The book you’ve all been waiting for, Windows 7 Inside Out, Deluxe Edition (ISBN 9780735656925; Page count 1360), by Ed Bott, Carl Siechert, and Craig Stinson is now available for purchase. The Deluxe Edition of the ultimate, in-depth reference to Windows 7 has been fully updated for SP1 and Internet Explorer 9, and features 300+ pages of additional coverage and advanced topics. It’s now packed with even more timesaving solutions, troubleshooting tips, and workarounds from the experts—and includes a fully searchable eBook and other online resources. Topics include installation, configuration, and setup; network connections and troubleshooting; remote access; managing programs; controlling user access and accounts; advanced file management; working with Internet Explorer 9; managing security...

The goal of this course is to introduce and use the BI features in SQL Server 2008 R2 business intelligence platform. The Microsoft BI stack enables users to utilize familiar tools such as Excel to gain insight. In order to take advantage of the stck, BI professionals must understand the R2 features and components to enable these users.

 

This 3 day ILT course focuses on the new features SQL Server 2008 R2 for BI specialists. The primary audience for this course is BI Professionals who have 3-4 years of experience with SQL Server.  This course covers  new and enhanced features in SQL Server 2008 R2 that relate to Business Intelligence, PowerPivot to create self-service BI solutions, new and enhanced Reporting Services tools, StreamInsight to create an application that captures and analyzes streams of event data and Integrate data from SQL Azure into a SQL Server BI solution.

Looking for a way to get into mobile development? Build a game with a little help from this open source project on CodePlex. ScriptTD is an open source project that allows anyone to easily create a new Tower Defense game for the Windows Phone 7 platform, without any prior programming knowledge. The project lets you create new art & audio and edit some XML files to bring it all together into a polished game without having to write all of the code required to make the game work. If you are looking to just create a game without coding, this article isn’t for you, head to http://scripttd.codeplex.com and follow the instructions there to get started. Read More...

We’re pleased to announce that MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-643): Configuring Windows Server 2008 Applications Infrastructure (2nd Edition) (ISBN 9780735648784; 640 pages) is available for purchase here , here , and here . This Training Kit is designed for information (IT) professionals who support or plan to support Windows Server 2008 R2 networks and who also plan to take the Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS) 70-643 exam. This 2-in-1 kit includes the official Microsoft study guide, plus practice tests on CD to help you assess your skills. It comes packed with the tools and features exam candidates want most—including in-depth, self-paced training based on final exam content; rigorous, objective-by-objective review; exam tips from expert, exam-certified authors; and...

Announcing a new arrival -- the Windows Small Business Server 2011 Administrator's Pocket Consultant (ISBN 9780735651548; 624 pages), authored by Craig Zacker. This pocket-sized guide delivers ready answers for administering Windows® Small Business Server 2011 Standard. With the book’s array of quick-reference tables, instructions, and lists, you'll get the focused information you need to perform support and maintenance tasks, and solve problems -- whether at your desk or in the field. As a preview, here’s Chapter 1 from the book, which provides an overview of the product. It also includes a What’s New section, especially helpful if you’re migrating from Small Business Server 2008.     Chapter 1 Introducing Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2011 · What’s Included with...

 

Training materials for Extending Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011, course #80295, are now available for download on Microsoft Dynamics PartnerSource (sign in needed). Orderable materials will be available late next week.

 

The course is also available in the eLearning Catalog on PartnerSource.

 

The eLearning series includes

·         Querying Data and Executing Operations

·         Plug Ins

·         Client Extensions

·         Extensibility Overview

·         Implementing Business Processes

·         Application Event Programming

·         Web Resources

·         Common Platform Operations

 

We are pleased to announce that MOS 2010 Study Guide for Microsoft Word Expert, Excel Expert, Access, and SharePoint Exams (ISBN 9780735657885) , written by experts John Pierce and Geoff Evelyn,   has shipped to the printer! This book is now pre-orderable and should be in shops by the middle of August.   Four-in-one exam prep for MOS certification! • Word Expert 2010: Exam 77-887 • Excel Expert 2010: Exam 77-888 • Access 2010: Exam 77-885 • SharePoint 2010: Exam 77-886 Demonstrate your expertise by earning a MOS 2010 certification. Designed to help you practice and prepare for four MOS exams, this official Microsoft Study Guide delivers: • Full objective-by-objective coverage • Procedures and hands-on tasks • Ready-made, downloadable practice files • Exam-discount and pre-test offer...

