Acknowledgments

I still cannot believe that I finished the entire book. It has been a very long journey since I started this writing project, but I have to admit that I have enjoyed every single moment working on it. Although this is not my first time writing a book, this time was absolutely different, especially when writing about a trend like cloud computing and a booming technology like Microsoft Azure. I would never have done it without all the help and support I received from the people around me.

First, I really want to thank my family for everything they have done to me. I thank my mom for her love and prayers. To my wife, Israa, and my dear son, Yahia—thanks for the support and patience during the long days and nights I have spent writing this book.

To Gwenan Spearing, lead editor, thank you for giving me the privilege to work with Apress. It has been a dream that finally came true. Thanks for being supportive, flexible about the frequent changes, open to new ideas, and patient about those deadlines I missed.

To Melissa Maldonado, coordinating editor—thanks for taking care of the chapters, following-up with everyone, and making sure that everything was on the right track.

To Kimberly Burton, copy editor—I really cannot find the right words to describe how I am so grateful for what you have done to this book. I still remember the moment I read the first copyedited chapter and I was surprised to see how my unreadable and boring technical writings became a smooth, flowing, and interesting thing that everyone can enjoy reading it. Thanks for the amazing efforts.

To the technical reviewers, David Cobb, Ahmed Sabbour, and Raymond Elias—your honest feedback and invaluable comments helped a lot in getting the book in great shape.

A special thanks to my dear friend and brother, Wagdy Ishac, for his contribution to this book. Wagdy’s experience in Big Data and SQL Server has increased the quality of the content of this book.

Last but not least, a very sincere thanks to the technology role model, to the one who made the life of thousands of IT Pros and developers much easier and more productive, thank you Jeffrey Snover. It wouldn’t be possible to take such a step to write a book and stand here today, proud of what I have done if PowerShell wasn’t there. Thanks for inventing Windows PowerShell, thanks for positively impacting our technical skills, and thanks for being a god father to the PowerShell MVPs and community.