Microsoft Press

Greetings. I’m John Osborne; I work on content for the Windows Dev Center . Today I’m happy to announce a new series of posts here on the Microsoft Press blog. Each time guidance in the Windows Dev Center is updated or added, we’ll blog about it here so that you know what’s new. And, going forward, you can use the “Windows Dev Center” tag to see only these posts and find our updates more easily. In our first post in this series, we’d like to alert you to significant updates we’ve made to the game portal in the Windows Dev Center. You can get tips on how to port a game from another platform or program a new game for Windows 8 using our free tools. Then, distribute the game through the Windows Store and start making money. (In case you’re ...read more

May 28: Testing with Visual Studio 2012 (exam 70-497) Jump Start Join us on May 28 th from 8AM – 5PM for our second live Jump Start about Application Lifecycle Management (ALM). Learn more about software testing with Visual Studio 2012 while you study for exam 70-497. Register here : http://aka.ms/ALM497JS   May 29: Administering Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2012 (exam 70-496) Jump Start Join experts Anthony Borton and Steven Borg on May 29 th for a MVA Jump Start about administering Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2012. Register here:   http://aka.ms/ALM496JS ...read more

Per http://www.buildwindows.com/ , a limited number of additional tickets will go on sale Wednesday May 15 at 9am PDT. You can follow @bldwin for more news about the conference over the coming weeks. ...read more

We’re happy to announce that Microsoft OneNote 2013 Plain & Simple is available for purchase. Here’s WHAT you’ll learn: Take notes, organize, and share them Bookmark and tag notes for easier searching Add pictures, drawings, and spreadsheets Handwrite notes and convert them to text Record audio and video notes Access notes from the web or mobile device Here’s HOW you’ll learn it: Jump in wherever you need answers Follow easy STEPS and SCREENSHOTS to see exactly what to do Get handy TIPS for new techniques and shortcuts Use TRY THIS! exercises to apply what you learn right away NOTE: O'Reilly Media is the official distributor of Microsoft Press books. By clicking the link, you will be taken to O'Reilly's website. View O'Reilly's terms of service for use of their services ...read more

We’re pleased to announce that Exam Ref 70-687: Configuring Windows 8 is available for purchase. Prepare for Exam 70-687—and help demonstrate your real-world mastery of Windows 8 setup and support. Designed for experienced IT Professionals ready to advance their status—Exam Ref focuses on the critical-thinking and decision-making acumen needed for success at the MCSA level. Focus on the expertise measured by these objectives: -Install and upgrade to Windows 8 -Configure hardware and applications -Configure network connectivity -Configure access to resources -Configure remote access and mobility -Monitor and maintain Windows clients -Configure backup and recovery options NOTE: O'Reilly Media is the official distributor of Microsoft Press books. By clicking the link, you will be taken to ...read more

We’re happy to announce that Microsoft Excel 2013 Plain & Simple is available for purchase. Here’s WHAT You’ll Learn · Manage your data quickly and efficiently · Filter, sort, summarize, and crunch your numbers · Use formulas and functions to do the heavy lifting · Bring data to life with charts and graphics · Share data between Microsoft Office documents · Work as a team, online and in the cloud Here’s HOW You’ll Learn It · Jump in wherever you need answers · Follow easy STEPS and SCREENSHOTS to see exactly what to do · Get handy TIPS for new techniques and shortcuts · Use TRY THIS! exercises to apply what you learn right away NOTE: O'Reilly Media is the official distributor of Microsoft Press books. By clicking the link, you will be taken to O'Reilly's website. View O'Reilly's ...read more

Greetings, developers. In case you missed it, take a look at this post by Lee Culver, a software developer on the .NET Runtime team, which introduces you to a new managed library that allows you to automate inspection tasks and access more debugging info. Below is a quick excerpt from the beginning of the post. The post continues with an example and related code in three sections: “Getting Started,” “Analyzing the Heap,” and “ClrMD Features and Functionality.” Today are we excited to announce the beta release of the Microsoft.Diagnostics.Runtime component (called ClrMD for short) through the NuGet Package Manager. ClrMD is a set of advanced APIs for programmatically inspecting a crash dump of a .NET program much in the same way as the SOS Debugging Extensions (SOS). It allows you to write automated ...read more