Writing under the nom de plume of Mathais Thurman, in his “Security Manager’s Journal,” Marthais opined on “The perils of enterprise search”. Mathais’s take away comment is “First and foremost, you have to make sure you don’t compromise the rule of least privilege.”

To those of you not that might not know, the rule or principle of least privilege is:

“The principle of least privilege (POLP) is the practice of limiting access to the minimal level that will allow normal functioning. Applied to employees, the principle of least privilege translates to giving people the lowest level of user rights that they can have and still do their jobs. The principle is also applied to things other than people, including programs and processes.” From http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/definition/principle-of-least-privilege-POLP.

So how are POLP and enterprise search intertwined? One of the key goals of an enterprise search deployment is to index content from various enterprise repositories such as SharePoint sites, web sites, Exchange servers, file shares, and many others. If you do not take into account the security access rights of the various repositories, you might be surprised at what can be found using search. This was illustrated to me on one of my first customer proof of concept (POC) engagements. We were asked to index some content on a few internal file shares as well as their public Exchange folders. The security aspects of search were not being evaluated at this time. After a few days of work I was finished and went to our sponsor to show her the results. I showed her the search interface, along with some of the advanced search features on the results page; I then let her use the software on her own. In about a half hour she called me into her office. I knew something was wrong by the flustered look on her face. One of her searches had turned up a highly confidential document. Evidently the security of its repository was not set appropriately, this lead to a search security discussion, and a meeting with their IT security lead.

The bundled SharePoint search, Fast Search for SharePoint, and Fast Search for Internet Sites all support the policy of least privilege, i.e. the user is restricted to seeing only content they are authorized to view. This is accomplished by the use of access control lists and results trimming as well as the capability to extend the security model using the custom security-trimming infrastructure. SharePoint 2010 has added Claims based authentication, and enhanced the document level security while the content is in the SharePoint repository. To secure your content as it leaves the SharePoint site, consider using Information Rights Management (IRM). IRM can be configured at the document library level, so when content is checked into the SharePoint library, it is wrapped in an IRM security blanket. As Arpan Shah points out, “By applying the wrapper at download time & leveraging SharePoint security while the content lives in SharePoint, the search indexer is able to effectively index the content - which is a great feature. “

For a more complete discussion of SharePoint search security, I highly recommend you read “Trim SharePoint Search Results for Better Security” by Ashley Elenjickal and Pooja Harjani.

We look forward to your comments. If you have a technical tip you would like to share with your colleagues, send it to phelsel@microsoft.com to be included in our next Technical Tips blog. See you in class!

By: Philip E. Helsel

Microsoft technologies are evolving more quickly than ever. In order to maintain the value of your certifications, we need to ensure that Microsoft Certifications keep pace with changing technologies and remain a meaningful indicator of a candidate’s continued competence.

Recertification provides assurance to hiring managers and other key stakeholders that the candidate who holds the certification has demonstrated continued competence even as the technology has changed based on service packs, revisions, and new product version releases. Recertification also provides candidates the opportunity to update an advanced-level certification to encompass the skills they have gained on a newer version, without having to complete the full certification path again.

We are conducting a survey to gather customer and hiring manager feedback about recertification requirements for advanced level (i.e., MCITP and MCPD) Microsoft Certifications. Your responses will help us determine how often a candidate should be required to recertify, which activities hiring managers would consider appropriate proof of continued competence, and which activities candidates would prefer to engage in to demonstrate continued competence. One possible recertification requirement would be passing an exam--but it doesn't necessarily have to be an exam. We'd like to hear your opinions on other possible activities.

We hope that you’ll take the time to participate in this short—but important—survey. Please complete and submit your responses by August 8th.

Follow this link to complete the survey: http://microsoftlearning.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_8GizxTjKyuQ3tHu

Thanks in advance for your participation!

