early days MCP preview of "Longhorn" certifications
Details on Windows Server “Longhorn” certifications will be forthcoming in June, though the certifications will be available quite a bit later. In advance of that, we are previewing the new certifications for MCPs to help with your certification planning. That preview is now posted on the MCP site (you’ll need to log-in to get there).
Important reminder number 1: You are under no obligation to care.
Just because we are starting to talk about Longhorn certification does not mean we recommend it for everyone. The main consideration for certification is your technology focus – if you work with Windows Server 2000 or 2003, then we recommend you continue on or consider the MCSA or MCSE track – if you will be an early adopter of Longhorn, then this info will be of more immediate interest for you. Our intent in sharing this preview for MCPs was to help early adopters or those of you partially through a certification track understand your options. If you aren’t sure where to start with Windows Server certification, you might check out our recent live meeting on the topic.
Important reminder number 2: Early days! It is early days still!!
This is early information; the new exams are months away. The Longhorn Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS) exams will be live 30 days after Windows Server “Longhorn” releases to manufacturing and the Microsoft Certified IT Professional (MCITP) exams will be out 60 days after technology RTM. Microsoft Learning has been working more and more closely with the product groups at Microsoft on our major releases. As a result, we are doing a better job of timing Microsoft Learning releases (including certification exams) to the technologies' pre-RTM, @RTM, and post-RTM dates.
Important reminder number 3: This is a preview; things could change.
