Press Release
October 2, 2002
Safari Tech Books Online to include content from Microsoft Press
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
O'Reilly Media spreads the knowledge of innovators through its books, online services, magazines, and conferences. Since 1978, O'Reilly Media has been a chronicler and catalyst of cutting-edge development, homing in on the technology trends that really matter and spurring their adoption by amplifying "faint signals" from the alpha geeks who are creating the future. An active participant in the technology community, the company has a long history of advocacy, meme-making, and evangelism.
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