Summer reading fun
Published Aug 12 2010 05:42 PM 1,144 Views

As many of you know I review Exchange books for fun (yea... an odd hobby of mine), and I always look forward to new Exchange books coming out. Today it is my pleasure to note that two of our very own TAPs (Siegfried Jagott and Joel Stidley) had a new book coming out that covers Exchange 2010 SP1! You can order it here. I can tell you it's a good read, having reviewed the book myself! But don't just take my word for it; Tony Redmond (also a noted Exchange author) also reviewed the book as well.  And if that was not enough - many TAPs and others wrote interesting sidebars that added interesting short topics to the book. TAP names you can recognize like Gary Cooper, Henrik Walther and Brian Day. A host of internal Exchange folks as well - like Kristian Andaker, Ross Smith, Todd Luttinen, Ed Banti, Greg Taylor, Andrew Ehrensing, and many, many more (see the acknowledgment page for a complete list). 

If you are wondering about what the "TAPs" are and want to get a little bit more about the people behind this book, here is an excerpt from the book Foreword that I wrote for it:

Microsoft's Technology Adoption Program is designed to validate new versions of Exchange by having customers test and run production deployments of pre-release builds of the next version of Exchange. This gives participants the opportunity to provide real-time design feedback to the Exchange product development team. Microsoft deployed the first production Exchange 2010 server on April 16, 2007 and on January of 2008 released bits to TAP customers and partners for review. Shortly thereafter, the authors and other customers were running Exchange 2010 in their production deployments. When Microsoft officially shipped Exchange 2010 on November 9th, 2009, TAPs had already deployed over 200,000 mailboxes into production! Through this preliminary process, the authors were there every step of the final design, gaining valuable experience with each TAP release for deployment. During this TAP deployment phase, all TAPS work together with Microsoft to find the best product and best ways to deploy. Here is what one TAP had to say on this process:

"We have learned a lot through this process and not only about Exchange 2010. By interacting with other TAP members and the product group on a daily basis we have been able to remove the blinders we sometimes wear from administering the same system day in and day out. This has allowed us to consider alternate approaches we could take to improve our system overall and to identify where some of our own shortcomings are. I've seen things posted I've never even thought of before and hope that our contributions have done the same..."

Individually and collectively the authors who wrote this book have been working with Exchange 2010 for as long as many senior developers at Microsoft. They have done an awesome job of providing readers with the ins and outs of the full range of features of Exchange 2010, which will help you get the most out of the product. Exchange administrators will find the experienced hands-on approach of this book invaluable in designing and deploying Exchange 2010. You wouldn't want a book that only skimmed and introduced new features. Fortunately for you, this book is based on the experience of years of successful deployments in complex environments and a teamwork approach to the final design process. Microsoft and TAPS have built a product that we are truly proud of, and this book brings you the right way to walk through it. This book definitely belongs on the shelf of every serious Exchange Administrator or IT Manager.

So, if you are looking for some good summer reading, look no further!

- David Espinoza

10 Comments
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You forgot the upcoming Exchange 2010 Bible :) Tony Redmonds book about Exchange 2010 SP1:

http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/0735640610/ref=oss_product


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Yes, other great book that I have read (Pre-Release) and was going to mention in a later blog. Both outstanding books.
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Picked up the book the other day. So far it's been really good. Can't wait for Tony's book!
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Yes its a great summer reading book! I pre-ordered it wane first info come out about this book, and get it about 3 weeks ago. Planning to rest on sea and took book with me.
Thanks to all who participated in writing this book!

Arman.
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Outstanding authors and reviewers ! I'll promote this book on my blog. Good reading to all :)
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This book is really a good reference for mastering Exchange 2010 key features, I already got one from amazon.com and now I'm enjoying it.
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WEEEE! Just the book I'm looking for to update my skills on the beach!
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It's all good. However, I would like for once to see microsoft (in general and this blog in particular) promote a book published by someone other than microsoft press...
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Well, I have been promoting Tony Redmonds books for years and they were publish by Digital Press.. his new one is by Microsoft Press however. If you know of a good book please let us know I would love to review it. cheers.
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> I've seen things posted I've never even thought of before and hope that our
> contributions have done the same..."

It would be very interesting to read what he's talking about. I always like stories about how feedback influences design.
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