This week kicked off Hell Week, certification-wise, for me.
Currently I’ve got a total of four exams scheduled this week. I’m slated to take:
70–648 TS: Upgrading from Windows Server 2003 MCSA to, Windows Server 2008, Technology Specializations (which I passed this Monday, actually)
70–646 PRO: Windows Server 2008, Server Administrator
70–669 TS: Windows Server 2008 R2, Desktop Virtualization (Beta)
70–624 TS: Deploying and Maintaining Windows Vista Client and 2007 Microsoft Office System Desktops
To be honest, that’s really a total of five exams, since 70–648 is actually a combination of the 70–640 and 70–642 exams.
And ALL this is in addition to the beta for 70–693 I took last month, and the pair of exams (70–579 and 70–659) that I took in a single morning while at MVP Summit 2010.
Since I’m a glutton for punishment, I’m eyeing two REAL mindkillers, 70–643 and 70–647, for next week.
Big thanks to Eric Beehler for inviting me to appear on CS Techcast 110 this week. We talked at length about some of the unique challenges facing mid-market IT.
Although the conversation was spurred mostly by the news of Microsoft’s cancelling Essential Business Server v2, we discussed a wide range of topics, including cloud-based services (big shock there) and virtualization.
If you want to skip ahead, my section starts at the 12:52 (or so) mark.
I’ll admit, it was kinda weird being on the other side of the microphone. Flashbacks of SBS Show kept running through my head, but being on the other side of the desk made this the fastest, easiest webcast I’ve ever done.
Instead of my typically convoluted Funcave windup involving some theoretical physics, Bluetooth and comic book lore a la “The Big Bang Theory,” I’ll just come right out and say what’s up this time:
That’s officially official as of right now, which should be 8:00 a.m. Pacific Standard time on March 5th, 2010. So what does that really mean?
In the immediate term, it means there will be no v2 of Essential Business Server. Not ever. Which is a damned shame, because v2 was looking completely and totally badass.
The voting in Microsoft’s kickass R2 Haiku contest ends today. My entry about DirectAccess ended up being one of the nine finalists, which means I’m still in the running.
To vote, just click the VOTE button under my entry (shown above). Login to Twitter when prompted, and then check that it recorded your vote by turning the VOTE button blue. Easy peasy.
Lo and behold, the 20% off MS exam discounts were supposed to have ended as of today.
But they haven’t. At least, not yet. Here’s the reason why…
Basically, the “Gear To Get Your Butt In Gear” giveaway being held at the Funcave drove a whole heaping bunch of interest in the 20% off discounts. So much so that it broke the Vouch-O-Matic that was issuing the discounts AKA the existing stock of 20% discounts that had been loaded were completely exhausted.
MS Learning decided to extend the 20% exam discounts one more day. Once the Vouch-O-Matic gets loaded back up, I’ll be back to issuing vouchers for the areas that still have active, outstanding requests.
If you want to get in on the discounts, this is really, honestly and truly the very last time you’ll have to partake of that sweet 20% discount action. So jump over to the Funcave giveaway page and get the survey filled out ASAP to get your place in line.
