Thoughtsofanidlemind's Blog

One year after we started to write the book, several thousand people have copies of “Office 365 for Exchange Professionals”. We are delighted at the feedback and positive comments that we have received. However, some questions have arisen as to how often we update the text and what right anyone has to receive an update, so here’s some information about editions and updates in an attempt to clarify the position.

We have published two editions of “Office 365 for Exchange Professionals” to date:

• First edition: May 2015
• Second edition: September 2015

The books are available online in EPUB (suitable for Sony Readers and iPads), PDF (best for PCs and Macs), and Amazon Kindle.

We plan to publish the 3^rd edition, which will probably be renamed “Office 365 for IT Pros” to indicate the large amount of non-Exchange related material in the book, in late April or early May of 2016. [The third edition was published on 1 June 2016]

Each edition includes a substantial amount of new material to reflect new functionality introduced by Office 365. For example, the second edition has some 270 pages of additional material compared to the first book. As an indication of what we’re thinking about for the third edition, it will cover material such as Delve Analytics and the Office 365 Planner, both features that have not yet been released by Microsoft. In addition, we will revise coverage of the existing content to remove redundant material and to add, expand, or correct information as required. We know that many changes are coming for Office 365 Groups, so chapter 7 is likely to be overhauled (again). We are also consider changing the chapters for the third edition to create a more coherent flow.

Readers get the book in three ways:

• Purchase from ExchangeServerPro.com and become a site member. We can then update you when new versions and updates are available, providing that you opt-in for these notifications.
• Purchase the Kindle format from Amazon.com (or one of its country subsidiaries). Note that both the first and second editions are available on Amazon. The first is priced higher than the second and its descriptive text makes it very clear that this edition is now obsolete. We have kept the first online to retain the reviews as you cannot transfer reviews from one book to another.
• Receive a copy from our sponsor (Binary Tree) or from a company who buys some copies to distribute to their customers. For example, Microsoft is currently providing copies to select attendees at its cloud roadshow series and Mimecast has bought copies to provide to webcast attendees.

It is important to know that we update the current book on an ongoing basis. We do this to remove “bugs” (in this case, bad grammar or spelling errors), address errors that are found or caused because new information comes to light, or to add some important information that we feel should be in the book. This approach matches the ongoing development that occurs within Office 365. The current version is indicated by a date on the inside cover (see screen shot below). The most recent version (for the second edition) is dated 20-May-2016. 

We want to make updates available to people who have “Office 365 for Exchange Professionals”. Here’s the arrangement:

• If you buy from ExchangeServerPro.com, you can download free updates for the edition that you purchase from the site.
• If you buy a Kindle version from Amazon, you can download free updates from Amazon.com. You do this from the Amazon site by going to Manage Content and Devices, select the book, and click on Update Available. Amazon can sometimes be slow at making updates available through this route (they want to avoid lots of extra downloads, so they force authors to go through hoops before they release an update). If an update doesn’t show up, you might have to ask Amazon support to delete the entry in your list and get a refreshed copy of the book.
• Free updates are not available to people who receive copies distributed by third parties. We provide updated content to companies who buy from us in order that they distribute the latest available text, but we don’t have a way to reach those who receive books in this manner thereafter.

It is also worth noting that if you buy direct from ExchangeServerPro.com, we will offer you discounts as new editions appear. For instance, site members who had bought the first edition received a limited-time offer to buy the second edition for $10 instead of its full price of $44.95.

I hope that this clarifies the way that we organize editions and updates and helps you find the most up-to-date content.

Follow Tony @12Knocksinna