Microsoft Books

If you are a programmer and want to know more about the great programmers that came before you this is an incredibly interesting read. It is long out of print and somewhat hard to find but work getting. There is another edition that is somewhat newer that is even harder to find - I cannot tell that there is enough difference to warrant hunting down the more expensive, harder to find version.

This is a detailed account of how some of the world's most famous programmers did their work. While this is obviously dated material, there is no question in my mind that this book should be put back into print. The insights into what it takes to be among the best at something, not just programming, make this book required reading for everyone, not just programmers.

Through a series of biographical snapshots, we not only get glimpses into the personalities of some great and influential programmers, we learn about their thought processes. We also see that, as different as each person is from the other, they all share both a solution-oriented approach to the problems encountered and an incredible ability to persevere in the face of adversity. Most importantly, we learn that programming, like anything else in life, is but a means to an end and that it must be approached with the same vigour, creativity, and thoughfulness that guides the finest practioners of all human endeavors.

Highly recommended.

This is a detailed account of how some of the world's most famous programmers did their work. While this is obviously dated material, there is no question in my mind that this book should be put back into print. The insights into what it takes to be among the best at something, not just programming, make this book required reading for everyone, not just programmers.

Through a series of biographical snapshots, we not only get glimpses into the personalities of some great and influential programmers, we learn about their thought processes. We also see that, as different as each person is from the other, they all share both a solution-oriented approach to the problems encountered and an incredible ability to persevere in the face of adversity. Most importantly, we learn that programming, like anything else in life, is but a means to an end and that it must be approached with the same vigour, creativity, and thoughfulness that guides the finest practioners of all human endeavors.

Highly recommended.

I have been involved in architecting and designing Microsoft based business intelligence solutions for the past 8 years. I was very excited when PerformancePoint was launched because it filled a very real need in the Microsoft BI platform. It is always a challenge to find training material when a new product is launched so Adrian and Nick's books have been released at just the right time.
I enjoyed both books(The Rational Guide To Planning with Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 (Rational Guides),The Rational Guide To Monitoring and Analyzing with Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 (Rational Guides)) for the following reasons:
They are clear and simple to understand
They highlight the most important techinical and functional considerations without being too high level
They are practical and not theoretical even though the first few chapters set the scene
You don't need to be a subject matter expert to understand them
They are short so you can read them very quickly

They are great books that will allow you to get up to speed very quickly on PerformancePoint Monitoring and Analytics as well as Planning.

Excellent! Just as highly recommended as the authors' companion book, "The Rational Guide to... M&A w/ PPS. This PPS Planning learning guide's effectiveness is especially noteworthy in light of the completely new Performance Management (PM) sophistication that the PPS Planning Module introduces to Microsoft Business Intelligence (BI) developers of all experience levels and, of course, the skill with which this text introduces it. Although other books will delve deeper into specific topics (especially Integration and Business Rules), this one sets a high standard with succinct, authoritative explanations and thoughtful skill-building exercises in every major functional area. As a side-note, this book showcases to experienced performance management technologists just how much sophistication and value Microsoft has introduced into the performance management product marketplace.

PART I - INTRODUCTION: The authors begin by introducing the roles that planning and budgeting processes have been intended to play in the business environment, describing how traditional business processes and technologies have inherently limited their real-world effectiveness in terms of the tasks effecting employee workflow, data accuracy, security, and ease of use, and then explaining how each of those tasks is optimized as planning and budgeting roles integrate into a business intelligence information framework. Armed with this high level perspective, readers are mostly prepared to learn how to actually accomplish this, albeit in ways unexpected by most traditional MS BI developers. Specifically, we will now be building automatically recurring write-back mechanisms so that planning, forecasting and budgetting workflows will write-back data to data marts and, by extension, cubes. We will also be incorporating more types of data sources, not as an unfortunate alternative to good ETL, but on a planned, best-case basis as performance management work-flows require. Lastly, we will be highly leveraging Analysis Services' unary operators and account dimensions.

Before jumping into the "how to do it" section, I caution readers, and especially experienced MS Analysis Services 2005 OLAP developers, that, in light of the new PM requirements just described, PPS Planning will have you building both relational and OLAP objects in ways that are ...let's just say "unique". You might not have done it exactly this way for a traditional UDM MOLAP cube. Although your careful exploration of these unique SQL Server objects is encouraged, I suggest that you delay at least some of it until after you well-understand what PPS Planning is accomplishing. Fortunately, PPS Planning automates the vast majority of those nuances, such that readers, whether developers or power-user analysts, can quickly get productive.

