New Price For Oracle Certification Exams!

The Oracle Certification Program is announcing a change to Oracle Certification Program exam prices effective March 1, 2010. This change in exam prices is the first material exam price increase that Oracle has made since the inception of it’s program. Prices may vary from country to country so please sure to check the links below or with your local site for details.

The price change applies to both proctored (in-center) exams and non-proctored (internet-based) exams. A summary of new price points:

$125US: All non-proctored exams worldwide; proctored Sun exams for emerging-market countries and Oracle Database, Middleware and Linux exams for emerging-market countries. $195US: Proctored Oracle exams for developed countries and Oracle Applications exams for emerging-market countries. $300US: Proctored Sun exams in developed countries.

Note that because exam prices can vary slightly (1) by country and/or (2) by localized currency, please check Pearson VUE’s website for specific prices of specific exams in your country http://pearsonvue.com/oracle. You must have a Pearson account and be logged in in order to see exam price details.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will my voucher still be valid?

All valid vouchers that were valid before the price change will still be valid as long as they have not expired.

If you purchased a voucher from Oracle, your voucher will still be valid through its expiration date and will not require any additional exam fees.

If you were given a discount voucher from Oracle or one of its partners, your discount will be valid at the same rate through its expiration date (for example 25% off the new price).

I registered for an exam that I have not taken yet. Will I need to pay the more?

If you registered and paid for an exam prior to the price change, your exam registration is still valid and no additional fees are required as long as you take the exam at your originally scheduled time. If you change your appointment time or date, additional fees may apply.

How can I find out more information?

For more information, check Pearson VUE’s website and the Developing/Emerging market list to determine exact pricing in your country.

Office 2010 Ignite: Coming to your town!

Microsoft has got a new Office 2010 Ignite series touring the country starting mid-March.

Here are the details:

Office 2010 Ignite Tour

This two-day instructor-led course provides students with the skills and knowledge necessary to successfully deploy a customized version of the Microsoft® Office 2010 system. The course also includes information on strategies for migrating from previous versions of Microsoft Office. The course will take you through deployment planning, deployment, upgrades, maintenance, and diagnostics/troubleshooting in an enterprise environment.

Audience
This course is designed for IT Pros and Microsoft Certified Partners and Solution Providers who are responsible for migrating and deploying Office 2010 on user desktops throughout a department or enterprise.

Learn more and register here. Hurry before spots are filled!

Event Location	Event Start Date	Event End Date
Dallas, TX	Monday, March 15, 2010	Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Cincinnati, OH	Monday, April 05, 2010	Tuesday, April 06, 2010
Columbus, OH	Thursday, April 08, 2010	Friday, April 09, 2010
Southfield (Detroit), MI	Monday, April 12, 2010	Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Bloomington (Minneapolis), MN	Thursday, April 15, 2010	Friday, April 16, 2010
Chicago, IL	Monday, April 19, 2010	Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Kansas City, KS	Thursday, April 22, 2010	Friday, April 23, 2010
Houston, TX	Monday, May 10, 2010	Tuesday, May 11, 2010
St. Louis, MO	Wednesday, May 12, 2010	Thursday, May 13, 2010
New York, New York	Monday, April 26, 2010	Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Malvern (Philadelphia), PA	Monday, May 03, 2010	Tuesday, May 04, 2010
Tampa, FL	Monday, May 10, 2010	Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Ft. Lauderdale, FL	Thursday, May 13, 2010	Friday, May 14, 2010
Washington, DC	Monday, May 17, 2010	Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Alpharetta (Atlanta), GA	Thursday, May 20, 2010	Friday, May 21, 2010
Waltham (Boston), MA	Wednesday, May 26, 2010	Thursday, May 27, 2010
Silicon Valley, CA	Monday, April 12, 2010	Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Irvine, CA	Thursday, April 15, 2010	Friday, April 16, 2010
San Francisco, CA	Monday, April 19, 2010	Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Phoenix, AZ	Thursday, April 22, 2010	Friday, April 23, 2010
Portland, OR	Monday, April 26, 2010	Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Bellevue, WA	Thursday, April 29, 2010	Friday, April 30, 2010
Denver, CO	Wednesday, May 05, 2010	Thursday, May 06, 2010

The Importance Of Certification In The IT Field? By John Vinson

Stephen J. Bigelow, of SearchWinIT.com has presented a very interesting question, and one which paints a distinct portrait of the current climate in the IT market – ‘ Does certification really matter in IT?‘ When first absorbing the question, the answer should seem obvious; of course certification is important. In just about every field that requires technical knowledge, common sense would dictate you want proof that someone knows as much as they let on.

Bigelow presents evidence which suggests certification isn’t as important as it used to be. According to a survey conducted in 2009, 55% of the IT respondents claimed they had zero certifications. Bigelow hypothesizes the current economic standing of commercial businesses, and evolution of the IT profession are to blame for the lack of certification.

I agree with Bigelow on the matter of evolution, but not so much on the economical standing of businesses. It seems to me that credentials would be even more important when the economy is down. Making a huge investment, like hiring an IT professional would require more proof when making hire than ever before.

