Sat my first exam over a decade ago, have done around 20 since then but haven't sat any since 2003. I fancied looking at the 2008 qualification to see what was new in 2008 (currently have experience with SQL 7-2005). I bought the MS book

http://www.amazon.co.uk/MCTS-Self-Paced-Training-Exam-70-433/dp/0735626391/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259307240&sr=8-1

read that and then bought ther Transcender to see what areas the book hadn't covered

http://www.transcender.com/product.aspx?product_id=Cert-70-433

The problems started when I attempted to book the test at a test centre near me

and got this message. I phoned up the help desk and was informed that this error message indicated that the testing centre in question did not offer that particular exam. Instead I booked the exam at QA in Holborn.

I turned up at the testing centre yesterday and was informed that because of earlier problems with the Prometric system, I wouldn't be able to start my exam at the scheduled time. Eventually I was able to start at around 15 minutes after planned.

The first few questions were completely different to Transcender - fortunately I was able to rely on experience gained over the years. The problems started when I got to one of the questions as instead of seeing an embedded screenshot instead saw code that was intended to display the image. Two other questions referred to an exhibit, but teh exhibit button was nowhere to be seen! Another question had some XML that wasn't displayed properly. Finally, one of the questions had two answer options that appeared to be the same.

I complained to the attendant, he contacted Prometric and they suggested rebooting the box. This made no difference - when rebooted the test continued where it had left off. By this point I was fed up, and was seriously considering coming back another when they had sorted the test out. However, when I completed the test I thought I may as well go back through and check my reponses, and guess the questions mentioned above. I completed the test and left a few choice comments. It took an age for the results to come up, and imagine my surprise when I had passed!

The drama wasn't over yet. I went up to reception to pick up my exam results. However, the results had not yet been printed. After the drama, I was convinced that the results had been lost, but after waiting around for quarter of an hour, the printer was fixed and I had my piece of paper. Next stop 70-451

https://partner.microsoft.com/UK/40044196

I can understand why they are doing this, but I hope they broaden their range of tests as there is nothing there at the moment that is relevant to what I do

I was reading about this in the March 2007 issue of Wilmott. The article is also here.

http://www.xenomorph.com/news/inthepress/2007/mar/wilmott/xenomorph-mar.pdf

It talks about Microsoft's offering for Grid Computing

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/ccs/default.aspx

and how MS has a result in the Top 500 supercomputer list #108 and 193

http://top500.cachefly.net/static/lists/2007/06/TOP500_200706.xls

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2006/jun06/06-13Certification.mspx

This was announced around a year ago

http://www.noelwatson.com/blog/PermaLink,guid,edbfa0d1-7cb6-40bc-ba2f-a880f05a03fd.aspx

The cost is $10000 and only 250 people are being accepted for the first application period

http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/architect/faq/application/default.mspx

The beta service is now available

http://www.live.com/

It offers the ability to search through the results without having to click "next" to get the next lot of results. Doing some initial testing, I search for "Noel Watson Consulting" (without quotes).

Windows Live didn't return anything I wanted in the first 10 results - nor did Google. However, yahoo bought back my website as the first result - the winner. Searching for "Noel Watson Consulting" with quotes and Windows Live does a lot better, bringing back only one result - the correct one. Google brings back only one result - the wrong one whereas Yahoo brings back a few results - all relevant. If I had to rank the search engines based on this simple test it would be

1. Yahoo
2. Windows Live
3. Google

The third week's information has been put on the origami site

http://www.origamiproject.com/3/

and after the flash intro directs you to

http://origamiproject.com/default.aspx

and

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/umpc/default.mspx

Looking at the screenshots, the product may be somewhat bigger than a PSP and isn't something that will slot into a pocket. Bill Gates was talking about this last year.