PART II - INSTALLATION AND CONFIGURATION: In addition installation, this section introduces readers to the Planning Administration Console (PAC), wherein PPS Planning applications, model sites, role-based security and data sources are initially configured, and introduces Planning Business Modeler (PBM), wherein most of the subsequent work is completed. Notably, applications created in PPS Planning are instantiated as SQL Server 2005 relational databases, and Planning Model Sites become Analysis Services 2005 OLAP databases with completely-built cubes. As a side-bar, readers are advised, beginning at this point in the text, to take care to document usernames, roles and passwords as entered in this section and to pay extra close attention throughout the book to always login to Planning Business Modeler or the Excel Add-In with the username specified in each specific exercise.

PART III - SOLUTION DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION: Here, we dive deeper. Explanations, followed by respective exercises, covering the creation of dimensions, member sets, business models, model subsites, model security are aptly covered. Although Chapter 9, "Integrating Business Data" -- which will be the least accessible for non-SQL-heads -- provides a balanced coverage of the complex topic so that readers can progress by (carefully) following the cookbook, SQL/ETL pro's will want to decide when (not if) to dive deeper into learn this (by starting with product help files) and learn exactly how it relates to traditional ETL, which it does not replace. Analysts -- prepare for initial bewilderment. Chapter 10, "Defining Business Rules", takes the complimentary approach, without losing stride with excessive business-side detail (and thus losing the interest of ETL-oriented readers), it move readers through the simple use of business model properties, rules and rule sets. Specifically, the configuration of these business rules are close to a culmination of everything learned so far in that, in text examples, they orchestrate the relationship of data "actuals" to "budgets" and "forecasts" within models and thereby govern how budget forecasts and "what-if" analyses are smoothly integrated into a performance dashboard and/or written back into the data mart and OLAP cube without jeopardizing the sacrosanct "actuals" data. Without a doubt, it feels like a very slick way to avoid ever having to say to your DBA, "Well, we've completed our what-if analyses and thanks for the added permissions, but ehhr... we can't seem to find the actual data anymore. But you backed it up, right?" Relax, `cause it won't happen here. Of note, this chapter very briefly introduces "PerformancePoint Expression Language" (PEL), which is an MDX (multi-dimensional expression) short-hand just for PPS Planning. Although additional PEL detail would have been interesting, it would also have slowed the overall pace of learning. Again, see product help files.

The book's last written topic, in Chapter 11, is "Using the PerformancePoint Add-in for Excel". It introduces readers to PPS Planning Forms (and by extension, read-only Reports ) that performance-management users will ultimately use to assign, contribute, review, edit and approve workflow tasks associated with budgeting, forecasting and "what-if" analyses. As before, the book provides an effective, self-contained introduction which showcases some of Excel 2007's new-found sophistication, but which readers will subsequently want to build upon. As elsewhere, it's essential reading and mercifully succinct (unlike this review, I'll admit).

FOUR BONUS CHAPTERS: Although not reviewed here, they are each substantial, virtually essential, and are respectively entitled "Implementing Process Management", "Consolidating Data with Associations", "Operational and Management Reporting", and "Closing the Performance Management Loop". Conveniently, and along with all required databases and code samples, they are available online at no charge.

PREPARATION: As with the authors' "Rational ...PPS M&A" book, the best way to deploy the entire platform to readers' PC's, for learning or light-development is to download the following from Microsoft: (A) Virtual PC 2007; and (B) BI-VPC V 5.1+, which includes tons of software, including PPS 2007, MOSS 2007, SQL Server 2005 Dev Edition. Lastly, I recommend 4 GB of RAM on the machine, and strongly discourage readers' from trying to use the BI-VPC with under 2GB RAM.

For all of the above reasons, this book is highly recommended!

