| | | Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services Resource Kit, by Christa Anderson and Kristin L Griffin with the Microsoft Presentation Hosted Desktop Virtualization Team Reviewed by Vicky Thulman, project editor, Microsoft Learning I know you're really going to appreciate the depth of information and accessible writing style in the recently published Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services Resource Kit. Authors Christa Anderson and Kristin L. Griffin have combined their gifts, experience, and TS connections to provide you with a resource kit that is really true to its series mission—to provide you with the only single volume on Terminal Services you will need on your desk. What strikes me about this book is how well the authors integrate the conceptual ideas with the practical how-to (and how to fix!) details that enable you to set up a working Terminal Services farm, manage all aspects of Terminal Services, and begin thinking about how to extend its reach outside the corporate network. Supporting the chapter discussions are meticulous illustrations documenting the architecture and inner workings of Terminal Services as well as sidebars offering insights and best practices from experts and professionals inside and outside of Microsoft. During the course of editing this book, I was impressed by how eager the authors' colleagues and other professionals, regardless of their affiliation with Microsoft, were to participate in this project—a testimony to their faith in the quality and value of this book. So you benefit from their wisdom in the form of sidebars and tools in addition to those provided by the authors. Finally, a well-organized CD provides get-to-work scripts and over 250 links to resources such as third-party tools, webcasts, white papers, and community sites. The CD alone is a huge treasure chest of additional troubleshooting help for any new or seasoned professional. |
For Developers
| | Reviewed by Ken Jones, product planner, Microsoft Learning Business intelligence is one of the hottest trends in the corporate IT world. Even in these difficult economic times—in fact, especially in these difficult times—companies have a critical need to invest in technologies such as BI that drive strategic change and show tangible returns. With the growing adoption of BI technologies, Microsoft is becoming a larger player in this field. According to a recent Gartner Group report, Microsoft is now considered one of the leaders among all BI software vendors. With the release of SQL Server 2008 and its integration with Visual Studio 2008 and Office software such as Excel, SharePoint, and PerformancePoint Server, Microsoft provides a more powerful BI platform than ever before. If your job is to design and implement applications using the Microsoft BI stack, where do you begin? That's a question we hope to answer with the new Microsoft Press book Smart Business Intelligence Solutions with Microsoft SQL Server 2008. The book's author is Lynn Langit, a developer evangelist for Microsoft, and her co-contributors are Kevin S. Goff, Davide Mauri, Sahil Malik, and John Welch. Lynn's book covers the entire Microsoft BI stack, providing practical, end-to-end guidance on how to envision, plan, develop, test, and deploy a complete business intelligence solution based on SQL Server 2008. With the help of real-world case studies, you'll learn how to: • Build a foundational knowledge of BI systems and components. • Work through the physical and logical design of a BI solution, examining SQL Server tools—Analysis Services, Integration Services, and Reporting Services—and the problems they solve. • Master core reporting and data-mining techniques. Although experienced database developers are the main audience for the book, it's also of value to database administrators and business managers needing to learn the principles of business intelligence. If you'd like to learn more about the book, BI, and assorted other topics, I highly recommend Lynn's blog Contagious Curiosity: http://blogs.msdn.com/socaldevgal. |
Special Offers
| |  | January 21, 2009  | | 25th Anniversary Free
E-Book Program Offers: | | Coming Soon For Developers Microsoft SQL Server 2008 MDX Step by Step, by Bryan C. Smith and C. Ryan Clay with Hitachi Consulting Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Internals, by Kalen Delaney, Paul S. Randal, Kimberly L. Tripp, Conor Cunningham, and Adam Machanic Microsoft .NET and SAP, by Juergen Daiberl, Steve Fox, Scott Adams, and Thomas Reimer Smart Business Intelligence Solutions with Microsoft SQL Server 2008, by Lynn Langit, Kevin S. Goff, Davide Mauri, Sahil Malik, and John Welch Solid Code, by Donis Marshall and John Bruno Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services Step by Step, by Stacia Misner For Home and Office Users Building Web Applications with Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007 Step by Step, by John Jansen For Certification MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-505): Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5—Windows Forms Application Development, by Matthew A. Stoecker and Steven J. Stein | | |
