Microsoft,amp,#39,W2K,MCSE,Pol technology Microsoft's ^@&^#&@ W2K MCSE Policy

Active shredder safety technology for the small office. Shreds 15sheets per pass into 5/32" x 1-1/2" cross-cut particles (Security Level3). Patented SafeSense® Technology stops shredding when hands touch thepaper opening. Designated shredde The electronic cigarette is not new. People who buy electronic cigarette knows that this product has been in the market for years now. Despite some sectors apparently trying to shoot the product down from the shelves, the popularity of elect

Like over 800,000 other people, I spent an incredible amount of time andeffort studying to be an MCSE (Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer). I tooksix classes, studied several books from cover to cover, took practice testsand used the knowledge in my job and on my own time. Why did I do all ofthis? Because I wanted to have one of the most prestigious certifications inthe field - the MCSE!For those of you who don't know, the MCSE consisted of six tests designed toensure that system administrators meet a minimum level of experience andknowledge with Microsoft products. The concept is this gives guidance tomanagers as to who they should and should not hire, and ensures that thosepeople know how to use Microsoft products.In my experience, people who honestly pass the MCSE exams are indeed betterqualified for their positions than others with equivalent experience andskills. Of course, boot camps, brain dumps and similar methods of cheatingthe process tend to allow people to dishonestly pass the exams. This,however, is true with all certifications (and tests for that matter) and notunique to the MCSE series.In their attempts to get people to upgrade from Windows NT 4.0 to Windows2000, Microsoft has run into quite a bit of resistance from the industry.While there are very significant reasons to upgrade, Windows 2000 requiresmajor changes in network configurations, applications and user training,which has tended to slow acceptance. In addition, since Windows 2000 wasreleased around the time of large expenditures on the Year 2000 bug, systemmanagers found themselves without funds or manpower to upgrade theirnetworks.In order to force people to upgrade more quickly, Microsoft has, in it'sinfinite wisdom, decided to retire the Windows NT 4.0 certifications. Thus,on December 31, 2001 any and all MCSE certificate holders who still have notupgraded will need to remove those four letters from their resume andbusiness cards.It now appears that over half (at least 400,000) of these MCSE's will beinvalid in under five months! I know from experience that the change fromWindows NT to Windows 2000 is not an easy one, and given that many peopleactually have to work for a living it's not surprising that so many of themhave not had a chance to obtain the new certifications.There is also a large amount of anger about the policy. It appears thatMicrosoft is only interested in increasing it's bottom line, whichtranslates into selling an endless procession of upgrades to the operatingsystem and the office suite. It's plainly obvious that Microsoft feels it'sdollars come from these upgrades, and thus those engineers who cannot orwill not upgrade their certifications have little or no value.Even worse is that Microsoft has started the path towards Windows XPcertifications! A large number of MCSE's have not even started (much lessfinished) their training for Windows 2000, and now they have to figure outhow to upgrade that to Windows XP! And, of course, it's a sure bet that thenext version of Windows will follow very quickly after that.Me and several of the people who work for me have obtained the MCSEcertification for Windows NT 4.0. Given that we all work very long hours (a60 hour week is a short one) and have lives, it's a miracle that even someof is found time to pass these exams.And now Microsoft is saying that we are no longer valuable. They aredirectly implying that we are not worthy of their greatness because, well,we are too busy actually putting their products to work to take the time outto study and pass the exams.We do want to pass the exams and we do want to become certified on Windows2000. Every single person that works for me strongly desires to pass thesetests. Our objection does not come from the fact that the tests exist orthat Microsoft is raising the bar or improving their products.Our objection is the underhanded, sneaky and downright unethical way thatMicrosoft is forcing us to put pressure on our company and our employers toneedlessly upgrade over and over again. The pressure comes from every aspectof Microsoft - from forced upgrades via their licensing practices to theirforced certification policies.Let's play devil's advocate for a minute and see what we can learn. PerhapsMicrosoft has to do this because they are more intelligent and have a widervision than the rest of the world. Microsoft knows they have a far superiorproduct, and in order to ensure that we lesser beings provide the best valuefor our companies, they are requiring us to upgrade our knowledge. Heavenforbid that companies (especially large ones) actually keep Windows NT 4.0installed on their networks (much less Windows 95 or 98). To allow thatwould be completely irresponsible of Microsoft, wouldn't it?Okay, enough of that! Now I'm getting sick to my stomach!The problem that many of us are facing is that we are stuck with what we'vegot. We have already invested so much in Microsoft products that it would beextremely difficult to switch to something else. In addition, Windows NT 4.0SP6a is a reasonably reliable operating system, and the Office 2000 suite isexceptional.However, every once in a while I get a little whimsical thinking back to thegood old days, when I used to run our multi-billion dollar company on twolarge VAX machines. That's ALL of our applications, every single one ofthem. Plus hundreds of users, over fifty printers and fax machines andnumerous other things. In fact, we ran payroll, accounting, orderprocessing, delivery scheduling, human resources, printing, communicationsand everything else on those two machines!To top it all off, we ran for over ten years on these VAX machines without amajor operating system upgrade! Yes, there were problems, but constantretraining, reinstalls, service packs, hot fixes and weekly major securityalerts were not among them. And compared to the clustering in OpenVMS (theoperating system for the VAX and Alpha hardware), the "clustering" inWindows 2000 is a complete joke!And now I need over 150 servers running Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000! Thereally sickening thing is I'll bet I could run everything on a dozen or soUnix or Linux servers, or, again, two big Alpha (the successor to the VAX)systems. (It's really too bad that Digital Equipment Corporation, which madethe best hardware and operating systems on the planet, could not markettheir way out of a paper bag).I think that's what is annoying is and many of our peers the most. Theconstant need to spend an outrageous amount of time to keep up with the newreleases from Microsoft.I know it doesn't fit into Microsoft's hostile "do it our way and pay us forthe privilege" business model, but we would much prefer a different approachto the MCSE certification model. Instead of constantly rolling it forwardconstantly, invalidating the certifications of those who cannot keep up, whynot just append the operating system to the certification?Why not just make a "MCSE Win4.0" and an "MCSE Win2000"? To me as a manager,it would be far more valuable than the current catch-all scheme. Look at itthis way, I could scan a resume for "MCSE Win3.1", "MCSE Win4.0" or "MCSEWin95". Wouldn't that make it easier for me as a manager? You bet!However, it wouldn't help Microsoft's bottom line, would it?Fortunately, I am not in the business of helping Microsoft's profit margin.In fact, on my list of worries, that wouldn't even be in the top million! Myjob, and the job of each and every person in our company, is to support ourusers by giving them tools which enable them to do their jobs.To do that, we will get certified on Windows 2000, and probably Windows XPafter that. However, we will do it on our schedule, fitting the training andtesting time around our jobs and personal lives. In the meantime, we willtake a closer look at other alternatives to Windows and Office, because,well, well really don't like this situation. We may, or we may not, changeto those alternatives, but before this we were not even looking ... now weare.Additional InformationThe Certification Debatehttp://internet-tips.net/Careers/certifications.htmThere is a huge debate out there in the computer world - to certify or notto certify. Here's my two cents.Microsoft's Licensing Model (Sigh)http://internet-tips.net/Microsoft/licensing.htmYou would think that Microsoft would want to make it easy to give themmoney, wouldn't you? Think again.What's Up With Microsoft?http://internet-tips.net/Microsoft/whatsup.htmMicrosoft stock has been going down all through 2000. Here's an opinion asto why. Article Tags: Windows 2000, Operating System