Free ebook: Introducing Windows 10 for IT Professionals, Technical Overview

We’re happy to announce the release of our newest free ebook, Introducing Windows 10 for IT Professionals, Technical Overview (ISBN 9780735696976), by Ed Bott. Download PDF Download ePub Download Mobi

Overview

Get a head start evaluating Windows 10—with technical insights from award-winning journalist and Windows expert Ed Bott. This guide introduces new features and capabilities, providing a practical, high-level overview for IT professionals ready to begin deployment planning now.

This edition was written after the release of Windows 10 version 1511 in November 2015 and includes all of its enterprise-focused features.

The goal of this book is to help you sort out what’s new in Windows 10, with a special emphasis on features that are different from the Windows versions you and your organi­zation are using today, starting with an overview of the operating system, describing the many changes to the user experience, and diving deep into deployment and management tools where it’s necessary.

Introduction

I’ve written about Microsoft Windows for nearly a quarter-century, and in all that time I have never worked on a project like this one. Then again, I’ve never seen anything quite like Windows 10 from Microsoft, either.

With the assistance of a skilled team at Microsoft Press, I wrote this book in two phases. The first edition, published in early 2015, was based on the Windows 10 Technical Preview. For this edition, I waited until the release of Windows 10 version 1511 in November 2015 so that I could include all of its enterprise-focused features.

Windows 10 represents a major transformation of the PC landscape. For IT pros who’ve grown comfortable managing Microsoft Windows using a familiar set of tools and best practices, this version contains a startling amount of new. A new user experience. A new app platform. New security features and new management tools. New ways of deploying major upgrades.

My goal in this book is to help you sort out what’s new in Windows 10, with a special emphasis on features that are different from the Windows versions you and your organization are using today. I’ve tried to lay out those facts in as neutral a fashion as possible, starting with an overview of the operating system, describing the many changes to the user experience, and diving deep into deployment and management tools where it’s necessary.

Although I’ve written in-depth guides to Windows in the past, this book is not one of those. It’s also not a review. Only you can decide whether, and how and when, to incorporate Windows 10 into your enterprise, based on your own organizational requirements. This book is designed to serve as a starting point so that you can get more out of your evaluation of Windows 10, which is why I have also included many links to external resources.

By design, this book focuses on things that are new, with a special emphasis on topics of interest to IT pros. So you might find fewer tips and tricks about the new user experience than your users want but more about management, deployment, and security—which ultimately is what matters to the long-term well-being of the company you work for.

Windows 10 is a free upgrade for any PC running a properly licensed copy of Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 retail and OEM editions. If your organization has a Volume License for Windows Enterprise edition with Software Assurance, you also have access to Windows 10 at no cost. Even if you have no immediate plans to migrate your organization to the next version of Windows, now is the time to evaluate this new operating system.

I encourage you to share your feedback about this book directly with me. E-mail your comments to me at feedback@realworldwindows.com.

Ed Bott
January 28, 2016

Acknowledgments
I’d like to thank Michael Niehaus, Chris Hallum, and Fred Pullen, who provided invaluable input for both editions of this book. I’d also like to thank the good folks at Microsoft Press—Anne Hamilton, Rob Linsky, and Rosemary Caperton—for their efforts at making this project happen.

About the author
Ed Bott is an award-winning technology journalist and author who has been writing about Microsoft technologies for more than two decades. He is the author of more than 25 books on Microsoft Windows and Office and writes regularly about technology for The Ed Bott Report at ZDNet.