In this article you will learn a bit of history concerning Microsoft certification. If you were ever confused as to which acronym corresponds to which Microsoft cert, then this essay is for you!

Many newcomers to information technology want to earn one or more Microsoft certifications in order to demonstrate their competency and get a leg up on their first or next professional position. Over the past 10 years or so we have observed a significant revision in the number of and nomenclature used in Microsoft IT pro cert titles.

This “alphabet soup” of acronyms can be mighty confusing not only for newbies but also for seasoned vets who desire certification.

First-generation Microsoft certifications

Until fairly recently, the golden credential for Windows systems administrators was the Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) title. This credential carried a lot of weight in the IT marketplace, and folks spent quite a bit of money and effort to attain it.

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In this article we will untangle the confusing nomenclature behind Microsoft’s R2 product releases.

The question arises: What does the ‘R2’ mean in Microsoft products such as Windows Server 2008 R2 and SQL Server 2008 R2? While we are on the subject, what are the chief differentiators between a hotfix and a service pack?

In my opinion, Microsoft has historically been a wee bit less than clear on these points. To that end, I hereby make it my mission in this blog post to untangle the thorns and get us all to the same plane of understanding.

Hotfix vs. Service Pack

A hotfix (also called a patch) is a code module that is developed to address a single flaw in a software product. It bears mentioning that, in general, all Windows systems administrators are not asked to apply a Microsoft hotfix. Rather, hotfixes are generally intended for systems in which a particular problem rears its ugly head.

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Inspired by Mark Wilson's blog post, I couldn't keep from writing another word or two about the "new" post-PC era.

I wonder what enters the minds of those prominent PC doomsayers, like Steve Jobs, when they read that a developer preview of Windows 8 was downloaded 500,000 times in 16 hours and the media went nuts, pushing out myriad reviews on one day even before a beta version is in sight. How can this huge interest in an operating system for a dying, or at least unimportant, device type be explained?

I think the explanation is easy. Microsoft just reinvented the PC once again. The PC as we have known it since Windows 95 is indeed dead. Many are surprised. I am not. More than a year ago, I published an article with the title “My Windows 8 wish list – No more evolution please!” One of my biggest wishes was that Microsoft gets rid of the Start Menu. Well, it can still be revived, of course, but this is an important and expected step.

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In this article you will learn Tim’s suggested roadmap for earning your Microsoft Windows Server 2008 certification.

The Microsoft Learning Web site contains just about everything you’ll ever want to know about Microsoft certification. However, those pages tend to be a bit marketing lingo-rich for my taste, nor do they offer advice on which path you should take through their exam and credential roadmaps.

The Microsoft Certified IT Professional (MCITP) is Microsoft’s current top-tier IT Pro certification, and replaces the Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) as the “golden ticket” for aspiring IT job candidates.

In this post we aren’t going to become entangled with the “certification vs. job experience” trope. Instead I will assume that you either need or want to earn your MCITP in Windows Server 2008, and you want practical suggestions for accomplishing that goal with a minimum of muss or fuss.

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In part 4 of the Chromebooks series, I discuss their capabilities with regard to modern touch-based user interfaces and the support for cloud applications.

There is no doubt about it. The lack of control over automatic updates and no support of data backups are severe disadvantages of Chromebooks for businesses. However, more important for the success of Chromebooks will be their usability and their abilities regarding cloud computing.

6. User interface

Just like Microsoft, Google was obviously caught napping by the success of the iPad. Chrome OS was already in the making, and there was no way to adapt the OS in a reasonable time for tablets. The only difference is that Microsoft is working feverishly to improve Windows’s touch capabilities, whereas Google has no plans for tablet support.

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Google officials claim that, with Chromebooks, you don't have to take care of backups and software updates. I doubt that this is an advantage.

Last week, I outlined why I believe that Chromebooks are no match for Windows netbooks when it comes to accessibility and the ability of their applications. Today, I will address two topics that Google explicitly names as two advantages of Chromebooks—that is, the fact that you need not worry about backups or updates.

4. Backups

That you don’t need to take care of backups if you store all your data in the cloud is a claim often put forward. Of course, this is supposed to also be one of the alleged advantages of Chromebooks. From my point of view, it is one of the major disadvantages.

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This second part of the Chromebooks series discusses the "anytime and anywhere" argument and compares the power of web apps with Windows applications.

In the last post in this series about Google’s Chromebooks, I outlined why I believe that “this new kind of computer” won’t improve security in your organization. Today, I want to address two topics that also play an important role in the current discussion about Chromebooks: accessibility and ability.

2. Accessibility

Google touts the anytime and anywhere accessibility of web apps as one of the major advantages of Chromebooks. Honestly, this is simply wrong. Watching the keynote was a nice case in point of the limited accessibility of web apps. I was trying to watch the video in Boracay in the Philippines (by the way, one of the world’s best beaches). Even though Internet speed in the Philippines is definitely above average compared to other locations in Asia, I wasn’t able to watch the video continuously even though I used the lowest available resolution.

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In this series, I will outline my views about the disadvantages of Google's Chromebook, a netbook running Chrome OS. Part 1 discusses security.