The current standing of IT certification has become so diluted with various sectors, you could spend more time than needed just to be ‘certified’ in a long line of areas. Many times the fields an IT professional will become certified in don’t necessarily pertain to the job they’re seeking. Therefore, the mindset is – why bother with certain certifications if they won’t even help land a job?

Even with all the problems surrounding IT certification, it will remain prevalent for one reason – change. IT related careers deal with some of the fastest changing problems one could imagine. What an IT professional learned about a year ago might be completely changed due to technological advancements in the present. It’s this fast shifting pace which will always keep IT certification a constant importance.

Many times a business will overlook IT, which can lead to some huge ramifications. Our own government is going through some problems regarding IT; dealing with network security. You can bet it’s vital their IT professionals receive professional training regarding the problems being faced.

It’s hard to argue the numbers presented in the survey I mentioned prior. However, I think many of those businesses simply haven’t learned the lesson yet. While there are plenty of competent IT professionals without certification, it just takes one bad apple to hurt a business. As technologies grow and continue to change, I think we’ll see businesses value the importance of certification, and realize why it’s so vital.

About the Author:
John is a staff writer for WebProNews.

Google pushes out first-ever developer certification effort

Google Launches Developer Certification Program

Feb. 22nd, 2010 by Matthew Weinberger

While Google isn’t quite ready to reveal the software developer partner program we’re convinced is coming, the search giant has unveiled their new Qualified Developer Program, designed to certify the best and brightest of those working with the Google and open source APIs. Here’s the scoop.

To get themselves or their company Google certified, a developer has to pick an area of specialization, submit references, application samples, and evidence of “community leadership.” Last, but not least, Qualified Developer hopefuls have to pass an exam proving their knowledge and skillset.

After all that, what do developers get? Not much more than a web traffic boost. Google Qualified Developers get official recognition by way of an entry into the official Developer Directory and a specialization-appropriate badge to display on their website. They also get, and I quote from their FAQ here, “a warm, fuzzy feeling for this grand accomplishment.”

From Google’s perspective, this is just another way they’re reaching out to developers and drawing them ever-tighter into Google’s ecosystem. This, in turn, allows Google to offer more and more enterprise applications. Between the Qualified Developer program, the Solutions Marketplace, and the new Developer blog, Google is definitely making a serious effort to win the hearts and minds of these developers.

It’s certainly not a bad thing for developers: according to Stephen Cho, director of Google Apps channels, Google now has a thousand partners worldwide. That means the market for developers’ Google API-using applications is only going to grow. But as to whether or not Google is going to go the rest of the distance and announce an ISV partner program –

“Stay tuned,” Cho says.

What Programming Language Should I Learn? By Mark Lassoff

“One of the most common questions I get is “What Programming Language Should I Learn First?”  Others have attempted to answer this question, however, I’m not sure there really is a definitive answer. I think the language you should choose for your first foray in to computer programming or web development should be dependent on your goals and reasons for learning the language in the first place.  Based on the some of the reasons for learning programming, I have made suggestions for languages to start with and provided links, where appropriate to a few resources to help you get started…….”

Read full article here: http://learntoprogram.tv/2009/11/what-programming-language-should-i-learn/

Gerry O’Brien on free certification exams

“Want to see if you’re ready to develop for the Azure platform?  Do you have what it takes to create Web apps using ASP.NET, JavaScript, AJAX and Silverlight?  What about desktop apps using WPF?  Perhaps you’re the service developer using WCF or maybe you’re good at data access with ADO.NET.

Ever tested your knowledge on these topics?  Want to?

I have just the opportunity for you……..” 

Read the full article here: http://blogs.msdn.com/gerryo/archive/2010/02/10/free-certification-exams.aspx

Free ebook: Understanding Microsoft Virtualization Solutions (Second Edition)

Here it is! Mitch Tulloch has updated his free ebook of last year; it’s now updated for Windows Server 2008 R2. You can now download Understanding Microsoft Virtualization Solutions, From the Desktop to the Datacenter in XPS format here and in PDF format here.

Six chapters adding up to 466 pages.

Unofficial Support Site for the Windows 7 Resource Kit

The Windows 7 Resource Kit (ISBN: 9780735627000) is a great resource. Created by Mitch Tulloch, Tony Northup, Jerry Honeycutt, Ed Wilson, and the Windows 7 team at Microsoft, the book includes 32 chapters, nearly 1800 pages, and the Windows 7 Resource Kit PowerShell Pack and sample PowerShell scripts on its companion CD.

And MVP Mitch Tulloch’s unofficial support site for the book is also a great resource. In “Site Table of Contents,” which is organized by the book’s parts (e.g., “Part 2, Deployment”), make sure to click through to see the resource kit’s chapters. Then, you can further click each chapter to see questions from readers about the chapter’s subject matter and answers from Mitch. Here’s an example:

Q-1. How do I move the CSC folder to another location on a Windows 7 computer?

A-1. The default location of the Offline Folders cache is %systemroot%\csc. If you need to move this cache to another location on your computer for some reason, follow these steps:

1. Set the following REG_DWORD registry key to a value of 1:

HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\CSC\Parameters\MigrationParamters

Doing this ensures that all items in the cache are migrated (the default behavior is to migrate only dirty items).

