From The EditorPathways to Learning

Joshua Trupin

For as long as we've been creating magazines, we've created our September issue with sort of a "back to school" motif. Of course, we realize that this timeframe isn't always exact. For instance, much of the United States goes back to school in late August. And some people seem to never stop going to school.

However, for most of us, September is close enough. And TechNet Magazine is the higher education institution that grants the IT pro degree. OK, so we just made that up. But we don't make up the education you get with our magazine. We've developed a full syllabus of instruction this month.

Like all good institutions of higher learning, we offer a variety of educational experiences, from introductory courses on SQL for the scripting fan (in "Hey, Scripting Guy!") to a survey of Active Directory management tools.

Our intermediate-level studies include a degree track in Windows Vista. First you learn how to deploy Windows using Business Desktop Deployment (BDD 2007). Then, once you have Windows Vista deployed in your enterprise, you also receive guidance on how to implement regular backups on your systems, with a look at some of the key technologies available to you today.

Now you're getting close to your IT pro diploma, and you can take advantage of our advanced coursework in Active Directory studies. If you've ever wondered about tombstone reanimation but didn't want to wait until our special Halloween issue, you can dig right in this month.

TechNet Magazine, of course, is just one pathway to learning. The Microsoft TechNet site offers more distance-learning courses for you. TechNet features hundreds of webcasts on key technologies for IT pros, including demonstrations of how Microsoft IT uses technology internally. The webcast offerings are broken down by audience type (IT pros, executives, and so forth) and technologies, and they're rated by level of difficulty, just like in a real college catalogue.

To give just one example, TechNet Magazine offers several in-depth pieces about Active Directory this month. But maybe you're a step away from really being able to put them to their best use. Just go to TechNet webcasts and watch the Level 200 presentation called "Active Directory Fundamentals" (msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032295120).

Today's educational opportunities come in many forms. From the magazine to the Internet, we're here to give you the information you need. After you've read some of our articles, why not come visit the TechNet Magazine blog (blogs.technet.com/tnmag) for a little post-class chat over coffee?

—Joshua Trupin

Thank you to the following Microsoft technical experts: Paul Bowden, Justin Hall, Anand Lakshminarayanan, Eduardo Laureano, Mike Lewis, Tim Mintner, Michael Murgolo, Mark Russinovich, and Jim Truher.

© 2008 Microsoft Corporation and CMP Media, LLC. All rights reserved; reproduction in part or in whole without permission is prohibited.