server 2010 CHAPTER 2 Exchange Databases and Address Lists CHAPTER 3 Exchange Mailboxes CHAPTER 4 Distribution Groups and Public Folders CHAPTER 5 Configuring Client Access CHAPTER 6 Federated Sharing and Role Based Access Control CHAPTER 7 Routing and Transport Rules CHAPTER 8 Configuring Transport Servers CHAPTER...

Hello! We’re happy to announce that Programming Windows Identity Foundation , by Vittorio Bertocci , is now available.  See this post for the book’s Contents at a Glance, Introduction, and other information.   Get hands-on guidance for using Windows Identity Foundation (WIF) to solve common authentication, authorization, and customization issues in Web applications and services. The author—a key member of the WIF engineering team at Microsoft—demonstrates how to apply the principles of claims-based identity and access management, along with key architectural patterns.   •    Geared for developers with working knowledge of ASP.NET and Windows Communication Foundation, with or without security programming expertise •    Provides pragmatic, scenario...

Finally, Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Administrator's Companion (Microsoft Press 2011, 1184 pages), by Bill English, Brian Alderman, and Mark Ferraz, is available for purchase. The book’s chapter-level Table of Contents can be found from this earlier post . Here is an excerpt from Chapter 5, “Using Windows PowerShell to Perform and Automate Farm Administrative Tasks.” C H A P T E R 5 Using Windows PowerShell to Perform and Automate Farm Administrative Tasks ■ Using Windows PowerShell: The Basics 195 ■ Working with SharePoint 2010 Management Shell 210 ■ Examples of SharePoint Administrative Tasks 234 Over the last couple of years, some SharePoint administrators have recognized the power of Windows PowerShell and have tried to use it, but with no built-in support...

Greetings. Mark Dodge and Craig Stinson’s Microsoft Excel 2010 Inside Out (Microsoft Press, 2011; 1152 pages) is now available! The book’s chapter-level Table of Contents and a stretch of Chapter 1, “What’s New in Microsoft Excel 2010,” can be found here . In this post we’d like to share an excerpt from the book. Enjoy! CHAPTER 14 Everyday Functions Understanding Mathematical Functions … 537 Understanding Text Functions … 544 Understanding Logical Functions … 550 Understanding Information Functions … 553 Understanding Lookup and Reference Functions … 555 This chapter describes some of the more useful functions Microsoft Excel 2010 has to offer. To keep this book from threatening the structural integrity...

Hello! We’re happy to announce that Microsoft Office Professional 2010 Step by Step , by Joyce Cox, Joan Lambert, and Curtis Frye, is now available.  See this post for the book’s Table of contents and other information. This 1072-page book provides instructional material for the following programs, which together form the Office Professional 2010 software suite: ● Microsoft Word 2010 A word-processing program with which you can quickly and efficiently author and format documents. ● Microsoft Excel 2010 A spreadsheet program with which you can analyze, communicate, and manage information. ● Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 A program with which you can develop and present dynamic, professional-looking slide presentations. ● Microsoft OneNote 2010 A digital notebook program with which you can collect...

More good news about our epublishing efforts: many of the 370ish ebooks available via our own retail site (look for the green e icon) are now also available in Amazon’s Kindle Store .  233 books are now available, and more will be added each week. All Microsoft Press ebooks sold in the Kindle store are unencrypted and DRM-free, and can be used with any device or reading app that supports the Mobipocket format. Enjoy!

We are pleased to announce the release of Microsoft® PowerPivot for Excel® 2010: Give Your Data Meaning , by Marco Russo and Alberto Ferrari, to the printer. This book, for Excel power users and business analysts, will be available soon. In the meantime here are the Contents at a Glance and an excerpt from the Introduction. Contents at a Glance Preface Acknowledgments Introduction 1 First Steps with PowerPivot 2 PowerPivot at Work 3 Introduction to DAX 4 Data Models 5 Loading Data and Models 6 Evaluation Context and CALCULATE 7 Date Calculations in DAX 8 Mastering PivotTables 9 PowerPivot DAX Patterns 10 PowerPivot Data Model Patterns 11 Publishing to SharePoint Appendix: DAX Functions Reference Index Introduction Excerpt: Since we first began thinking about Microsoft...

We are pleased to announce the release of MCITP Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-686): Windows® 7 Desktop Administrator to the printer. This training kit will be available soon, in the meantime here are the Contents at a Glance and an excerpt from the Introduction. Contents at a Glance Introduction Chapter 1 Preparing to Deploy Windows Chapter 2 Designing a Client Life Cycle Chapter 3 Creating and Managing System Images Chapter 4 Configuring Clients Chapter 5 Configuring Security and Internet Explorer Chapter 6 Designing a Windows 7 Client Deployment Strategy Chapter 7 Designing Lite-Touch and Zero-Touch Deployments Chapter 8 Planning a Windows 7 Client Update Strategy Chapter 9 Deploying Applications Chapter 10 Using Application Deployment Tools Chapter 11 Troubleshooting...