Greetings. Today we share the Foreword that Scott Hanselman graciously contributed to Sayed Hashimi and William Bartholomew’s Supplement to Inside the Microsoft Build Engine: Using MSBuild and Team Foundation Build, 2nd Edition (ISBN 9780735678163). This Supplement adds coverage of new topics to what Scott calls Sayed and Willam’s “missing manual” for MSBuild. As Scott says, “This updated supplemental edition builds (ahem) on the good work of the previous editions and includes new sections on the updates to the MSBuild core, changes in Team Build, and even updates to Web Publishing in Microsoft Visual Studio 2012.” Enjoy! Foreword Ah, the thankless life of the Build Master. If they do their job well, you’ll never know they exist! If they don’t, well, everyone knows it’s the Build Master’s fault ...read more

A great way to save an extra $10 through May 15, 2013 To find coupons, go to www.amazon.com/coupons     How to Redeem the Coupon: To apply a coupon offer to a qualifying item, add coupon in one of two ways: Click on the coupon offer on the item detail page via the "Clip this Coupon" button, or Click on the coupon provided on amazon.com/coupons. After applying the coupon to the qualifying item, add the item to your Cart via the "Add to Cart" or "1-Click" option button on the respective item detail page. The coupon discount will be applied to the qualifying item added to your Cart and will be reflected on the final order checkout page. ...read more

We’re happy to announce the Microsoft Excel 2013 Inside Out (ISBN 9780735669055) by Mark Dodge and Craig Stinson is now available for purchase. This supremely organized reference is packed with hundreds of timesaving solutions, troubleshooting tips, and workarounds. It’s all muscle and no fluff. Learn how the experts tackle Excel 2013—and challenge yourself to new levels of mastery. Purchase includes a companion ebook and sample files. Topics include: Customizing the Excel workspace Best practices for designing and managing worksheets Creating formulas and functions Performing statistical, what-if, and other data analysis Core to advanced charting techniques Using graphics and sparklines Managing databases and tables Automating Excel with macros and custom functions Collaborating in Excel online ...read more

Join us on April 30 at 5 pm PDT for a Microsoft Virtual Academy Live Q&A with programming legend and renowned author Charles Petzold . The focus will be on writing Windows Store apps with C#/XAML, but all of your questions are welcome! Register here . (In case you missed it, Microsoft Press recently published Charles’s Programming Windows, Sixth Edition, 15 years after the fifth edition, to address Windows 8.) Also, Microsoft Virtual Academy will be hosting a Twitter Chat during this event, as described below by MVA’s Matt Calder: The renowned author will be taking audience questions on camera in our studio, and you can get a place near the front of the line by tweeting your questions to us ahead of time @MSVirtAcademy #MVALive. Register for this free event to tune in and watch live, and ...read more

This is the 27th in our series of guest posts by Microsoft Most Valued Professionals (MVPs). You can click the “MVPs” tag in the right column of our blog to see all the articles. Since the early 1990s, Microsoft has recognized technology champions around the world with the MVP Award . MVPs freely share their knowledge, real-world experience, and impartial and objective feedback to help people enhance the way they use technology. Of the millions of individuals who participate in technology communities, around 4,000 are recognized as Microsoft MVPs. You can read more original MVP-authored content on the Microsoft MVP Award Program Blog . This post is by Sean McNeill , an Office365 MVP. Thanks much, Sean! Background Corporate Data Loss has become a major issue for almost every company. If a company ...read more

The Microsoft Virtual Academy (MVA) team is excited to announce a new course in the popular “Jump Start” series of live online training events on May 2nd! This core skills course will feature Microsoft Technical Evangelist Jerry Nixon and co-founder of Crank211 Daren May, who will deliver an engaging, demo-rich, live learning experience for developers interested in bulking up their C# app programming skills.  This course is also a great way to prepare for Exam 70-484.   Register here: http://aka.ms/WinSAECR2 This Jump Start covers Developing Windows Store Apps using C#. In typical Jump Start fashion it will be filled with lots of demos and fun.  Microsoft Technical Evangelist Jerry Nixon and the co-founder of Crank211, Daren May , will craft sample after sample in real time ...read more