I have a bad tendency of purchasing technical books and never reading them until I have a problem where I need a technical reference. However, I found myself reading this book cover to cover. I have been using PerformancePoint Server (PPS) 2007 Planning since prior to the software release, going back to May 2007. I have also attended a four day long PPS Boot Camp. Even then, I learned a great deal from this book. I found it easy to read and it covers all the technical topics necessary to implement a PPS solution. Before buying a different book, I would recommend checking to see if it covers all the major aspects of Planning, including topics like Business Rules, PEL (PerformancePoint Expression Language), and Data Integration. Data integration is often forgotten or purposely left out due to its complexity, but authors Adrian Downes and Nick Barclay include an entire chapter dedicated to this subject (43 pages). In addition, once you register the book with the publisher online, there's a great deal of bonus materials available for download. These materials include many SQL examples for data integration. You can cut down your development time by modifying the SQL they provided. Also included in the bonus materials are four additional chapters to the book.

This book is great if you're new to PerformancePoint Server Planning or if you've been using it for awhile. I'm using it to study for the PPS exam to gain certification. My employer has tasked me with coming up with a PPS curriculum for other consultants to learn PPS. I'm incorporating this book and "The Rational Guide to Monitoring and Analyzing with Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007" into self study for my peers wanting to learn the software. Both books incorporate a step by step approach that aid in learning.

In summary, this book is jammed pack full of good tips for both new and experienced PPS developers and has a good price point. I highly recommend it.

Good Automation Techniques for Virtual Server 2005. Admins who are good with code can make a good use of this book. A very good book. Value for sure.

The Rational Guide to Scripting Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 is a great broadening of topics covered in The Rational Guide to Managing Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 from the unique perspective of scripting.

Written by the same author, its biggest win is approaching automation problems following topics arrangement of its twin book.

Chapters 1 and 2 cover basic concepts of server virtualization and product architecture itself, listing available languages for manipulating Virtual Server 2005 COM interfaces among VBScript, VB.NET or C#, VB 6.0.

Chapter 3 and 4 approaches scripting rules respectively with VBScript and .NET (with examples both in VB.NET and C#), detailing COM objects model and suggesting configuration of Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 as development environment.

Chapter 5 teaches how to obtain most informations from virtual machines accessing Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) interface, exploring VirtualMachines and VirtualNetwork classes, and how to monitor performances accessing Windows Performance Monitor counters.

Chapters from 6 to 8 are the heart of the book, detailing automated management of virtual machines (Chapter 6), virtual disks (Chapter 7) and virtual networks (Chapter 8).
Frequent recaps to Virtual Server architecture are disseminated in these chapters, to refresh product knowledge.

Chapter 9 and 10 are dedicated to advanced concept like triggering scripts by specific virtual infrastructure events and automating Virtual Management Remote Console (VMRC) server and client operations.

Source code of book scripts is available only online for registered readers and it's really worth to download to avoid rewriting all the code and speedup learning.


Conclusion
In a young virtualization world where out-of-the-box datacenter automation is still a big missing but a most wanted capability this book helps you approaching Virtual Server 2005 scripting fundamentals to fill the gap.

While inappropriate for programming novices, this book, unique in its kind, is highly suggested as starting point for automating complex tasks and streamlining virtual infrastructure management. And considering both Virtual Server 2005 and Visual Studio 2005 are free, it's a cheap one to become more productive in small time.

$15.00 well spent!! Once I was clear with the fundamentals of Virtual Server (see Managing Virtual Server by the same author), I needed to take it to the next step. I needed to be able to (through some simple scripting) create, deploy, and manage my Virtual Server environment. I mainly used VBScript so far, but I may move to VB.NET or C# at some point. This book is chock full of usable real world examples of common tasks that can (and should be) automated. I wish more tech books could be written as concise and full of usable information as this one.

I bought this book to refresh my memory of the statistics class I took in college and also to master how to use the ubiquitous Excel program for statistical analysis. I was not willing to try any other statistical analysis softwares.

This book exceeded my expectations in both regards. It explains key concepts very well, backed by real-life examples to illustrate their practical aplications using Excel. I have had an easier and more enjoyable time both reviewing my statistics and learning Excel.

Before I conceded the bar I went through profound mathematics courses through "Yale's Professor Challenge Program." Dr. Gerbing and his book have brought me back to brilliant years in the statistics classroom; this book brought me up to speed on the innovative computer technology that is premeditated for statistics. I was astounded how thorough this masterpiece is such auxiliary. By extreme, the book went more in depth than the professors at Yale. I would definitely advise this book; it will be sitting on my bookcase in the oval office very shortly.

