Why no MCSE 2008?

Dracula28

2008 R2 and 7 are the natural successors of XP and 2003, in most organizations. Most organizations I know did not touch upon 2008/Vista. And the same seems to hold true for 2012 at the moment (naturally because most organizations will skip Windows 8, which has been a huge failure so far). There is no reason for organizations to go the 2012/8 route when they can get the job done on R2/7, much cheaper.

And looking at the MCSE 2012 and MCITP:EA 2008, and then comparing those to MCSA 2012 and MCITP:SA 2008, there is not much of a difference. So why are MS renaming MCITP:SA to MCSA 2008, while they are not bothering to rename MCITP:EA to MCSE 2008?

Are MS trying to forcefully move admins/organizations toward Server 2012, by completely retiring MCITP:EA instead of just renaming it to MCSE 2008? As far as I can see MCITP:EA is far more viable for most organizations than MCSE 2012 at the moment, and will probably stay that way for another 2-3 years.

ptilsen

Why retire the de facto replacement (EA) for a cert (MCSE 2003) the same year as that cert? Only to cause undue stress for those of us who studied EA material for the purpose of getting EA.

Seriously though, I think it is part of a broader effort to force more aggressive lifecycles on the industry. It makes sense from a profitability standpoint, but I think it will backfire. Organizations will value MS certs and professionals less and upgrade even less often. All they had to do was create MCSE 2008 and let it retire in, say, 2016.

The other side of it, maybe the bigger side, is ISO 17024. Rather than certifying in editions of the technology, we have to re-certify every three years. This is a mixed thing. If the technology changes less drastically and re-certification ultimately becomes an easier, less costly process than upgrade exams, it can be of net benefit. If we basically have to re-take all the same exams for MCSEs to not expire every three years, it will just be annoying. I'm not against it conceptually, but certifying in an edition of the technology actually makes more sense, to me. Windows 2003, 2008 R2, and 2012 and their associated services are distinct software. Yes, there is carryover, and we get upgrade exams to account for that, but they aren't identical. It's nice to be able to "prove" competency in multiple versions by having multiple versions of the certs. A triple MCSE shows more to me than one MCSE. Now, one MCSE means one MCSE. Again, it's a mix, but overall I like the way things were working prior to the MCITP program, for the most part.

MrSharp

Is sad to that they are not recognising MCITP:EA as the MCSE 2008.
If they were going to do that I would be more motivated to try and get it.

As it stands, I've lost interest in pursuing the MCITP:EA

olaHalo

I find all the MS cert tracks very confusing.