From the Editor: The Best is Yet To Come

Article
09/07/2016

From the EditorThe Best is Yet To Come

Joshua Hoffman

Believe it or not, I'm going to begin my first Editor's Note with a flashback. Mind you, use of this sort of literary device so early in the game does not bode well for me, but, just the same, here we go.

In the summer of 2005, the two inaugural issues of TechNet Magazine having been very well received, it was time to ramp up the production schedule and start delivering great technical content to IT professionals on a regular basis. Joshua Trupin, our Executive Editor, and Stephen Toub (then Technical Editor of our sister publication, MSDN Magazine), had done an amazing job lining up experts and planning those first few issues, but they both had day jobs to get back to.

So I joined the team as the new Technical Editor, humbled by the confidence they placed in me and the job they had done so far. After all, producing a magazine is no small feat. I came from an IT pro background (pure geek), spending the previous four years in Microsoft Consulting Services. I had relatively little (no) knowledge of how publishing really worked. I had a reading list a mile long. I had three issues to start planning immediately. I had new teammates, authors, technical reviewers, business partners, and, of course, readers to get to know. And, above all, I had print deadlines that wouldn't budge (which, as you can imagine, is a difficult concept for a long-time Microsoft employee to grasp).

But the team embraced me, endured and humored me, and did more to help me get my job done than you can imagine. The authors, reviewers, partners, and you—our readers—have made this job fascinating, challenging, and deeply rewarding, and I'm privileged to have made so many new friends. I look back on the past two years proud of what this team has accomplished. But now, as the new Editor-in-Chief, I'm even more excited by what lies ahead.

This magazine exists with the sole mission of making IT professionals successful with Microsoft products and technologies (trust me; our paychecks depend on doing that, above all else). You've told us where we've done well and, more importantly, where we need to improve. We take that feedback very seriously. Over the coming months and years we will continue to improve, adding new authors and new columns, enhancing our online platform with new content and new media, and hopefully enabling you to learn in whatever way suits you best. None of that can be successful, however, without your continued input. Tell us what works for you and what doesn't. Where should we spend our time? You're in control, so you might as well take advantage of it. E-mail tnmag@microsoft.com and let your voice be heard. —Joshua Hoffman

Thank you to the following Microsoft technical experts: Omesh Desai, Raja Ganjikunta, Saleem Hakani, Justin Hall, Michael Murgolo, John Orefice, Jim Truher, Marc Umeno, Jeff Wettlaufer, Buck Woody, and Minxiao Zhou.

Additional resources