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Showing posts from June, 2011

Better Together: Microsoft Courseware and Kindles [GENERAL CERTIFICATION STUDY]

Last week the Born to Learn blog posted some information regarding a new program and it has been released as of this past week. Microsoft Learning Partners in the US can now buy a digital Microsoft Official Course (dMOC) on behalf of their students. The purchase includes a voucher to take a Microsoft Certification exam. The Kindle is part of the package purchase which comes preloaded with two versions of the digital MOC courseware . One version is in PDF for use on the Kindle or a computer and one version of the course optimized for readability on the Kindle itself Students then choose if they’d like to consume their Microsoft Learning digital content on a computer, a Kindle, or both. All of the details can be found on the Born to Learn blog in the entry titled Better Together: Microsoft Courseware and Kindles

Microsoft's Ten Immutable Laws Of Security [GENERAL SECURITY STUDY]

A few years ago when I was working at Microsoft they released a paper titled Ten Immutable Laws Of Security. It looks as if they have made some updates to this as it is now titled Ten Immutable Laws Of Security (Version 2.0) Whether you are a security specialist, a systems administrator or simply an end user of computer systems I believe this is a great read. I have often referred back to it when dealing with customers that desperately needed assistance in developing their own security standards in their own environments. I have also suggested a review of this for folks that are studying for their Security+ and / or CISSP exams as well as it allows for a good base of understanding.

Microsoft Certification Exams retiring on June 30, 2011 [GENERAL CERTIFICATION NEWS]

Over on the Microsoft Certification Exam Development website there is an updated list of exams scheduled to retire on June 30th of this year along with a listing of exams that have already retired in months past. All of the exams listed can be found on the Microsoft Certification Exam Development Discontinued Exams page . Below is the list scheduled to retire on June 30. Exams retiring on June 30, 2011 TS: Developing Business Process and Integration Solutions by Using Microsoft BizTalk Server 2006 - Exam 70-235 TS: Developing Business Process and Integration Solutions by Using Microsoft BizTalk Server 2006 R2 - Exam 70-241 Supporting Users and Troubleshooting a Microsoft Windows XP Operating System - Exam 70-271 Supporting Users and Troubleshooting Desktop Applications on a Microsoft Windows XP Operating System - Exam 70-272 TS: Microsoft SQL Server 2005 ‒ Implementation and Maintenance - Exam 70-431 PRO: Designing Database Solutions by Using Microsoft SQL Server 2005 -

Windows Thin PC (WinTPC) will be available for download on July 1 [GENERAL TECHNOLOGY NEWS]

Karri Alexion-Tiernan posted an article over on the Windows Blog regarding the upcoming software release of Windows Thin PC due out this July. Microsoft Windows Thin PC (WinTPC) is part of the company’s strategy with respect to Desktop Virtualization. You can read the entire post on the Windows Team Blog at Windows Thin PC RTMs! For more information you can visit the WinTPC site .

Windows forecast shows XP's one-of-a-kind dominance [GENERAL TECHNOLOGY NEWS]

There is a newly posted article over on the ComputerWorld website that indicates that Windows 7 will top out at a 41% share, less than half XP's peak of just about 84%. This is based on current roll outs of the Windows 7 operating system and the speculated release date of Windows 8 next year. Other mitigating factors also include the lag of the Windows Vista release and its unpopularity which allowed Windows XP to reign supreme for such a long time. The entire article “Windows forecast shows XP's one-of-a-kind dominance” can be found on the ComputerWorld website

Over half of Indian IT professionals may return to India [GENERAL TECHNOLOGY NEWS]

Early April, Corp-Corp conducted a survey among Indian IT professionals. More than 1000 professionals responded to this survey. The results show m ore than half of the Indian IT professionals are planning to return to India . Survey Highlights Here are a few quick insights from the survey: 50.1% of the people said that they will be returning to India soon. 6.4% of them have already returned to India and 43% do not have plan to return. The survey participants includes permanent residents, citizens and Visa holders. The survey results shows 69% of visa holders and 57% permanent residents or citizens are intend to return. To read the entire story please see Over half of Indian IT professionals may return to India – Survey

VMware Acquires Enterprise Microblogging Platform Socialcast [GENERAL TECHNOLOGY NEWS]

VMware has acquired social communications platform Socialcast. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. VMware has been on a bit of an acquisition spree of late, recently buying Shavlik Technologies, and SlideRocket. Please see Leena Rao’s complete story at TechCrunch - VMware Acquires Enterprise Microblogging Platform Socialcast