None of this frivolous (even if seriously moneymaking) fluffy stuff for me, like the iPhone or Britney Spears' new web site. I'm getting too old, stodgy and pernickety to spend precious time on such trivia!

I'm aiming to pen a few articles about nearly-always free, serious IT publications (books, white papers, magazines, presentations) that various IT vendors and other organizations or individuals offer in a from downloadable from the Web.

I'm talking about non-lightweight IT publications that will interest (mainly) just IT professionals. By this I mean people such as IT developers, designers, administrators, architects, managers, and so-called power users. Out of the series of articles you're sure to find topics that will interest you, although for sure

In each article, I'll write a few words about each, a page or two at most, and provide instructions for obtaining them (URL links, whether site registration is required, etc). Sometimes I'll provide links to ancillary but related sites, usually those of the relevant authors.

To kick off this series, I'd like to heartily recommend a fine publication that shows a side of Microsoft that most people don't ever get around to seeing: the Microsoft Architecture Journal. (I say this because most people get involved with Microsoft products only at the desktop PC level.)

Journal editions are downloadable as PDF documents, or you can access individual articles online.

The above is the journal's home page at MSDN (the Microsoft Developer Network), which is a subsidiary part of the MSDN Architecture Center that is "dedicated to providing information, ideas, and community to software architects and business decision makers." (The members of the Microsoft Australia and New Zealand Architecture team can be found here.)

There's also available the Architecture Journal Reader described as "a locally installed application that enables you to take every issue of the Journal into a searchable, immersive, and easy-to-read experience."

The home page proper of the journal is here. This requires a Microsoft Live registration, and is where you need to go so as to order the e-mail newsletter (which will advise you of new journal editions as soon as they come out) and  register for the print version of the journal.

But what sort of matter is in the journal that makes it excellent reading?

PLEASE READ ON...