This book accomplishes a great deal - it moves the reader from basic, descriptive statistics to inferential statistics quickly and logically. Each chapter is organized so you can repreat the steps using Excel functions, the Excel Data Analysis Add-in, or using traditional notation. The data are included on a disk, so you don't have to re-key. Also included are Dr. Gerbing's own templates, which include important tools that the Redmond Raiders left out.

I was fortunate enough to have had a course with Dr. Gerbing; I know that he has spent the last five or so years refining his teaching methods, so MBA students can learn AND apply statistics to their business lives. This book is truly a great accomlishment and a contribution to business people who want to use regression analysis - or just have a better understanding of the components that make for solid market research. In an age where we all spend thousands on research studies, it is more than a good idea to know what questions to ask of the syndicated research we're offered, or how to set up the framework for a proprietary study. As a marketing professional, I have found this text very useful. Now - if you can get Gerbing to market the powerpoint slides ...

The projects are very good, and you learn a lot just reading about them -- you don't have to do all 21 of them! The writer's style is very conversational and easy to read, you could actually read this book for pleasure, unlike most computer books. The title says it takes 21 days to learn it -- not really true. I got through it in about 10. You can skip the parts that cover apps you don't use, or read the whole thing to learn all about Office. You'll feel so powerful after you go through this book. There are creative ideas for using Office that I'd never thought of, and I had no idea all the things you can do with Word! I recommend this book to new and experienced users.

I don't have time to take a class and don't have the patience to sit still that long anyway, so I thought a book called "Teach Yourself" would be the next best thing. It was better.

If you learned Office by trial and error, this book will correct your mistakes and show you the right way to do things. You'll learn more stuff than youthought you could. You don't realize how much stuff you're learning until you try to do something on your own and realize you can!

Get this book!

This is a really good book. Before reading this book my experience with Office was mixed because we had Office 97 but I only used parts of it. I knew Word pretty well, but not much about Excel or PowerPoint, and I knew nothing about Access. When we upgraded to 2000, this book taught me things I didn't know about Word (and I thought I knew alot to begin with!) and now I'd feel safe saying that I know and can sucessfully use the rest of the suite too. I've been tracking our production schedules and employee data in Excel, and I put together a presentation in PowerPoint based on what this book taught me, and everyone loved it. I was very proud of myself! I've even started training some of our people, just based on what I learned in this book.

I recommend this Teach Yourself book because it really does let you learn at your own speed and its a great place to look things up if you get stuck. The explanations are clear and I liked the examples because they helped me think of practical ways I could use the software in our office.

I think this book is excellent. I found the material accurate and easy to follow. I brought this book for my whole project team, I thought so highly of it meeting it's title claim. I was able to take a topic and actually learn it in the alloted time. The beginning chapters provide a good overview of the topics and using MS Project, setting up the project, and good structured project design. When I have a team I need to get up to speed quickly on MS Project, I will again use this book as the tool.

This is one of the best software manuals I have ever used. If you want to learn the essential basics of MS Project quickly and easily, buy this manual. He uses the online templates to walk you through the steps to build a project. It was easy to follow his instructions. I had the outline prepared for my own project. Begining with chpater 3, I used the manual to build my project as I progressed through each chapter. This was a great hands-on learning experience!

This is one of the best software manuals I have ever used. If you want to learn the essential basics of MS Project quickly and easily, buy this manual. He uses the online templates to walk you through the steps to build a project. It was easy to follow his instructions. I had the outline prepared for my own project. Begining with chpater 3, I used the manual to build my project as I progressed through each chapter. This was a great hands-on learning experience!

Technical books are often preachy. 'This is the ONLY way to this. You've been doing this wrong ALL your life.' We've all read one of those. These three books are like gentle friends discussing what one might need/want to do to survive successfully through a software project. My favorite book out of the trio is the Survival Guide. It has all sorts of checklists I have been able to modify for use in my projects. Additional support/tools is/are offered through the author's website. I like the 'contingency planning' aspect that this book offers, and a lot of others miss. A great read overall. I didn't sleep at all through this one. ;)

Anyone aspiring to be (or in the current position of) project lead or project manager should get this set. These help you understand, accept, and shape to your advantage many of the "soft", human, non-technical factors in software development.