We're looking for volunteers to help us with the development of a new Microsoft Technology Associate (MTA)* exam covering mobile development fundamentals.  If you've taught introductory mobile development courses in a high school, community college, or other learning environment, we want you!

MTA is the first Microsoft certification targeted specifically at students who are new to IT.  The exams validate the foundational knowledge needed to begin building a career using Microsoft technologies.  We recommend that candidates have some hands-on technology experience prior to taking these exams.  MTA provides an ideal stepping stone to our MCTS certifications and to a career in IT.

Please email me at sanres@microsoft.com by end of day July 29th PST if you'd like to participate in developing this exam.  Please provide a brief summary of your relevant experience.

And if you know someone who you think would be interested in volunteering for this, please send them a link to this post.  We want to hear from as many people as possible.

*If this is the first you've heard about MTA, you can find out more about it here on Born to Learn.

We’re very pleased to announce that Andrew Couch’s new book, Microsoft Access 2010VBA Programming Inside Out , has shipped to the printer! Dive right in and learn to build elegant business solutions with Access—using Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). This supremely organized reference is packed with hundreds of timesaving solutions, troubleshooting tips, and workarounds. It’s all muscle and no fluff. Discover how the experts use VBA to exploit the power of Access—and challenge yourself to new levels of mastery! Enhance your application with SQL code and VBA built-in functions; make forms and reports interact in your application using the Access Object; manipulate data using SQL, Queries, and Recordsets in program code; create classes for handling form and control events; automate...

View the webcast from Jonathan by clicking through to our distributor’s site, O’Reilly.com. http://oreillynet.com/pub/e/1964 NOTE: The webcast has been archived from this morning’s presentation. What’s discussed in the Webcast Long ago when computers were introduced we were promised a world in which most of our most mundane tasks would be taken over by a computer. However, if you go into most organizations you will still see many business processes being done by people. Meanwhile the computer sits idly by on a desk showing weather updates. With SharePoint 2010 you are able to use not only the browser based out of the box Workflows but you can also use SharePoint Designer 2010 in order to edit those out of the box ones along with creating your own custom workflows. And as an added benefit Visio...

 You are invited to take beta exam 71-158, TS: Forefront Identity Manager 2010, Configuring. If you pass the beta exam, the exam credit will be added to your transcript and you will not need to take the exam in its released form.

By participating in beta exams, you have the opportunity to provide the Microsoft Certification program with feedback about exam content, which is integral to development of exams in their released version. We depend on the contributions of experienced IT professionals and developers as we continually improve exam content and maintain the value of Microsoft certifications.

The preparation guide for this exam is now available: http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/Exam.aspx?ID=70-158&Locale=en-us#tab3

Note: The preparation guide includes the audience description document attached to the previous post along with general informaton about the exam and any exam-specific resources.

71-158 TS: Forefront Identity Manager 2010, Configuring counts as credit towards the following certification(s).

· MCTS: Forefront Identity Manager 2010, Configuration

Availability

Beta exam period runs: July 15, 2011 – August 4, 2011

Receiving this invitation does not guarantee you a seat in the beta. We recommend that you register immediately. Beta exams have limited availability and are operated under a first-come-first-served basis. Once all beta slots are filled, no additional seats will be offered.

Testing is held at Prometric testing centers worldwide, although this exam may not be available in all countries (see Regional Restrictions). All testing centers will have the capability to offer this exam in its live version.

Regional Restrictions: India, Pakistan, China, Turkey

Registration Information

You must register at least 24 hours prior to taking the exam.
Please use the following promotional code when registering for the exam: FIMJ
Receiving this invitation does not guarantee you a seat in the beta. We recommend that you register immediately.

To register in North America, please call:

•	Prometric: (800) 755-EXAM (800-755-3926)

•	Prometric: http://www.register.prometric.com/ClientInformation.asp

 Outside the U.S./Canada, please contact:

•	Prometric: http://www.register.prometric.com/ClientInformation.asp

Test Information and Support

You are invited to take this beta exam at no charge.
You will be given four hours to complete the beta exam. Please plan accordingly.

