Beta preparation resources idea--Your opinion please

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on 3 Mar 2010 5:57 PM

Beta preparation resources idea--Your opinion please

On Monday I got a question from York about how to study for a beta exam. I told him that our formal training materials usually aren't ready yet when the beta is realeased, and referred him to TechNet and MSDN, etc. However, it got me thinking. Most people who take a beta probably know two or three really good resources. What if we just gave you a way to share those great resources with each other?

Yesterday I put together a little experiment on the MSL Subject Matter Experts site. Those of you who have completed a SME profile with work experience in virtualization should be able to participate in it (though you'll have to log in with your WLID first). In short, I set up the Feedback system to enable you to provide a link to a learning resource that maps to an objective on exam 71-669. Then I e-mailed a handful of my favorite virtualization SMEs and asked them to submit a few great resources. It appears to be working great.

A couple of the SMEs informed me that they often create their own list of resources and post it to their blog. Liberty, in her infinite wisdom, suggested that maybe it would be easier just to post links to these blogs rather than create another list. This would also reward those Fine Upstanding Community Members by driving traffic to their own blogs.

So here's the question: which would you prefer? Do you want to participate in community-created list of beta prep resources? Or would you rather just have links to the lists that other community members have created? Or do you think that anyone who takes a beta should be able to find their own materials? Or maybe you have an even better idea.

I'm all ears. I can't promise that we'll implement the solution you vote for, but I want to hear your opinion. Rock the vote.

How do you prefer to get beta preparation resources?

A central place where beta candidates can view and submit learning resources. (63.6%)
A post on B2L that links to community members' blog posts listing beta prep resources. (31.8%)
I have a better idea that's not listed here. (0%)
I think that people who take the beta should be able to find their own resources. (4.5%)

Total Votes: 22
Voting Ended: 3/13/2010

exams, certification, betas, virtualization

Posted by Helmer

on 3 Mar 2010 7:06 PM

I think a combination of the central place and the link's to members' beta prep lists would be a nice one :)

Posted by jhelton

on 3 Mar 2010 9:26 PM

Beta preparation resources idea--Your opinion please

Krista,

There is a great community at Techexams.net that gathers resources for Beta exams into singular threads to help those who are studying for them. Its worked well for several past betas and the members of that site seem to enjoy it.

Here is one for 669

www.techexams.net/.../51260-70-669-resources.html

Posted by weaverjk2002

on 3 Mar 2010 10:58 PM

I believe all three points are valid.

1) Those who take Beta exams should be skilled enough to know how to "dig" for the information they require.

2) Those who have professional blogs and share their knowledge deserve credit (and viewer traffic).

3) If given the choice, I'd prefer to save myself the time it takes to dig for information and have all of it in one central repository.

I also think it betters the team if each individual is bettered, hence I tend to freely share with others any knowledge/tips/information which I learn. This would seem true of those who have blogs which provide access to such information.

I would prefer to see the information culminated in one place, but giving credit where due, and providing URLs to the originating sources.

Whatever you decide, thank you for thinking of others. Your idea is a good one, whatever form it materializes as.

John K. Weaver

Posted by Andrew Bettany

on 4 Mar 2010 5:29 AM

York is a great place, and great questions come from the UK!

As for preparation, I use the beta products and become pretty familiar with it. For the exam, I read the product specification sheet - ie "what is new" and this helps in the exam.

exams, certification, Andrew Bettany, UK, Microsoft

Posted by Rob Hagman

on 4 Mar 2010 8:20 AM

What happend to day is not helping much:

I'm prepairing for 71-669, so I was pleased that a download called
MicrosoftEnterpriseDesktopVirtualizationDeploymentGuide.pdf showed up on the Microsoft download center

(Read on before you download)

When I dowloaded the 59 kB download, it turned out to contain only what seems to be the frontpage of the final document, with the added
text :

This document will be available soon

No futher pages what so ever.

Maybe someones idea of a somewhat early Aprils Fools joke ?

Rob.

Posted by Jeff Wouters

on 4 Mar 2010 10:02 AM

I' ve also made a little post on my blog about some resources for the 71-669: http://jeffwouters.nl/

But http://www.techexams.net/ does it way better!

Posted by Krista Wall (Microsoft)

on 5 Mar 2010 6:28 PM

Re: Beta preparation resources idea--Your opinion please

Thanks for the feedback and for the votes. Looks like we're running neck-and-neck between having a blog that links to community member lists vs. a central location where everyone can submit resources.

Here are the results of my little 669 experiment so far. Special thanks to Ryan, Helmer, Slavko, Jean-Benoit, and Kent for reviewing this and helping me try it out! I'll be closing the experiment now as we move into beta for this exam. If you think this list rates a blog post on the front page, let me know.

