A few weeks ago I announced here that I was about to embark on a 52-part journey to explain the best ways to architect, implement, and maintain Windows Server 2008's Terminal Services. In doing that, I'd take a new focus and bring this information to you the reader using an interactive approach over the course of a year. Each week would see a new chapter of the series with new information all in a space that can be commented on and discussed in real time.

Well, that series has begun this past Tuesday over at Concentrated Technology with the release of Part 0. A project I've decided to do completely out of my own free time, my hope is that the end result of this work is a useful tool for the small environment IT professional. Here's a relatively long snippet from my setup in Part 0:

What we've learned over a period of years is that the small-shop IT professional -- the "Jack of all Trades" or "accidental IT pro" if you will -- feels most left out. Too many IT publications, white papers, and books dig deep into detailed explanations for setting up IT environments with rich needs. But not everyone needs this level of complexity, and too many guides start with an assumed level of knowledge that many small-shop IT pros don't have and don't have the time to learn.

So here at Concentrated Technology, we want to help solve that problem by giving back a little to the community. Starting first with this series, I'll be delivering free to you what will eventually amount to an entire book on the basics of what you need to know to properly implement Terminal Services in your small environment. No strings attached...really...!

I call this series "in the Small Environment" rather than "for the SMB" because in some ways we're all responsible for "the small environment". Some of us are truly in the small-and-medium business space, dealing with the concerns and budget limitations of the micro-business. Others may be an employee of a larger company, yet only responsible for a small piece of that organization's IT infrastructure. Relatively few of us have our arms around an enormously-sized enterprise remote application delivery infrastructure (plus, its a mouthful!). Most of us need to publish a few apps for a few employees.

If you're in that boat, this series is for you.

Over a series of fifty-two Tuesdays I'll present new "chapters" or "parts" to this end, focusing on Terminal Services in Windows Server 2008. Each part will be posted here on the Concentrated Technology website every Tuesday. Each part will simultaneously be added to the ConTech wiki (which will be available shortly), so later on you can read through the entire content with a minimum of searching.

What's great about this format is that each individual part includes a comments field just like all blog posts. This gives you an opportunity to interactively discuss the topic each week, ask questions or clarifications, or correct any errors in real time. With your help, we're on the road to collaboratively creating something very special here. I encourage your participation.

New posts in the series will be made available every Tuesday. Keep an eye on the entire series over at www.concentratedtech.com. You can read the full Part 0 along with the anticipated table of contents at: http://concentratedtech.com/content/index.php/2008/09/terminal-services-in-the-small-environment-a-52-part-series-for-the-jack-of-all-trades-it-professional-part-0/