Just a very quick post to say that you can watch the live webcast of the launch event to get news about Internet Explorer 9 Beta at 10:30 am PDT today here .  To check out all of the great sites and experiences built by partners, go to http://www.beautyoftheweb.com after 10:30 or so. ‘Nuff said.

Developers, we’re pleased to announce another free offering: Moving to Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 (Microsoft Press, 2011; 336 pages), written by Patrice Pelland, Pascal Paré, and Ken Haines. Here’s a little bit about the authors: Ken Haines is a software development engineer at Microsoft, working in the Consumer and Online Division. He has a passion for distributed applications in the cloud and strives to help customers and partners find the right solution for their needs. Pascal Paré has worked at Microsoft since 2006, where he has held positions as a software engineer on both development and testing teams. Patrice Pelland is a principal development manager at Microsoft, working in the Consumer and Online Division. He leads a development team that is focused on innovation and incubation...

When the Beyond Bullet Points book was first published by Microsoft Press in 2005, it pioneered a better way to use PowerPoint that sharpens critical thinking, simplifies slides and gets results.  Since then it has been named a best book of the year by the editors of Amazon.com, translated into a dozen languages and brought into law firms, government agencies and corporations including Sony, Toyota, Nestlé, Nokia, Nationwide, Deloitte, Amgen, Intel, Microsoft and many more. Not familiar with Beyond Bullet Points? Check out Cliff’s new video that explains his concept for creating great presentations.  Cliff Atkinson explains how to create effective presentations Now you can learn the revolutionary BBP method in person with author and presentation expert Cliff Atkinson at a 1-day public...

Ian Manasco, of Microsoft Learning, here. Take your IT career to its next destination with Microsoft Certification Packs with free Second Shots. Whether you’re validating your skills for your next IT job, landing your next job, looking to get a promotion, or seeking your next Microsoft Certification, Microsoft makes it easy for you to take your next step. Purchase packs of one to five exams along with one free re-take on every failed exam purchased and save up to 20%. Take advantage of this limited time offer – if you do not pass your exams on your first try, you can re-take the exam at no additional cost. Visit http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9741809 Offer description : MS Cert Pack Savings on Pack Second Shot 5-exam pack 20% Included with each Exam 4-exam pack 20% Included with each Exam...

Check out Safari Rough Cuts for the first installment (the first four chapters!) of Windows Server 2008 R2 Remote Desktop Services Resource Kit . The authors, Christa Anderson and Kristin Griffin, want your feedback. Check back often as content is added as it is written. Stay tuned for more Microsoft Press titles available on Rough Cuts!

David Solomon, coauthor of Windows Internals, Fifth Edition , has a couple of training opportunities coming up. The first is next week! Windows Internals with Sysinternals Webinar (September 13 & 15, 2010 – two-day webinar/virtual class) Explore the internals of key Windows kernel components and mechanisms with the Sysinternals tools in this two-day webinar. Topics include kernel architecture, memory management, thread scheduling, interrupt processing, time accounting, and crash dump analysis. This knowledge will help you help you troubleshoot difficult system problems as well as understand the true meaning behind key system performance counters. Register today . Windows OS Internals and Sysinternals Training (London October 18-22, San Francisco November 8-12) David Solomon Expert Seminars...

Greetings. Charles Petzold, whose upcoming Programming Windows Phone 7 will be available as a free download at the end of October, will be presenting in New York in October. The presentation’s title is “Multitasking on Windows Phone 7.” You must register at https://www.clicktoattend.com/invitation.aspx?code=150256 to be admitted to the building and attend. Subject:  “Multitasking on Windows Phone 7” They say that Windows Phone 7 can't multitask. They're wrong. Join Charles Petzold for a programmer's perspective on the multitasking features of Windows Phone 7, including tombstoning, asynchronous operations, and push notifications. Charles says this on his blog : “’Multitasking on Windows Phone 7’: That's the (somewhat provocative) title of a presentation I'll be delivering at the NYC .NET...

On July 7, 2010 at the Education Leaders Forum Microsoft announced a new certification program for fundamental Information Technology and development skills called the Microsoft Technology Associate (MTA). Unlike more advanced Microsoft certifications, the MTA targets students with no prior IT or development experience or employment. It is available exclusively in educational settings and is designed to easily integrate into the curricula of existing computer classes. The MTA will eventually be available in thousands of high schools, vocational programs, and colleges in the U.S. and other countries. Testing will be conducted by Certiport , a commercial testing service, at participating schools. Visit the MTA website (and click here to view the Microsoft PressPass feature). The program’s FAQs...

Mike here. We recently released a very cool two-way integration between Microsoft Word and Microsoft Dynamics CRM, and I thought you might be interested to check it out! In summary, our proprietary Word-to-CRM integration allows users to: Build Word document templates that can load data from Microsoft Dynamics CRM Once the data is loaded, users can edit their data in Microsoft Word and then save their changes back to Microsoft Dynamics CRM This Word-to-CRM integration allows users to take advantage of the full word processing capabilities of Word, but still allow them to store and save the data back into CRM. We use this tool internally for our project charter, specifications, etc. but we also have clients using it for documents like leases, approval letters, quotes, legal notifications, etc...