  Click here to register Tuesday, April 23, 2013 1PM PT, San Francisco 9pm - London | 4pm - New York | Wed, Apr 24th at 6am - Sydney | Wed, Apr 24th at 5am - Tokyo | Wed, Apr 24th at 4am - Beijing | Wed, Apr 24th at 1:30am - Mumbai Presented by: Bonnie Biafore Duration: Approximately 60 minutes. Cost: Free Join us for a live webcast presented by project management expert Bonnie Biafore author of Microsoft Project 2013: The Missing Manual. We will get you up to speed fast and put your project management skills to work. In this webcast you will learn: Exploring built-in Project reports Customizing reports in Project 2013 Alternatives to the new Project 2013 reports About Bonnie Biafore Bonnie Biafore has always been fascinated with math in its practical and more esoteric forms. As an engineer ...read more

This is the 26th in our series of guest posts by Microsoft Most Valued Professionals (MVPs). You can click the “MVPs” tag in the right column to see all the articles. Since the early 1990s, Microsoft has recognized technology champions around the world with the MVP Award . MVPs freely share their knowledge, real-world experience, and impartial and objective feedback to help people enhance the way they use technology. Of the millions of individuals who participate in technology communities, around 4,000 are recognized as Microsoft MVPs. You can read more original MVP-authored content on the Microsoft MVP Award Program Blog . This post is by Kelsey Epps, of the Concepps Group, an Office365 MVP. WEB: http://conceppsgroup.com BLOG: http://office365support.ca Thanks very much, Kelsey! A cutover ...read more

I’m very happy to announce that two of our books received an Award of Distinguished Technical Communication in this year’s STC International Summit Awards. Award of Distinguished Technical Communication The future of looking back Author: Richard Banks Editor: Devon Musgrave               Microsoft Manual of Style Author: Microsoft Editorial Board Editors: Elizabeth Whitmire, Valerie Woolley                     The Society for Technical Communication describes the qualification of the award as “The entry contains no major flaws and few, if any, minor flaws. It applies the principles of technical communication in an outstanding way, particularly in the way that it anticipates and fulfills the needs of its audience ...read more

Hello! Karl Wiegers here. I’m doing something right know that I’ve never done before: co-authoring a book. It’s a new experience for me, but it’s going remarkably well. I’ve written several articles with co-authors over the years, which went fine, but nothing like the scale of the book. If you’ve ever thought about writing something with someone else, you might find the story of how we approached this to be interesting. In August 2012 Joy Beatty, vice-president of research and development at Seilevel, asked me if I had thought about writing a third edition of my popular book Software Requirements . The first edition was published in 1999 and the second in 2003, both by Microsoft Press. I had indeed thought about writing a third edition from time to time. While virtually everything I described ...read more

We’re happy to announce that Supplement to Inside the Microsoft Build Engine: Using MSBuild and Team Foundation Build, 2nd Edition (ISBN 9780735678163), by Sayed Ibrahim Hashimi and William Bartholomew, is now available for purchase. Get the supplement that helps you drill even further into MSBuild—and maximize your control over the software build and deployment process. Designed as a companion to the popular book Inside the Microsoft Build Engine: Using MSBuild and Team Foundation Build, Second Edition, this supplement extends your knowledge by covering what’s new in Visual Studio 2012 for MSBuild and Team Foundation Build. You’ll also gain a fresh cookbook of examples to help you get productive with UI changes, batching, Team Foundation Server, offline apps, database publishing, and other ...read more

We’re happy to announce the availability of Microsoft Access 2013 Plain & Simple . Get the full-color, visual guide that makes learning Microsoft Access 2013 plain and simple! Follow the book’s easy steps and screenshots and clear, concise language to learn the simplest ways to build a database and sort information. Here’s WHAT you’ll learn: Build and manage your own database Apply professional designs across your databases Create presentations and publish reports online Secure your database with passwords and encryption Exchange data with other databases and documents Interact with your data easier using macros PURCHASE FROM O’REILLY   [NOTE: O'Reilly Media is the official distributor of Microsoft Press books. View O'Reilly's terms of service for use of their services ...read more