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2005/apr05/04-25WindowsThirdDecadePR.mspx

Not much info available on an annoying Flash website

http://www.origamiproject.com/

but there are rumours that it may be an equivalent to the PSP. I would buy if for this alone if Outrun wasn't being released on the PSP soon

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000E0K40W/qid=1141301098/sr=8-1/ref=pd_ka_1/026-0058056-7028455

If it contained VOIP functionality

http://www.noelwatson.com/blog/PermaLink,guid,4b8aca2a-b26f-4beb-aed0-f4c8b38ca938.aspx

this would make it even more interesting.

http://www.windowsfordevices.com/news/NS9651574577.html

Week 2 link on website became enabled today. The message says we can find out what the product is next week (9th March)

http://www.thebusinessonline.com/Stories.aspx?&StoryID=8C6C0A89-A9B7-4BD0-9CE2-11830FA31E15&SectionID=F3B76EF0-7991-4389-B72E-D07EB5AA1CEE

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2006/feb06/02-14MOCMobilePR.mspx

This looks very interesting - I'm looking forward to seeing how much the software will cost to run this

For a limited promotional period from the launch of Visual Studio 2005 until June 30th 2006, current subscribers to the following products are eligible to upgrade their existing Visual Studio Team Suite with MSDN Premium Subscription at renewal pricing.

Customers who qualify for the Step-up price include current subscribers to:

Visual Studio Team Edition for Software Developers MSDN Premium Subscription

Visual Studio Team Edition for Software Architects MSDN Premium Subscription

Visual Studio Team Edition for Software Testers MSDN Premium Subscription

MSDN Universal

Customers with less than two months left to run on their subscription should renew directly into Visual Studio Team Suite with MSDN Premium using the separate renewal box. The retail Step-Up box is available to existing Retail and MSDN Direct customers only. Volume Licensing customers in EA, Select, or Open Value programs may Step-Up to Suite through those programs. Please contact your reseller for details.

Taken from following link

http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/howtobuy/renewal/#step

There appears to be a problem for developers that require the architecture tools. The only solution is to pay for the full Team Suite.

If you don't already have an MSDN license that allows you to upgrade, it's going to hurt!

This has been around for the last couple of versions of Excel, but I only discovered it recently. I am converting a trading spreadsheet into a "proper" app, and it has been invaluable in working out what information is used where.

http://www.nickhodge.co.uk/gui/toolsmenu/formulaaudit.htm

Looks pretty interesting and good value, but is taking place in Newport for some reason.

http://www.microsoft.com/uk/msdn/architecture/architectinsight/default.mspx

Another new product to come under the "Live banner", Expo is an "online social marketplace" where you can exchange goods ideas and information. Sign up here (currently U.S. only)

http://imagine-msn.com/minisites/expo/default.aspx 

It's not in beta yet

http://spaces.msn.com/members/teamexpo/

Not really sure whether it will be competing against eBay - I'm assuming MS will offer it free and will get their revenue from advertising.

Watched this over the weekend

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0399201/

and was surprised by how much product placement MS managed to fit in there. One of the holographic fight scenes had an XBox logo visible several times, and later in the film, the characters go into a booth with an "MSN Search" logo on the side - the video is on MSN

http://video.msn.com/v/us/v.htm?g=0b6728a1-b370-4149-9ddd-71122feff10e&p=Entertainment_Movies

Some stills on flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nweinberg/sets/775173/

This event has been running for a while now.

http://www.microsoft.com/uk/lifesquared/

More details here

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/windows/0,39020396,39235376,00.htm

http://www.pcplus.co.uk/news/home_news/microsoft_living_life

Apparently it's invite only, but if you know an MS partner you may be able to blag your way in.

One thing that seemed interesting is Microsoft TV - a platform that enables TV to be delivered over the internet

http://www.microsoft.com/tv/IPTVEdition.mspx

http://www.codezone.org.uk

This site is run by Microsoft for UK developers. I've set my page up here

http://www.codezone.org.uk/DetailPage.Codezone?GUID=369394fa-71e9-471e-bffc-61525099d579

Will be interested to see how the site develops as it matures