Frequently Asked Questions

You can find answers to Frequently Asked Questions about beta exams here:

http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/certification/exam-dev-release.aspx#tab2

For Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) help and information, you may log in to the MCP Web site at http://mcp.microsoft.com/ or contact your Regional Service Center: http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/help/assisted-support.aspx

 

 

Ada’s Technical Books is a great bookstore in Seattle, and it was fun to hear Charles Petzold describe six different books on the history of computing he’d like to write, to join Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software (Microsoft Press, 1999) and The Annotated Turing: A Guided Tour Through Alan Turing's Historic Paper on Computability and the Turing Machine (Wiley, 2008). Thank you, Charles, and thank you, Danielle and everyone at Ada’s! Read More...

You can find the next version of the Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit—version 6.0—here . And here’s a description of MAP 6.0’s new features and benefits from the Microsoft Solution Accelerators team (on Twitter @MSSolutionAccel ): Analyze your portfolio of applications for a move to the Windows Azure Platform. Are you considering a move to the public cloud for your application portfolios? The application evaluation process for migration to the public cloud is loose and involves many tools and considerations. The MAP 6.0 Windows Azure migration portfolio analysis feature makes the process easier, with the ability to quantify and label applications and services in your organization's IT environment for Windows Azure migration consideration. The Azure...

Gang, Windows Sysinternals Administrator’s Reference , by Mark Russinovich and Aaron Margosis, is available! (Congratulations, guys!) In this post, first we’ll offer some words about the book from Mark (from his blog ), and then we’ll follow that with an excerpt from the book. Mark says: “ Aaron Margosis and I are thrilled to announce that the long awaited, and some say long overdue, official guide to the Sysinternals tools is now available ! I’ve always had the idea of writing a book on the tools in the back of my mind, but it wasn’t until a couple of years ago that Dave Solomon , my coauthor on Windows Internals , convinced me to pursue it. After a few false starts, I decided that a coauthor would help get the book done more quickly, and turned to Aaron, a good friend of mine who’s also a...

I am often asked why the default memory allocations settings are so low for the FSIS Server. The answer is simple: the default settings allow all the FSIS components, including the FSIS server, ESP search engine and connectors, and Visual Studio, to run on a single machine with 8 GB of memory. For the FSIS classes the VM is actually only allocated 6.5 GB of memory, because the flows used in the labs are simple and feeding batches are small.

Production
The default and recommended amount of memory reserved for the different nodes is as follows:

• Administration node: The default setting is 512 MB and is sufficient for most environments, even with a full allocation of worker services.
• Content Management Service (CMS) node: The default setting is 800 MB which can only run the simplest flows. In production, memory should be increased to 4 GB. To better utilize memory and CPU, add additional CMS services.
• Interaction Management Services (IMS) node: The default setting is 800 MB, which is sufficient for simple flows with a single search result. When federating results from multiple engines, additional memory is required to hold and process the results. As a rule of thumb, each additional federated source or thread operator in your flow increases the memory allocation by 400 to 800 MB.
• Content Distributor Emulator (CDE) node: The default setting is 400 MB, which is sufficient for most operations. The amount of memory must be larger than the expected maximum batch size. If not, either increase the memory allocation to hold your batch or decrease the batch size. |\

Development
I am fortunate to have 16 GBs on my development system, so I can allocate plenty of memory to FSIS and ESP. If you do not have a PC with 16 GBs, here are a few tricks to improve performance when running everything on one machine:

• Double the memory allocation for CMS to 1.6 GB. I have been successful doing this on an 8 GB machine, but not with a 6.5 GB VM.
• Disable the enterprise crawler. If you need to feed in web content use the Docpush command line tool instead. Usually when I am testing CTS flows or document processing pipelines I only need to feed one document at a time.
• Reduce your batch size when feeding with FileTraverser, JDBC or other connectors. When ESP and FSIS are running on the same machine each byte that the batch size is reduced, reduces the amount of memory used by 3 bytes, because the batch is created in memory on the connector, stored in memory by the content distributor and processed in memory by the document processor. The connectors and content distributor will grab as much memory as they can, up to 3 GB.
• When testing and debugging CTS flows, disable the QR Servers to free up memory. I disable the QR Server when I am feeding. When I need to test if the documents are searchable, I disable document processing and re-enable the QR Server (psctrl stop and nctrl start qrserver).