2. Run the Windows Easy Transfer wizard. Once the data has been scanned, a Customize link is displayed. Click this link and make sure that Windows Settings is checked for all items displayed in the list.

3. Once you have collected the data, set the following String registry key to specify the new cache location:

HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\CSC\Parameters\CacheLocation

For example, to move the cache to a folder named CSCCache on your D: drive, specify the following value:

\??\D:\CSCCache

4. Now reboot your computer, run the Easy Transfer wizard again and apply the previously gathered files. Then reboot one more time when prompted by the wizard.

Another example:

Q-1. How do you enable Wake-on-LAN (WoL) on a Windows 7 computer that supports this feature?

A-1. Depending on your computer’s network adapter and on how your computer’s BIOS is configured, you may be able to use Wake-on-LAN (WoL) to wake your computer from power-saving states such as Sleep, Hibernate or Hybrid Sleep. To make sure your computer is configured to use WoL, follow these steps:

1. Open Control Panel.

2. Click System and Security.

3. Click Administrative Tools.

4. Double-click Computer Management.

5. Under System Tools, select Device Manager.

6. Under Network Adapters, right-click on your network adapter and select Properties.

7. Select the Power Management tab.

8. Make sure that the following checkbox is selected: Allow this device to wake the computer. Doing this will cause your network adapter to listen for the following types of network packets:

• A directed packet to the MAC address of your network adapter
• A NetBIOS name resolution broadcast for your local computer name
• An ARP packet for the IPv4 address of your network adapter
• An IPv6 Neighbor Discovery packet for your network adapter’s solicited-node multicast address

If your network adapter detects any of these packets, Windows will wake up. If your computer wakes up too frequently however, you can repeat steps 1-7 of the above procedure and then make sure that the following checkbox is also selected: Allow only a magic packet to wake the computer. Doing this will cause your network adapter to listen only for a special type of packet called a magic packet, which is a standard wake-up frame typically sent from a systems management station that targets a specific network interface on the network.

Mitch also lists Additional Resources in some chapters. For example:

Additional Resources: Remote Access

The Routing and Remote Access Team Blog has some useful  information concerning remote access improvements in Windows 7 and how to design and deploy a remote access solution using Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. The following posts in particular may be useful:

• Summary of Windows 7 tunnel types
• How the tunnel type is determined on the client
• 3rd party VPN client compatibility with Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2
• Remote Access Design Guidelines – Part 1: Overview and References
• Remote Access Design Guidelines – Part 2: VPN client software selection
• Remote Access Design Guidelines – Part 3: Tunnel selection, Authentication, Authorization and Accounting
• Remote Access Design Guidelines – Part 4: IP Routing and DNS
• Remote Access Design Guidelines – Part 5: Where to place RRAS server
• Remote Access Deployment – Part 1: Configuring Remote Access Clients
• Remote Access Deployment – Part 2: Configuring RRAS as a VPN server
• Remote Access Deployment – Part 3: Configuring RADIUS Server for remote access
• What type of certificate to install on the VPN server
• Provisioning VPN client settings using Group Policy
• Troubleshooting common VPN related errors

Enjoy!

Project Server 2010 experts! Update your SME profile now!

Do you have work experience with configuring Project Server 2010? Want to help Microsoft create the next Project Server exam? Here’s your chance! Microsoft is looking for Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) for the following exam:

• 70-177    TS: Microsoft Project Server 2010, Configuring

Microsoft will be using the MSL SME database to find participants for blueprinting as well as other phases of development for this exam. For your best chance of participating, create a SME profile by filling out the survey on the MSL SME site on Microsoft Connect. (See this post for more information.)

Please note that if you already filled out your SME profile, you’ll need to go back and update it. Microsoft changed the answer options for “Which technologies do you have work experience with?” to specify versions of Project Server. Microsoft will be looking for folks who select Project Server 2010 on this question to help develop these exams. If you filled out your SME profile awhile ago, your answer will show as Office Project Server without a specific version unless you go back and update your survey response.

Free Friday: Developer Goodies

MSDev.com have some great content – even better, it’s all free. Check out some of their latest learning opportunities:

Get Your Feet Wet on Windows Azure with Updated Content
Take the Windows Azure self-paced virtual lab and follow along with the instructor. You will become familiar with important components of the Windows Azure architecture, including Web Roles, Worker Roles and Windows Azure storage.

Why Windows Azure Animated Series
In this video series, a whiteboard is used to help illustrate why people should adopt Windows Azure. The series takes an interesting turn when the whiteboard’s personality emerges and it becomes a co-host. This series will introduce the concept of Cloud Computing, the development experience, moving existing applications to Windows Azure, how to use the ROI calculator and more. Check it out!

Windows 7 in 7 Minutes
Get to know Windows 7, 7 minutes at a time! In this series of short, code-focused videos you’ll see how to take advantage of the great new features in Windows 7. Each video is under seven minutes long, so you can check out a new video in less time than it takes to check your mail or grab your morning cup of coffee! View today!