Well I read through Chaper 1

I finished Chapter 1 the first day and haven't ready any since then, well I did read half of chapter 2, but fell asleep before I finished. I have to say I didn't learn too much I didn't already know, but there were a few small things in there that I didn't previously know, but well there are lots of things I don't know, so it isn't too much of a suprise is it?
For instance you can make any directory or directories locally or on a network share into a library for all files or any specific file type. Its actually pretty neat.
The other interesting thing is VHD boot. You can add a line to the bootload to load a VHD file as though it were a locally installed operating system. This could be useful for lab environments.
That was pretty much it for Chapter 1. I think I'll get through chapter 2 today and post what I find sometime later. So far I like this book. I just don't know if every chapter will be easy to read without yawning.

Windows 7 Resource Kit

For my job, I got a copy of the Windows 7 Resource Kit. I am going to start to delve into the book and get all my deployment kinks out of the way. Additionally I hope to learn more about security and power shell 2.0. I don't really know what to expect from this book. Its a Microsoft Press offering. I have read books from Microsoft Press before. Some of these books are terrible, while others are great. Of course I suppose it all depends on how technical and useable you want your books to be.

I for one am very happy with Windows 7 so far. I've been using Windows 7 since December I think. At this point I have no major complaints. Although I think the sysprep process could've been made a little easier. I mean you went from a plain text file or technically an inf file in XP to this XML monstrosity. Of course I can't complain, because now that I've been working with it I appreciate its complexity. It is extremely granular and you can almost preconfigure every system and profile setting, making it much easier to deploy systems. Of course I've only used it for 7 deployments. I have yet to pre configure a Windows Server 2008 R2 system, mostly because we have so few servers running that OS. Thus far most everything is still running various forms of Windows 2003 and unfortunately some servers are running Windows 2000. Anyway, I digress.

Back to the book. Microsoft, not including the index this thing is over 1600 pages in length. Granted its littered with illustrations, but give me a break. This could've been split into a multi volume work, or the page size could've been larger, like an 8.5" by 11". Of course thats just me griping. I am sure by the time I read through this the spine will be thoroughly cracked and there will be many dog eared pages. I am also looking forward to using the included CD. I undersstand it has example powershell scripts and even an e-book copy. Now if only I could get an e-book reader, but seriously I still prefer paper to screen.

Anyway, as I read on I might post some stuff I find useful or informative and of course any and everything I think is wrong or don't understand. Of course that may lead to way too many posts. We'll see.

My plan is to go through section 1 tonight, section 2 tomorrow, section 3 on Saturday and section 4 on Sunday. This is pretty ambitious, but I've got some free time. Of course realistically lets say I'll finish the whole thing by the end of the month. That sounds more likely. We'll see.