On occasion I have had to work with 4 GB machines. In that case, the only option was to put FSIS Server and ESP on different machines. For more information on deployment models in production or development and the procedure for updating memory allocations attend the Microsoft | Learning  FAST University instructor-led course FAST Search for Internet Sites for IT Professionals. To register online visit www.fastuniversity.com or contact an Education Consultant for assistance at fastuniv@microsoft.com.

By Brian Barry

First, I want to thank everyone who responded to the previous survey that was the first step of the SQL Server “Denali” certification exam and courseware design process! Your feedback was extremely valuable and was used to create a comprehensive list of tasks for the core database job roles we’re researching. Now, that we have that list of tasks, we need your help in prioritizing them.

 

Whether you participated in the first step of the process or not, we are asking for your feedback on the importance and frequency of each task identified during that initial phase; your responses to this survey will help us prioritize what will be assessed on the certification exams (we can’t measure everything!) and covered in the associated training created by Microsoft Learning. Not only is this your opportunity to have a voice in the certification and learning content developed for SQL Server “Denali,” you will also be participating in a pilot of our new exam and courseware design process that should create closer alignment between exam and courseware content! Very cool, indeed!

 

Because we are planning seven exams, we have created two surveys to accommodate the breadth of the planned portfolio.

·         If your skills align to business intelligence, please complete this survey: http://microsoftlearning.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_bBguJmAZIyH59kw.

 

·         If your skills align to other database roles, please complete this survey: http://microsoftlearning.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_8206sREIs29IcQI

 

·         You may complete both surveys if you have skills in multiple areas.

 

You will have the opportunity to provide input for all exams in the BI or other database role tracks as you complete each survey. You can provide feedback on some or all of the exams included in a particular survey and/or you can complete both surveys if you have skills across Bi and other database roles. Here's the key, though--we need your responses by July 24, 2011.

 

Thank you, in advance, for completing this survey! We’re committed to certifying the real world skills professionals need and cannot do it without your input. 

You are invited to take beta exam 71-158, TS: Forefront Identity Manager 2010, Configuring. If you pass the beta exam, the exam credit will be added to your transcript and you will not need to take the exam in its released form.

By participating in beta exams, you have the opportunity to provide the Microsoft Certification program with feedback about exam content, which is integral to development of exams in their released version. We depend on the contributions of experienced IT professionals and developers as we continually improve exam content and maintain the value of Microsoft certifications.

Note: The preparation guide for this exam will be available on July 20th. To view the audience description and objectives for this exam, see the attached document.

71-158 TS: Forefront Identity Manager 2010, Configuring counts as credit towards the following certification(s).

· MCTS: Forefront Identity Manager 2010, Configuration

Availability

Beta exam period runs:  July 15, 2011 – August 4, 2011

Receiving this invitation does not guarantee you a seat in the beta. We recommend that you register immediately. Beta exams have limited availability and are operated under a first-come-first-served basis. Once all beta slots are filled, no additional seats will be offered.

Testing is held at Prometric testing centers worldwide, although this exam may not be available in all countries (see Regional Restrictions). All testing centers will have the capability to offer this exam in its live version.

Regional Restrictions: India, Pakistan, China, Turkey

Registration Information

You must register at least 24 hours prior to taking the exam.
Please use the following promotional code when registering for the exam: FIMJ
Receiving this invitation does not guarantee you a seat in the beta. We recommend that you register immediately.

To register in North America, please call:

•	Prometric: (800) 755-EXAM (800-755-3926)

Outside the U.S./Canada, please contact:

•	Prometric: http://www.register.prometric.com/ClientInformation.asp

 

We're looking for volunteers to help us with the development of a new Microsoft Technology Associate (MTA)* exam covering gaming fundamentals.  If you've taught introductory Gaming courses in a high school, community college, or other learning environment or have developed games in XNA or other technologies, we want you!

