Safari™ Books Online™, a joint venture between leading IT publishers O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. and The Pearson Technology Group (PTG), a division of Pearson plc (NYSE: PSO), today announced an agreement between Safari and Microsoft Press® to publish Microsoft Press books in the Safari Tech Books Online service. With this new agreement, programmers and administrators who subscribe to Safari will now be able to search for key words as well as read the full text of Microsoft Press technology books online.
In addition to being an online repository of nearly 1,000 technical books, Safari gives users the added convenience of being able to search for key topics and code, browse twenty technical categories and read the full text of books right from their desktop. Safari's robust search mechanism delivers precision, relevancy-ranked results, helping users to quickly zero-in on the information they need. The service gives subscribers the ability to bookmark, make notes, and cut and paste code directly, saving time and eliminating programming errors.
Effective immediately, sixteen Microsoft Press titles from the latest Microsoft .NET titles to best-selling traditional titles, such as "Writing Secure Code" by Michael Howard and David LeBlanc, will be available on the service.
"Our audience is often under the gun to get to information quickly--they don't always have time to hunt down the correct answer," said Don Fowley, publisher at Microsoft Press. "Our readers know they can rely on Microsoft Press books for the right answer, and now through Safari we can offer them a new way to pinpoint answers more quickly than ever before. What's more, they will be able to search across multiple Microsoft Press books simultaneously."
As part of this agreement, Microsoft Press joins ranks with Safari joint venture partners O'Reilly, which has approximately 250 books in the service including its best-selling animal series, and the Pearson Technology Groups, which has more than 600 books in the service including those from leading imprints:
- Addison-Wesley Professional
- Adobe Press
- Cisco Press
- Macromedia Press
- Prentice Hall PTR
- Peachpit Press
- Sun Microsystems Press
- Que
- Sams
"This agreement with Microsoft Press is an important event for Safari as it greatly enhances our position as the definitive electronic reference library for programmers and IT professionals," said Sean Devine, Managing Director of Safari. "The addition of Microsoft Press books adds to the completeness of the Safari repository and we will continue to encourage other high quality publishers to come into the Safari fold."
Launched less than a year ago, Safari's client roster includes Fortune 50 companies, major universities and leading training organizations worldwide. In addition, more than 8,000 individual technical professionals subscribe to the service.
"Everyone's hungry for information on .NET. The addition of Microsoft Press books to Safari will be a great way to help stay ahead of the curve, with information straight from the source--Microsoft itself," said Michael Croghan, Lead Developer at USATODAY.com and Safari subscriber.
"As a consultant, I can't always lug my favorite books with me to every job site. Safari is a great reference tool, when I am on the road," said Jason Robinson, Senior Architect and Administrator at Magiclamp Networks in Fremont, California. "Adding Microsoft Press books to Safari will make the tool that much more powerful."
Groups of 10 or more may qualify for a complimentary 30-day trial of Safari Tech Books Online. Individual IT professionals and programmers interested in exploring the service can sign up for a Safari Bookshelf for just $9.99 per month through a number of popular technology sites including:
About Safari Books Online
Safari Books Online is a joint venture between the industry's leading technical publishers O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. and The Pearson Technology Group. Safari's flagship service, Safari Tech Books Online, is the premier electronic reference library for programming and IT professionals. The service enables enterprises, information portals, associations, libraries, and universities to offer Web-based access to the electronic versions of highly-acclaimed books from industry-leading technical publishers O'Reilly & Associates and Pearson imprints Addison- Wesley Professional, Adobe Press, Cisco Press, Macromedia Press, New Riders, Peachpit Press, Prentice Hall PTR, Sun Microsystems Press, Que, and Sams. For more information call Safari Books Online at (617) 848-7025 or visit the company's Web site.
About Microsoft Press and Microsoft
Microsoft Press is a product unit within Microsoft Corp. and a leading source of comprehensive self-paced learning, training, evaluation and support resources that help everyone from developers and IT professionals to end users get the most from Microsoft technology. Users can choose from more than 250 current titles in print, multimedia and network-ready formats--learning solutions made by Microsoft. More information can be found at www.microsoft.com/mspress/.
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software--any time, any place and on any device.
Microsoft and Microsoft Press are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.
For more information contact:
Lynn Little
Vice President Marketing
Safari Books Online
Tel: (617) 848-7025
E-mail: Lynn.Little@safarijv.com
Kahlin Kurilik
Waggener Edstrom for Microsoft
Tel: (503) 443-7000
E-mail: kahlink@wagged.com
Rapid Response Team
Waggener Edstrom for Microsoft
Tel: (503) 443-7070
E-mail: rrt@wagged.com
Interviews available:
Tim O'Reilly
Founder and CEO, O'Reilly & Associates
Sean Devine
Managing Director, Safari Books Online
30-day complimentary accounts available to qualified members of the media.
About O’Reilly
For over 40 years, O’Reilly has provided technology and business training, knowledge, and insight to help companies succeed. Our unique network of experts and innovators share their knowledge and expertise through the company’s SaaS-based training and learning platform. O’Reilly delivers highly topical and comprehensive technology and business learning solutions to millions of users across enterprise, consumer, and university channels. For more information, visit www.oreilly.com.