Introducing Windows Azure for IT Professionals [ A free MS Press Book ]

The Windows Azure public cloud platform is one of the three pillars of Microsoft’s Cloud OS vision that will transform the traditional datacenter environment, help businesses unlock insights in data stored anywhere, enable the development of a wide range of modern business applications, and empower IT to support users who work anywhere on any device while being able to manage these devices in a secure and consistent way. The other two pillars of the Cloud OS are, of course, Windows Server 2012 R2 and Microsoft System Center 2012 R2. In order to facilitate the involvement of IT Pros. with the first pillar Microsoft released this book.

Introducing Windows 8 : An Overview for IT Professionals ( Free book )

Interested in knowing about the latest Windows for clients , you can do it fast , free and directly from the source , as Microsoft press have released a free preview from Introducing Windows 8 ® An Overview for
IT Professionals .

Windows Server 2012 licensing jargon !

As Microsoft released Windows Server 2012 , and as it changed the available editions to be as below :

Edition	Ideal for...	High Level Feature Comparison	Licensing Model
Datacenter	Highly virtualized private & hybrid cloud environments	Full Windows Server functionality with unlimited virtual instances	Processor + CAL*
Standard	Low density or non-virtualized environments	Full Windows Server functionality with two virtual instances	Processor + CAL*
Essential	Small business environments	Simpler interface, pre-configured connectivity to cloud based services; no virtualization rights	Server (25 User Account Limit)
Foundation	Economical general purpose server	General purpose Server functionality with no virtualization rights	Server (15 User Account Limit)

*CALs are required for every user or device accessing a server directly or indirectly. See the Product Use Rights for details

It is advisable to go and read more about the new licensing model , here are some of the crash sheets for the new Windows Server 2012 licensing model :

Windows 2012 MS free book ( RTM edition update )

As I posted earlier for the free book by Microsoft about Windows Server 2012 while it was beta , now I am posting for its RTM update.

this book is a great way to get quickly skilled up on all the new improvements in this latest Windows Server - one of the most ambitious releases of Windows Server for IT Pros since Active Directory was released in Windows Server 2000!  In this 256-page eBook, you'll find 5 chapters of detailed technical content covering the following key improvements to building a Private Cloud at your shop with Windows Server 2012 ; here is what included :

Introducing Windows Server 2012 [ A free MS Press Book ]

Today , Microsoft Press released a free – five chapters – book that introduce the latest version of Microsoft Windows Server 2012.

 

 

Here is the book’s table of contents :

 

Chapter 1 : The business need for Windows Server 2012

• The rationale behind cloud computing Making the transition
• Technical requirements for successful cloud computing
• Four ways Windows Server 2012 delivers value for cloud computing Foundation for building your private cloud

Chapter 2 : Foundation for building your private cloud

• A complete virtualization platform
• Increase scalability and performance Business continuity for virtualized workloads

Chapter 3 : Highly available, easy-to-manage multi-server platform

• Continuous availability
• Cost efficiency
• Management efficiency

Chapter 4 : Deploy web applications on premises and in the cloud

• Scalable and elastic web platform
• Support for open standards

Chapter 5 : Enabling the modern workstyle

• Access virtually anywhere, from any device
• Full Windows experience
• Enhanced security and compliance

And here is the download link 

Sybex - Mastering System Center 2012 Configuration Manager [ Sample chapters ]

It is just two days from now and the Microsoft Management Summit 2012 [ MMS ] in Las Vegas will be in full swing and hopefully some nice new System Center 2012 will reach RTM or even General Availability.

In parallel , Sybex has released two sample chapters of the upcoming book Mastering System Center 2012 Configuration Manager that is currently in the process of being printed.

The fist is "Chapter 3" which describes the process of SCCM 2007 to SCCM 2012 migration process by discussing: 

• The migration of Configuration Manager 2007 objects
•  The migration of Configuration Manager 2007 clients
•  Minimizing WAN impact
• Flattening the Configuration Manager infrastructure by reducing the number of primary sites
• Maximizing the re-usability of x64-bit hardware