Technically Speaking

One thing any IT manager (and their team) could benefit from is a set of resources for keeping tabs on the latest technologies. The most comprehensive of these resources for those working with Microsoft technologies is a TechNet subscription, which offers full blown test copies of most of the software in the Microsoft catalog. A great addition to any toolkit for sure, but some organizations may not be able to justify the expense of the TechNet subscription.

Bring a piece of TechNet to your desk… for free

While the full TechNet subscription is prohibitive for some, there are a few pieces of the TechNet tool set that any IT manager can use to round out their knowledge of Microsoft tools.

• TechNet.com – the website has blogs and downloads covering Microsoft products and application usage (as well as the new IT Management hub)
• TechNet Magazine – offers reviews on software, both Microsoft and third party, and book reviews, scripting tools and other helpful information.

Being a heavy TechNet user I would recommend a subscription to TechNet Magazine. For IT professionals the magazine is free and can provide a great resource to learn about upcoming and newly released products. The biggest benefit to the subscription is the free advice and answers to reader questions.

Readers of the magazine can submit questions and comments about the pieces found in the magazine which adds another resource for an IT Manager. Like an article about a SharePoint webpart, but have questions about deploying it, send the question to the author. It is likely that the question will be answered and printed in an upcoming issue of the magazine.

New features

I found an interesting feature that is now available for a small fee and it inspired me to create this piece about adding TechNet Magazine to your toolkit. The feature? CD Archive.

Until the end of December in 2008, a complete archive on CD Rom of all the articles in the TechNet magazine library from Winter 2005 through 2007 can be ordered for a small fee. The archive will remain available after the end of 2008, however the cost to order will be increased. The cost of the CD Archive will run about $30, but includes a great deal of tips and tricks that can be quite useful.

If the folks over at TechNet Magazine read this… keep up the good work, the publication is really quite useful and the CD archive idea is great, as long as it continues to include all the articles in the library.

There are other IT publications that are well worth a read. Some of them are free and some require a subscription. A couple of these are listed below:

Windows IT Pro magazine (http://www.windowsitpro.com) – Available online or in print. Also offers a all inclusive CD subscription.

Redmond Magazine (http://redmondmag.com) – Online only

SQL Server Magazine (http://sqlmag.com) – Available online or in print.

You might also want to look for RSS feeds or newsletters from these or other software vendors.

While a paid TechNet subscription is a tool worth investing in, TechNet magazine can get you a wealth of knowledge about Microsoft products. Using magazine subscriptions and blogs to grow your own personal knowlegebase can be a great way to stay current on technologies coming from Microsoft and other application vendors.

Until next time… happy reading.