MTA is the first Microsoft certification targeted specifically at students who are new to IT.  The exams validate the foundational knowledge needed to begin building a career using Microsoft technologies.  Some hands-on technology experience is recommended for candidates.  MTA provides an ideal stepping stone to our MCTS certifications and to a career in IT.

Please email me at sanres@microsoft.com by end of day July 22nd PST if you'd like to participate in developing this exam.  If you know someone else who would be interested in volunteering, please send them a link to this post.  We want to hear from as many people as possible.

*If this is the first you've heard about MTA, you can find out more about it here on Born to Learn.

We’re thrilled to announce that the second of I. M. Wright’s “Hard Code”: A Decade of Hard-Won Lessons from Microsoft , by Eric Brechner, has been sent to the printer and will be available for purchase next month. (Print ISBN 9780735661707; Page Count 448). In this collection of columns, Eric Brechner's alter ego pulls no punches with his candid commentary and best practice solutions to the issues that irk him the most. He dissects the development process, examines tough team issues, and critiques how the software business is run, with the added touch of clever humor and sardonic wit. His ideas aren't always popular (not that he cares), but they do stimulate discussion and imagination needed to drive software excellence. Get the unvarnished truth on how to: Improve software quality...

We’re happy to announce that Microsoft Office 365: Connect and Collaborate Virtually Anywhere, Anytime (ISBN 9780735656949), by Katherine Murray, has shipped to the printer! We anticipate that this exciting new book will be available to order by August 5, 2011. See below for a high level look at the book's contents and an excerpt from its introduction. You can preorder the book here and here .   Contents Introduction Part I Finding Your Place in the Cloud Chapter 1 What’s Happening with the World of Work? ■ Teams, Teams Everywhere—In the Office and Outside of It ■ Worldwide Collaboration Is Here ■ Going for the Green—With Groups of All Sizes ■ Heads in the Cloud (Computing) ■ A Closer Look at Office 365 ■ What’s Next Chapter 2 Getting Started with Office 365 ■ Creating Your Office...

Introducing MCPD: Windows Phone Developer

Industry forecasts indicate that Windows Phone will become the second most popular mobile operating system by 2015. Do not get left behind! The new Microsoft Certified Professional Developer certification on Windows Phone helps validate a candidate's knowledge and skills on designing and developing applications for the Windows Phone platform. Candidates can earn the Windows Phone Developer MCPD by passing these three required exams:

• 70-506: TS: Silverlight 4, Development
• 70-516: TS: Accessing Data with Microsoft .NET Framework
• 70-599: PRO: Designing and Developing Windows Phone Applications

Some Other Stuff You Should Know About This Certification

• Transcript visibility delayed. While customers can begin earning the MCPD: Windows Phone Developer certification at any time by passing the three required exams listed above, the certification will not be visible on a candidate's transcript until late September 2011.
• Recertification required. Windows Phone technology is updated frequently. As a result, the skills required to be a successful Windows Phone developer will evolve rapidly. To ensure that developers who hold the MCPD: Windows Phone Developer certification keep pace with the evolution of Windows Phone skills, they will be required to recertify every two years in  order to demonstrate continued competence as the skills needed to develop applications on Windows Phone change. Through recertification, we can maintain the value of the certification as the technology changes over time. More information about this recertification requirement will be provided at a later date.
• Your beta exam scores. Though 70-599 is now available in Prometric testing centers, it does take awhile for them to process the beta rescores--up to two weeks after the live exam is published. If you don't hear anything from Prometric in another week, give their customer service a ring, and have your registration ID handy. 

Get Training on Windows Phone 7

Some great resources are available to help developers get started on the Windows Phone platform:

• Programming Windows Phone 7 ebook
• Windows Phone Training Course
• Windows Phone Jump Start videos
• Windows Phone Virtual Labs
• XNA Framework 4.0 for Windows Phones (MSDN)
• The Silverlight and XNA Frameworks for Windows Phone (MSDN)

See the table below for information about training materials and learning plans that map to these exams. 

