With clear step-by-step instructions, various real world examples, and plenty of screenshots, Microsoft SQL Server 2008 High Availability – a book written by SQL Server MVP from India, Hemantgiri S. Goswami - provides all the support and guidance you will need as you begin to install various SQL Server HA options. If you are an SQL Server developer, or a system administrator, or even a novice DBA, then this book is for you. It only requires you to have a basic understanding of how SQL Server works to get you through the installation of SQL  Server HA.

The foreword of the book is written by another SQL Server MVP from India - Satya Shyam K Jayanti. The book is also available in eBook format (ePub) as well as PDF.

• Install various SQL Server High Availability options in a step-by-step manner
• A guide to SQL Server High Availability for DBA aspirants, proficient developers and system administrators
• Learn the pre and post installation concepts and common issues you come across while working on SQL Server High Availability
• Tips to enhance performance with SQL Server High Availability
• External references for further study

Language : English
Paperback : 308 pages [ 235mm x 191mm ]
Release Date : January 2011
ISBN : 1849681228
ISBN 13 : 978-1-84968-122-3

Details | Sample Chapter

Nitin Agarwal, Microsoft MVP in Windows Desktop Experience and a blogger at Windows Lifestyle.com, has authored a free ebook - The Ultimate Guide to Speech Recognition in Windows 7! He had previously authored The Complete Windows 7 Shortcuts eBook.

The 28 page eBook is pretty exhaustive and covers topics like:

• Preparing Computer to work with Speech ecognition
• Connecting a microphone to your computer
• Setting up Speech Recognition
• Setting speech options
• Working with Windows Speech Recognition
• Dictating text using Speech Recognition
• Controlling Computer using Speech Recognition
• Troubleshooting common Speech Recognition problems
• Common commands in Speech Recognition
• And more!

Details | Download

Silvelight MVP, Kunal Chowdhury, is a Silverlight rockstar by any measure. He is a Code Project Mentor, an active author in SilverlightShow.net, and a speaker in various community events.

At the stroke of new year, he launched a new site - Silverlight Zone. The site has exhaustive articles and tutorials (Already 270+), and also new discussion forums. Clearly, he spent his winter holidays prefetching and assorting 118 articles on Silverlight and Windows Phone 7 from last year!

Silverlight-Zone | Follow @SilverlightZone on Twitter

Have you seen MVPs speaking at your local user group events? Or read books authored by them? And read their blogs et al? MVPs are exceptional technical community leaders from around the world who are awarded for voluntarily sharing their high quality, real world expertise in offline and online technical communities. Microsoft MVPs form a highly select group of experts, representing the technical community’s best and brightest. They share a deep commitment to community and a willingness to help others.

Over 100 million people take part in technical communities every year. Microsoft awards around 4000 MVPs, in recognition of their exceptional community contributions, sharing of real world expertise with others. We have around 4000 MVPs in over 90 countries, speaking over 30 languages and awarded across nearly 90 technology areas. Over 65% of MVPs are outside the USA, with about 150 in South Asia (India)

If you think you are the right candidate for the MVP Award or want to ramp up your community contributions to be recognized as an MVP, all you need to do is to join us for an exclusive webcast on January 13 by the MVP Lead for South Asia – Abhishek Kant.

Topic: How to get the Microsoft MVP Award by Abhishek Kant
January 13, 2011 | 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm IST

Before the webcast, and even while it’s on, you can post your queries about the MVP Award Program on Twitter with the hashtag #mvpbuzzin (We are @IndiaMVP on Twitter!) or email to indiamvp@microsoft.com.

UPDATE:
If you did not have the opportunity to provide feedback at the event, please click here to provide feedback online. The recording of the session is available here.

Happy New Year folks! We are extremely happy to welcome the following new MVPs amongst our midst for this quarter, the first of 2011:

Congratulations to all the MVP awardees, and the renewed MVPs, for this prestigious award! We are glad to have new MVPs in Dynamics CRM, Windows Embedded, and Windows Azure competencies, niche relatively, amongst us now.

Microsoft MVPs are awarded every quarter and recognize the contributions of an individual to technical communities over the past year. To know more about the MVP Program, please visit: http://www.microsoft.com/india/mvp