A few days ago, Google announced Chromebooks, “a new kind of computer,” as the Google Chrome blog was titled. I watched the Day 2 video of the keynote speech for the Google I/O developer conference, and I read several comments on the web. I often found myself shaking my head. This five-part series covers eight of the causes that made my head shake: security, accessibility and ability, updates and backup, usability and cloudability.

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The purpose of this poll is to find out if recent developments in cloud computing are already affecting the value of IT for businesses.

Exactly eight years ago (May 2003), Nicholas Carr published an article with the provocative title “IT doesn’t matter” and, in 2004, a book with the interestingly less aggressive title “Does IT matter?” caused quite a stir. In IT, eight years correspond to a century in other fields (electricity, for instance—one of Carr’s favorite analogies. Thus I thought it would be interesting to see if Carr’s prediction a century ago has come true or not.

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Steve Jobs foretells a post-PC world in the near future. Is he an ingenious analyst or a false prophet?

In my last post, I tried to clarify what Steve Jobs actually means when he is predicting the post-PC world. Today, I will outline my opinion about his claim.

The term “post PC” is as old as the PC itself. The list of failed attempts to replace the PC with something better is getting longer and longer: network computers, web browsers, Java, thin clients, NeXT computers, Sun workstations, Macs, virtual desktops, etc. The list is certainly incomplete. You might remember a few more PC contenders. And if we are talking about replacing Windows on desktop computers, you can add a few operating systems that tried to challenge the PC world in vain: OS/2, Linux, Mac OS, Solaris, SCO Unix, etc.

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This post tries to clarify what Steve Jobs means when he talks about the post-PC world.

I think the terms “post-PC world” or “post-PC era” will occupy the tech media for a while. It is often unclear what people really mean when they use these terms, and it is obvious that not everyone uses them in the same sense. Steve Jobs is one of the most prominent figures who loves this term, and he hardly misses an occasion to use it.

Unfortunately, much confusion exists in the media about what Steve Jobs means by a post-PC world. A good example is Mark Gartenberg from Macworld.com, who thinks that “post PC” just means what comes “after” the PC in the sense what comes “next,” but not that tablets will actually replace PCs. Rest assured that this is not what Steve Jobs has in mind.

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Curated computing provides an opportunity to hit a virtual reset button and banish poor quality apps from our systems.

In my last post, I introduced the concept of curated computing – a computing model that provides a method non-technical users to install “apps” and for enterprises to embrace consumerisation but that’s only part of the story. Curated computing also offers a fantastic opportunity to hit a reset button – to banish the poor quality applications and keep those that are malware-free, and which offer real value.

Apple wants us to run their hardware (and is doing a pretty good job of it in the next-generation tablet space). Microsoft would like us to think that a Windows tablet is great because… well, because it runs Windows – and that means it runs the same apps that we use on our PCs.

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Curated computing provides an easy method for non-technical users to install “apps” and for enterprises to embrace consumerisation

At the recent iPad 2 launch, Steve Jobs proclaimed that we’re in a “post-PC” world – but he’s not the first to say that – Jonathan Schwartz from Sun Microsystems also used that term in the first half of the last decade… and look where Sun is now!

It will certainly be a while before we can drive the last nail into the coffin of the PC but things are changing. Whilst PCs have become commodities, two major technology shifts are driving a change in the way that we consume our IT applications:

• Mobility – the growth of the smartphone and the tablet/slate as popular categories of device.
• IT consumerisation – the rise of end-user owned devices within the workplace.

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The success of every new software product is dependent on whether customers like the new features or not. Thus, I think it makes sense to listen to customers as early as possible.

You might have heard the news that some sites that were posting rumors about Windows 8 features were shut down. It appears to be unclear who is behind this, but it is obvious that Redmond does not really like it when possible Windows 8 features are discussed in public at this time. I believe that this strategy is wrong, and in this post I explain why.

In my opinion, these rumors are very important. They trigger discussion on the web, and I believe that this helps Microsoft find out what Windows customers really want. This is one of the reasons why I started the Windows 8 poll with its somewhat surprising outcome.

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The importance of smartphones and tablets for businesses is growing quickly. If you have to decide which platform you will introduce in your organization, then the Microsoft-Nokia deal should influence your decision.

When I read that an analyst (Adnaan Ahmad) “urged” Nokia and Microsoft to form a partnership around Windows Phone 7, I thought that it is the first time in a while that I’ve heard an analyst saying something really smart. Funny thing is that Steve Ballmer and Stephen Elop were so impressed that they gave in to Ahmad’s urges and just announced this very partnership a few days later. Negotiations must have been under a great time pressure to fulfill Ahmad’s urges.

It is difficult to say in which direction information was actually flowing here, but one thing is for sure: This deal deals a new hand in the smartphone game. If you have to decide which mobile platform you will introduce in your organization, one important factor certainly is which smartphone OS will prevail in the long run because moving to a new platform is always time consuming and expensive. If you had doubts whether Windows Phone 7 can seriously compete with Android and iOS, you now have to sit back for a moment and think again.

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