Exam	Classroom training	Microsoft Press books	Learning Plan
Exam 70-516 TS: Accessing Data with Microsoft .NET Framework 4	10265A: Developing Data Access Solutions with Microsoft Visual Studio 2010	MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-516): Accessing Data with Microsoft .NET Framework 4	Learning Plan for Exam 70-516
Exam 70-506 TS: Silverlight 4, Development	10553A: Fundamentals of XAML and Expression Blend1 10554A: Developing Rich Internet Applications using Microsoft Silverlight 42	Not available	Learning Plan for Exam 70-506
Exam 70-599 PRO: Designing and Developing Windows Phone Applications3	Not available	Not available	Learning Plan for Exam 70-599

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Releases July 2011
2. Releases August 2011
3. Note that candidates who earn the MCPD: Windows Phone Developer certification will be required to show continued competence in this technology area by recertifying every two years.

 

Our "train the trainer" Microsoft Certified Trainer Bootcamp in Port-au-Prince, Haiti is over, the results are in and MCT enrolment for 5 newly qualified MCTs is in hand.

All of the 13 experienced IT professionals that participated in the week long bootcamp successfully achieved a passing performance at the trainer the trainer part of the week.  Five also now have the pre-requisite MCP exam(s) to now enroll as MCTs.

 

There were some great presentations during the week, and everyone did a great job.  One attendee Jean Bernard Agenor scored an amazing 96% on the assessed teach back, whilst Garry Beauplan did a great job attaining a score of 86% presenting the Windows 7 Firewall module to the class.  Well done to our new MCTs: Steve, Garry, Jean Bernard, Gregory H and Jean Maxo!

The remaining 8 now need to continue to prepare to re-sit the MCTS Windows 7 exam (or a MCP in their chosen specialty) - Microsoft sponsored the MCP examinations and the MCT enrolment fee for the first year.

 

We awarded Jean Bernard Agenor the most promising MCT award - Jean is a .Net Framework trainer who works at the Ecole Supérieure d’Infotronique d’Haiti (ESIH) and showed great promise in this "in demand" technology.  As a prize we have a great MCT branded laptop bag.

All of the MCTs will be offered the opportunity to present modules this September during the next NetHope/Microsoft initiative on the island - a special NetHope IT Academy Internship Program which trains 30 unemployed youths and helps them to secure IT work experience with the myriad of NGOs deployed in Haiti who are really making a difference to rebuild not only the infrastructure, but also the lives of the many thousands displaced by the disaster last year.

So, after a hot, tiring, but truly fantastic week in the Caribbean, we have succeeded - there are now 5 new MCTs on the island - more than doubling the current number there already, and another 8 are motivated to achieve MCT status in the new few weeks.  I am looking forward to reading on Born to Learn all about the next NetHope/Microsoft project in September - I am sure that it will be a huge success and that the MCTs will do a great job!

On Monday, I announced some awesome changes that we're making to the SME Database Profile survey to increase the opportunities for our SMEs to be a part of the well-oiled machine that is Microsoft Learning.

I'm happy to report that we have updated the SME Database Profile survey to incorporate the changes that will allow all MSL teams to use the database for recruiting SMEs for a wide variety of opportunities. This survey contains many new questions; the wording of some questions has changed to more accurately reflect the type of information we need to effectively recruit SMEs; and a few questions have been removed.

Your action: If you have a current profile, you should go back to your profile, answer the new questions, and update any answers that you previously provided. The information that you previously provided will still be in the database, but because nearly every question changed in some way (in most cases, more answer choices were added), you should verify that your responses reflect your current level of interest in these opportunities. 

If you do not have a profile**, now's the time to create one! If you have previously registered on Connect, sign in with your Windows Live ID so that you can access the survey. If you’re new to Connect, you will be prompted to complete the Connect registration process before you can access the survey. There is no need for an invitation code.

Fair warning...because of the number and variety of opportunities available, the survey is longer, but it shouldn't take longer than 30 minutes to complete. Consider it time well spent, though; it will increase the probability that you'll be invited to have a voice in the work that MSL is doing!

**The Connect registration process can be a little rocky, so if you’re having trouble getting to the survey, e-mail mslcd@microsoft.com and we’ll send you some more troubleshooting info.