Greetings! We’re happy to announce an upcoming event with programming legend and renowned author Charles Petzold, whose Programming Windows, Sixth Edition , was recently published: a live questions and answers session on April 30 . The subject of the Q&A session will be the same as the subject of Programming Windows, Sixth Edition : writing Windows Store apps with C# and XAML . If you’ve been working through Charles’s book and you have a question about some aspect of the book’s guidance or if you have other questions about using C# and XAML to create Windows Store apps, take this opportunity to hear from Charles directly. So, we need your questions! Please email them, with “Petzold Q&A” in the subject line, to devonm@microsoft.com . We can’t promise Charles will get to all questions ...read more

I last updated our free ebook site in November, 2012, but I often get emails from readers wanting me to remind them where to find our complete list. Here it is: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/microsoft_press/archive/2012/05/04/free-ebooks-great-content-from-microsoft-press-that-won-t-cost-you-a-penny.aspx You’ll find current ebooks on building Windows 8 apps, exploring Windows 8 administration and Windows Server 2012, and SQL Server 2012. We also keep some older titles in the collection, too, in case you’re still using previous versions of software. Enjoy! ...read more

We’re happy to announce the availability of Microsoft Outlook 2013 Plain & Simple . Learn the simplest ways to get things done with Microsoft Outlook 2013 Get the full-color, visual guide that makes learning Microsoft Outlook 2013 plain and simple! Follow the book’s easy steps and screenshots and clear, concise language to learn how to stay productive and keep in touch with all of your personal, business, and social media networks. Here’s WHAT you’ll learn: Format and send messages, files, and photos Set up mobile alerts for important messages Manage your inbox and limit junk mail Update and share your calendar Add social media network accounts and collaborate Connect with and meet contacts online using Lync®     PURCHASE FROM O’REILLY NOTE: O'Reilly Media is the official ...read more

We’re happy to announce the availability of Microsoft PowerPoint 2013 Plain & Simple Get the guide that makes learning Microsoft® PowerPoint® 2013 plain and simple! This full color, no-nonsense book shows you the quickest ways to solve a problem or learn a skill, using easy-to-follow steps and concise, straightforward language. You'll analyze, manage, and share information in more ways than ever before. Here’s WHAT you’ll learn: Create dynamic presentations for your audience Include charts, tables, clip art, and other graphics Add video clips and CD music Animate slide and add transition effects Edit and polish your presentations with ease Create speaker notes and record narration Here’s HOW you’ll learn it: Jump in whenever you need answers Easy-to-follow STEPS and SCREENSHOTS show ...read more

Announcing Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Step by Step by Patrick LeBlanc Your hands-on, step-by-step guide to building applications with Microsoft® SQL Server® 2012 Teach yourself the programming fundamentals of SQL Server 2012—one step at a time. Ideal for beginning SQL Server database administrators and developers, this tutorial provides clear guidance and practical, learn-by-doing exercises for building database solutions that solve real-world business problems. Discover how to: Install and work with core components and tools Create tables and index structures Manipulate and retrieve data Secure, manage, back up, and recover databases Apply techniques for building high-performing applications Use clustering, database mirroring, and log shipping Click here to purchase from our distributor, O ...read more

We’re happy to announce the availability of Microsoft Office Professional 2013 Plain & Simple . Learn the simplest ways to get things done with Microsoft® Office 2013 Get the full-color, visual guide that makes learning Microsoft Office 2013 plain and simple! Follow the book’s easy steps and screenshots and clear, concise language to learn the simplest ways to get things done with Microsoft Word, Excel®, Outlook®, PowerPoint®, Access®, Publisher, and OneNote®. Here’s WHAT you’ll learn: Navigate with mouse, keyboard, or touch Create documents, reports, databases, and presentations Share your desktop, worksheets, and files Manage your email and organize your calendar Stay connected with online meetings and instant messaging Access your programs and your documents via the cloud You can purchase ...read more