Title	Description
Microsoft Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) Explained - by Slavko	I think that VDI is/should be included on the exam, but from the OD I'm not completely sure …
Managing Roaming User Data Deployment Guide - by Slavko	Managing user data is a critical part of the business environment. Today, customers use a combination of desktop, laptops, and terminal services, challenging administrators to make user data available in a consistent way. Windows Vista® provides the answer to challenges using roaming profiles and Folder Redirection to give users a consistent view as they roam.
Remote Desktop Services - Windows Server 2008 R2 Help content - by Slavko	Help content that is available for Remote Desktop Services in Windows Server® 2008 R2.
Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V) documentation library (TechNet) - by Slavko	Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V) Planning, Deployment, and Operations Guide - this guide is available also through few other feedback links
Windows Virtual PC and Windows XP Mode - TechNet Resources - by Slavko	List of TechNet documentation, downloads and external resources on Windows Virtual PC and Windows XP Mode.
Infrastructure Planning and Design : App-V/Med-V/Windows Optimized desktop - by Jeanb	The Infrastructure Planning and Design (IPD) guides are the next version of Windows Server System Reference Architecture. The guides in this series help clarify and streamline design processes for Microsoft infrastructure technologies, with each guide addressing a unique infrastructure technology or scenario.
Download Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization Deployment Guide - by Jeanb	This document helps healthcare organizations understand the circumstances in which Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V) will provide the greatest benefits for virtualizing their applications which otherwise have compatibility problems with other applications or the desktop operating environment. It then provides guidance on the method of best undertaking the virtualization and managing the application within the healthcare organization.
Download Understanding Microsoft Virtualization R2 Solutions ebook - by Jeanb	Microsoft offers for free this ebook on Virtualization (including Desktop virtualization)
The Optimized Desktop aPict nd Desktop Virtualization - by knicoline	Learn more about how you can leverage desktop virtualization to capture new business. Desktop virtualization is made up of a unique set of technologies that can help your customers decrease total cost of ownership (TCO), increase operational flexibility, and streamline IT management. Help your customers achieve the Microsoft optimized desktop vision by separating desktop resources from each other. And remove the tight dependencies between hardware, operating system, applications, and user data.
Microsoft Learning Resources - by ryansok	Excellent resource; e-learning, learning "snacks", etc.
TechNet Virtual Lab Express: Windows 7: Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V) - by knicoline	Event ID: 1032432289 After completing this lab you will be better able to understand Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V).
Remote Desktop Services (Terminal Services) Team Blog - by Slavko	RDS team blog, covering also RemoteApp programs, RD Gateway and Virtual Desktop Infrastructure.
Windows Virtual PC Blog - by Slavko	Windows Virtual PC product group blog, covering also Windows XP Mode.
The Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization Team Blog - by Slavko	Product news and support information from MED-V product team, including reviews and detailed how to guides.
App-V Team Blog - by Slavko	Covering news and support on Microsoft Application Virtualization
E-book: Understanding Microsoft virtualization solutions - by Slavko	This is the book for IT professionals who want to learn more about the latest Microsoft virtualization technologies, including Microsoft Windows 2008 Hyper-V, System Center Virtual Machine Manager 200…
Springboard Series on Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) - by Slavko	Springboard portal on Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP). Includes various document, videos and guides on App-V and MED-V.
Windows Virtual PC and Windows XP Mode: Documentation and videos - by Slavko	Windows Virtual PC and Windows XP Mode support documentation for information on the latest advances in virtualization technology. I suggest Windows XP Mode for IT Pro Deployment Overview document.
Med-V Administration Video Series - by Helmer Zandbergen	This series provides step-by-step guidance around common tasks that would be performed by IT professionals to deploy Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V).
Med-V Overview Video - by Helmer Zandbergen	A short overview video of Med-V
Application Virtualization TechCenter - by Helmer Zandbergen	Application virtualization resources
General Introduction: Concept of Desktop Virtualization - by knicoline	One page blog post that describes the concept of desktop virtualization.

exams, certification, betas, virtualization, experiments, beta prep

Posted by Rob Hagman

on 6 Mar 2010 12:18 PM

Hello,

The link to the

Download Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization Deployment Guide - by Jeanb

Download is still a dead end, If you download this you get a single page PDF with just one line of text:
This documentation will be available soon

Rob.

Posted by Krista Wall (Microsoft)

on 8 Mar 2010 6:20 PM

@ Rob: it is super annoying to think you're actually going to get something, you open the download and it's nothing. My gut tells me that they had something up there and took it down last week (after Jean-Benoit submitted the link) to fix something or update the file. Let's leave it in for now, I suspect it will be replaced shortly.

@ Andrew: York is the guy's name who had the question. Though I've been to York myself several times and think it's lovely. About now I would bet that the flowers just outside the city wall are starting to bloom?