Good find by John Koetsier of VentureBeat: Microsoft has just released a “treasure trove” of free eBooks on development for – well – basically everything related to Microsoft. This includes their web-based Office 365 and the forthcoming Windows 8. You can download the various eBooks here.

For more details on the release, here’s John from Venturebeat:

It’s a potential treasure trove for those who develop for Microsoft, or work in a Microsoft environment, and want to broaden their skills. I’ve included a few of the potentially most interesting below — but be sure to check out the full selection.

Web geeks who want to start building Windows 8 apps might want to check out Programming Windows 8 Apps, which will show you how to use your Javascript, HTML, and CSS skills to program for the desktop in Windows 8.

Or, if you’re a mobile developer and are thinking of possibly throwing an app on the Windows Phone platform, Ligman has listed a few books for you as well that will have you up and running with Silverlight, XAML, and sprites in no time.

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