Are Resource Kits Dead? NOPE!
UPDATE!!! The Windows 7 Resource Kit is now available from Microsoft Press. This 1700 page book and CD is the book for administrators who will be deploying, maintaining and troubleshooting Windows 7 in their organizations. The book was authored by three MVPs Mitch Tulloch, Tony Northrup and Jerry Honeycutt, and also by Ed Wilson who is commonly known as The Scripting Guy on Microsoft TechNet. The lead author Mitch Tulloch also maintains an Unofficial Support Site for the Windows 7 Resource Kit at http://www.mtit.com/reskit/ where he posts additional resources and responds to questions from readers.
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I remember the first set of books I bought on Windows. The Windows 2000 Resource Kit was 7 volumes plus a poster and a CD with some great tools on it. The other day while flying to Vancouver for TechDays I was sorting through email lists and came across an email asking if the resource kits were dead. Mitch Tulloch, a friend, MVP and author chimed in with this response which he allowed me to post.
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GROAN. Resource Kits are NOT dead--it's only unsupported Resource Kit TOOLS (executables) that are no longer provided. The Windows 7 Resource Kit is an 1800 page book on how to deploy, manage, maintain and troubleshoot Windows 7 and will be available in bookstores in mid-October. You can also pre-order this book today from Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0735627002/mtitenterprises). In addition to having 32 chapters of content that has been peer-reviewed by dozens of individuals on the Windows team at Microsoft, there is also a companion CD in the book that includes:
- The Windows 7 Resource Kit PowerShell Pack, a collection of Windows PowerShell modules that adds over 700 new Windows PowerShell cmdlets and functions to those already present in-box in Windows 7.
- Almost 200 sample Windows PowerShell scripts are included to demonstrate how you can administer different aspects of Windows 7 using Windows PowerShell.
To repeat, Resource Kits are definitely NOT dead--I should know as I'm the lead author for this book :)
Cheers,
Mitch Tulloch
