Hit the books, Windows admins

This was a depressing weekend. Not only am I getting older, I seem to be doing it faster than the rest of my friends. I spent the weekend tearing up the shoddily built original deck so that I can replace it with something remotely attractive. But after only two days of hammer and crowbar work, I’m wheezing like John Goodman climbing stairs and can barely lift my hammer. Dave — who is three months older — is still bright eyed and bushy tailed. Makes me mad. It also makes me want to crawl into my easy chair with a scotch, half a pound of Advil, and some good reading.

Admittedly, it’s aimed at completely non-PC-literate audience, and it certainly finds the mark. This one covers stuff like where things are in the Aero interface, shutting the computer off, cutting and pasting, and so on. The language is clear and conversational, and certain sections really worked for the beginner crowd — but there’s room for improvement.

For one, it needs more screen shots for users at this level. Let them see what you’re talking about and you’ll have a much easier time explaining new concepts. You should also more closely associate the screen shots you do put in with the text that references them — this book tends to space those a page or so apart.

It also needs a little more editing. For example, the book makes no distinction between the different types of Vista, and it talks about features available in the various SKUs as though you’ll encounter them in any version. Minor concerns all in all, and the book is certainly helpful to beginners, but it could’ve been better.

But while O’Reilly didn’t send me anything to make my sojourn on the easy chair go by easier, Microsoft Press did. Over in Redmond, it seems the big news this summer isn’t Vista; it’s SharePoint. I’m in the midst of penning InfoWorld’s upcoming office server smorgasbord series, so these titles are of special interest to me. Microsoft Press has three titles out for its newest revenue bovine: “Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Administrator’s Companion,” “Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies, Administrator’s Pocket Consultant,” and “Inside Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007.” All told, I was heaving about 1,832 pages of SharePoint mystery, suspense, and thrills over to the La-Z-Boy. Fortunately, you need to read only the first 1,127.

That initial 1K-page load comes from the big “Administrator’s Companion.” This is Office SharePoint Server A to Z, no holds barred. As far as Microsoft Press is concerned, it’s the most complete SharePoint tome presently available. “Pocket Consultant” is oriented toward quicker and dirtier info that a harried fireman might need in the field. All that information is contained in “Administrator’s Companion,” too; you’ll just have more trouble finding it, and that hernia will kick in if you carry it around too much. If you can spare the $30, then “Pocket Consultant” is a good ancillary purchase since it rephrases some of what is said in “Administrator’s Companion” in more accessible, here’s-how-to-get-it-done kind of language. I especially recommend the “Pocket Consultant” sections on Backup and Restore, and Search and Indexing, as well as setting up Server Excel Calculation Services.

“Inside Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007” is the least useful of the three, for me. That’s because it’s targeted toward developers, and I’ve never been clever enough to go that route. But if you’re thinking about pitching your managers on a real commitment to the SharePoint platform, it would certainly be useful to hand one of these books to your friendly neighborhood programmer to get a better idea of what you’ll really be able to do. This is especially useful for those seeking more out of advanced features such as the Business Data Catalog, workflow services with outside applications, and integrating with outside services, notably Forms Server and Excel Calculation Services.

Quite a mound of reading for us muscularly challenged types. I’ve got two more tomes on the table I haven’t even cracked yet. When my muscles stop screaming and I’m able to get out of this chair, I’ll review them on the SMB IT blog. Meanwhile, read up on SharePoint and opt for the 18-ounce hammer when pulling up nails, not the 28-ounce honker.