New Technology Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is an American software company, best known for its Microsoft Windows operating system, and Microsoft Office, office suite software. In recent years the company has diversed into Internet publishing and video game consoles, among other fields. The company was originally founded in 1975 and is headquartered in Redmond, Washington.

Microsoft is listed on the NASDAQ under the ticker MSFT, and employs 76,539 people as of 2007. The company had revenues of over US $51.1 billion, and net income of more than US $14 billion as of 2007.

Historically, Microsoft has not always been popular with all sections of the open source community. This is partly for historical reasons, and partly because Microsoft is perceived by some as being opposed to the goals and values of the open source movement. Furthermore, some senior figures in the company have made some negative comments about open source generally, as well as the Linux operating system in particular - for example, Steve Ballmer once famously described the GPL as “a cancer”, and the company has also made various made allegations about possible patent infringements in Linux.

Despite this, Microsoft has in fact engaged in some open source, activities. Microsoft has even shipped some software under the GPL (Microsoft Services for UNIX), and other software under the CPL (Windows Installer XML - “Wix”), which is an OSI approved open source license.

Microsoft’s open source activities have largely been carried out as part of the company’s “Shared Source” initiative. This initiative is an umbrella term encompassing a range of projects, including open sourcing some programs, making other programs’ source code available for viewing-only under fairly restrictive licenses, and developing new copyright license agreements (some of which might eventually be certified as meeting the OSI’s Open Source Definition, whereas others allow source code viewing but not editing, and only on restrictive terms).

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Microsoft is revamping its certification tracks, and will eventually retire the familiar MCSE certificatons. The new certification setup is much like Cisco’s, where there are specialist certifications to go along with the more general CCNA, then mid-level certifications such as the CCNP, and then a more-advanced practical exam modeled somewhat after the coveted CCIE certification.

Microsoft’s new specialist exams are the Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS) exams. As of March 2006, there were five separate MCTS Tracks. Three of them deal with .NET Framework 2.0; these are the Web Application, Windows Applications, and Distributed Applications certifications. Each of these separate certifications requires the candidate to pass two exams. There is also a one-exam SQL Server 2005 certification, as well as a BizTalk Server 2006 single-exam certification.

The initial question is “Why is Microsoft doing this?” According to their website, MS feels that IT hiring managers today have a tough time deciding which computer certifications best identify job candidates who best meet their needs. I know it’s easy to take verbal shots at Microsoft (it’ll be an Olympic sport one day), but this new series of certs does have appeal for hiring managers, which can only help qualified candidates. Instead of the more-general MCSE, which does still suffer from the overcertification of NT 4.0 MCSEs back in the day, these more-specific certifications will make it easier for the job candidate to prove that they can do the job - and easier for the hiring manager to make an informed decision.

Microsoft hasn’t announced the track that will eventually replace the MCSE, but this track will be revealed with the next client-server Windows release. It’s up to you to stay informed of these changes, so I recommend you visit Microsoft’s certification website often. “I didn’t know” isn’t much help once a certification expires!

Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933, is the owner of The Bryant Advantage, home of over 100 free certification exam tutorials, including Cisco CCNA certification test prep articles. His exclusive Cisco CCNA study guide and Cisco CCNA training is also available!

Visit his blog and sign up for Cisco Certification Central, a daily newsletter packed with CCNA, Network+, Security+, A+, and CCNP certification exam practice questions! A free 7-part course, “How To Pass The CCNA”, is also available, and you can attend an in-person or online CCNA boot camp with The Bryant Advantage!

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