From the Editor
A Few New Things
Joshua Hoffman
The new year is a time for change. That's got to be one of the oldest clichés in the book. But, given that I'm about to tell you all about the changes we have in store at the magazine, I guess the cliché actually applies in this case.
We begin with one change that all of us here are happy to announce. I'm sure you've noticed a new "regular" in our midst, Paul Randal. Over the past many months, he has been writing our always-popular SQL Q&A column and he has also brought us a number of fascinating articles about new features in SQL Server 2008. Paul comes to us with an impressive background as a senior member of the SQL Server team at Microsoft, and he is currently a prolific speaker, author, trainer, and blogger at sqlskills.com. Paul's content in TechNet Magazine has received high praise from our readers, and we're excited to cement his place as a regular presence in and contributing editor to TechNet Magazine.
We're also very pleased to welcome Greg Shields to the pages of TechNet Magazine. Many of you know Greg from his work at Redmond Magazine, Realtime Community, TechMentor events, or ConcentratedTech.com. Greg is a longtime expert in IT and an MVP in Terminal Services; he joins us this month to write about the seamless deployment of applications via Terminal Services. Greg will continue next month as the author of a brand new column called "Geek of All Trades." In this new column, Greg will explore powerful yet simple solutions for the IT pro who has to do it all (and I'm betting that includes you.)
There's still more! As we move into the new year, you'll see the long overdue return of our online Sustainable Computing column discussing all things Green and an online expansion of our Utility Spotlight column.
Turning to the present, this month's issue has plenty in store: along with the contributions from Paul and Greg, Aung Oo joins us with a terrific overview of the new version of Identity Lifecycle Manager. As the importance of maintaining data integrity grows, with it grows the importance of ensuring that identity information in your organization is in sync. I think you'll find it to be invaluable in sorting through issues of identity integrity. And who among us hasn't had to manage a project in the course of their career? Alan Maddison is back this month with great insight into making the process much easier with Project Server 2007. We hope you enjoy it all!
—Joshua Hoffman
Thanks to the following Microsoft technical experts: Alex Balcanquall, Brjann Brekkan, Christophe Fiessinger, Darrell Gorter, Mark Gray, Costin Hagiu, Jerome Halmans, Kelly Hengesteg, Jan Kalis, Mike Lagase, Klaas Langhout, Greg Marshall, Scott McArthur, Doug McCutcheon, Tim McMichael, Kevin Miller, Sanjeev Nair, Stuart Presley, Alym Rayani, and Jim Truher.