Also - be sure and get "Code Complete" - it is a comprehensive collection (and interpretation) of many of the great ideas from notable gurus such as Yourdon/DeMarco/Constantine, Kernigan & Richie, Dijkstra, Meyer, etc. etc. (plz excuse the spelling errors!) Every programmer needs a copy of "Code Complete" and the companion, "Writing Solid Code". Software Standards and QA groups should use these texts as references and standards.

I have read all three of Steve's books, and they ALL are worth ten times their price!

If you are SERIOUS about making software a career, buy this set!

Quinn's Teach Yourself Microsoft Project 2000 is on target. Many of the people that I meet and work with want to learn or enhance their Microsoft Project skills. Learning theory tells us that teaching ourselves is an excellent, effective and efficient way to master new skills. A critical issue is whether the materials are available, and that's a role this book fulfills.

Reviewing and reflecting immediately upon learning new materials lead to mastery of the subject. Specifically, the end-of-the-chapter sections, Personal Workbook, Extra Practice, Visual Quiz, and Real-World Applications, provide superior self-teaching opportunities. This book states it purpose to allow us to learn Microsoft Project 2000 on our own terms and pace and accomplishes its goals. It's a great way to learn this important and popular software.

The many screen shots make this book very easy to follow, and strategically to-the-point. I love the incredible number of websites mentioned throughout the book; very handy. The review "quizzes" at the end of each section make this a very nice self-teach book...more so than any other I've come across. On a minor note, the size of the book, the fonts, and the colors make this pleasing to read. I'm glad I got this book.

My view on what a good software book ought to look like has changed a bit over the years. I use to think it needed to include all of the step-by-steps with detailed examples, but the books just kept coming out with longer and longer list of steps that took forever to navigate. Then I wanted comprehensive desktop reference books but found I never read them and I was always throwing them out with my increasing number of phone books that would pile up in my office. Often I would buy one of those books and then realize when the new version came out I had never even opened the book. I am not sure why I though I would read several 1000+ page technical reference books a year. I can't even get throught the New York Times on Sundays anymore. Besides, MSP on-line help has improved so much that approach seems a bit dated.

Oh yes, I am embarrassed to admit, I too have bought the dummy and idiot books. I won't say more.

For me, learning software is all up to me. I have to teach myself and all I need is a basic guide to work with. I want simple, clean, easy to read, and to-the-point types of books. You know, books that give you just the right amount of information about topic to get you pointed in the right direction. Books, that you mind to much when you find yourself sort of thumbing through topics. Sort of learning and little, and then moving to another topic. This book fits the bill for me. I know software pretty well so I just want the "gist of a topic," a good screen example, and then a couple of steps. Then I am off figuring out the rest on my own.

What I also like about this book is the consistency in approach and organization. Every page has two screen captures in the same location. The steps are right below them, and a topic is only going to span a couple of pages.

I like the blue. The book feels good.

One thing I found myself doing with this book is looking up all of the web sites referenced on the odd-numbered pages. Found some cool project management stuff along the way and read chapters that caught my eye.

Seems MSP is starting to look more like a project management tool with its new WBS custom codes and network diagram that seems to actually work. Now, if Microsoft would only spend a little money on the product and give us a multiple undo (say at least 100) for a little if-then-thinking, I would be a happy planner.

Ray Coker

Before purchasing TYV MS Word 2000, I would just be hunt and pecking my why through a document. Now, I zip through twice as fast with usually no mistakes. Clear and concise is the trademark for the entire series of teaching aids! So far it appeasrs that every book in this series is a WINNER!

Everything you need to know about Word 2000. Clear, easy to understand, great photos, step by step instructions. Find what you need---fast. Keep it by the computer, you'll reference it often, especially for the rarely used stuff that's easy to forget.

This book cannot be overpraised. Through the use of step-by-step text and pictures, with expert use of colors, numbers, callouts, and what not, the book makes the learning process easy and pleasant. This is THE book for beginner--look no further! (Also the font size in the pictures is not so small that I have to use a magnifying glass, as I had to do with another publication of the same series). A MUST FOR THE BEGINNING WORD USER!

I want to get the program code in this book

This book teaches you the nitty-gritty old fashioned way of writing Windows C++ code. You learn how to code without frameworks (MFC or OWL). It's a lot tougher to learn, but you get a deeper understanding.

Topics were covered from a realistic and helpful prespective. The chapter projects helped to re-enforce the information covered in the chapter. Good incrementing from the basics to the more complex. Got me up and running and helped to separate the useless information from the useful information.