Save up to 25% off on Microsoft Certification!

Whoa! Wait a minute! You mean I have a chance to save 5% more than the 20% off voucher I can request which is very visible on the sidebar?!

Why yes, yes you do! Your opportunities are flipping endless! This offer is valid until December 31st of 2009, and only applies to a finite number of exams, but if you happen to hit one of the exams which is 25% off, I’d say take that over my 20% off vouchers any day! (albeit, if its 20% or 15% off… let me know and I’ll get you a voucher if you’re in one of the 20% off countries :))

Enjoy 15% off these exams!
TECHNOLOGY EXAM TITLES NUMBER  
Windows Server 2008 TS-Active Directory, Config 640 Get Voucher
Windows Server 2008 TS – Infra Services, Config 642 Get Voucher
Windows Server 2003 Managing and Maintaining Environment 290 Get Voucher
Windows Server 2003 Implementing, Managing and Maintaining, Network Infra 291 Get Voucher
Windows Server 2003 Planning and Maintaining Network Infra 293 Get Voucher
Windows Server 2003 Planning, Implementing and Maintaining AD 294 Get Voucher
Windows 7 TS – Windows 7 Configuring 680 Get Voucher
Windows Vista TS – Vista Config 620 Get Voucher
Windows XP Installing, Config, and Administering 270 Get Voucher
Windows XP Supporting Users and Troubleshooting 271 Get Voucher
Windows XP Supporting Users and Troubleshooting Desktop Apps. 272 Get Voucher
SQL 2008 TS – Implementation and Maintenance 432 Get Voucher
SQL 2008 TS – DB Dev 433 Get Voucher
SQL 2008 TS – BI Dev 448 Get Voucher
SQL 2005 TS – Implementing and Maintaining 431 Get Voucher
Exchange 2007 TS – Exchange, Config 236 Get Voucher
Visual Studio/.Net TS – .NET 2.0, Web-based Client Dev 526 Get Voucher
Visual Studio/.Net TS – .NET 2.0, Web-based Client Dev 528 Get Voucher
Visual Studio/.Net TS – .NET 2.0, Distributed App Dev 529 Get Voucher
Visual Studio/.Net TS – App Dev Foundation, .NET 536 Get Voucher
Virtualization TS – Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack, Config 656 Get Voucher
Virtualization TS – Windows Server Virtualization, Config 652 Get Voucher
Sharepoint TS – Sharepoint 07 Config 630 Get Voucher
Sharepoint TS – Sharepoint07, App Dev 542 Get Voucher

if you want to take an exam on this list, and you’re located in the US, UK, Germany, Australia and other 20% off countries – Let me know and I’ll get you a 20% off voucher instead!

 

Enjoy 20% off these exams!
TECHNOLOGY EXAM TITLES NUMBER  
Windows Server 2008 TS – App Infra, Config 643 Get Voucher
Windows Server 2008 Upgrading MCSA to MCITP 648 Get Voucher
Windows Server 2003 Designing an AD Network Infra 297 Get Voucher
Windows Server 2003 Designing Security 298 Get Voucher
Windows Server 2003 Implementing and Administering Security 299 Get Voucher
Windows Server 2003 Config and Managing Hosted Environments 501 Get Voucher
Windows Vista TS – Deploying and Maintaining Vista and Office 2007 624 Get Voucher
SQL 2005 TS – Implementing and Maintaining BI Solutions 445 Get Voucher
Visual Studio/.Net TS – .NET 3.5, Win Presentation Foundation 502 Get Voucher
Visual Studio/.Net TS – .NET 3.5, Win Communication Foundation 503 Get Voucher
Visual Studio/.Net TS – .NET 3.5, Workflow 504 Get Voucher
Visual Studio/.Net TS – .NET 3.5, Windows Forms Applications 505 Get Voucher
Visual Studio/.Net TS – .NET 3.5, ADO 561 Get Voucher
Visual Studio/.Net TS – .NET 3.5, ASP.NET App Dev 562 Get Voucher
Virtualization TS- System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008, Configuration 403 Get Voucher
Sharepoint TS – Sharepoint 3.0, App Dev 541 Get Voucher
Sharepoint TS – Sharepoint Services 3.0, Config 631 Get Voucher

If you’re interested in any of these exams, are in one of above mentioned countries and want your discount until June 30th, 2010 – Let me know and go for the 20% off! :)

Enjoy 25% off these exams!
TECHNOLOGY EXAM TITLES NUMBER  
Windows Server 2008 Pro – Server Admin 646 Get Voucher
Windows Server 2008 Upgrading MCSE to MCITP 649 Get Voucher
Windows Server 2008 Pro – Ent. Admin 647 Get Voucher
Windows Vista Upgrading MCDST to MCITP 621 Get Voucher
Windows Vista Pro – MS Desktop Support 622 Get Voucher
Windows Vista Pro – Supporting and Troubleshooting Applications 623 Get Voucher
SQL 2008 Pro – Designing, Optimizing and Maintaining 450 Get Voucher
SQL 2008 Pro – Designing DB and Data Access 451 Get Voucher
SQL 2008 Pro – BI Dev 452 Get Voucher
SQL 2008 Upgrade – SQL05 to SQL08 MCITP DBA 453 Get Voucher
SQL 2008 Upgrade – SQL05 to SQL08 MCITP DBD 454 Get Voucher
SQL 2008 Upgrade – SQL05 to SQL08 MCITP BI 455 Get Voucher
SQL 2005 Pro – Designing DB Solutions 441 Get Voucher
SQL 2005 Pro – Designing and Optimizing Data Access 442 Get Voucher
SQL 2005 Pro – Planning, Designing, Developing and Optimizing DB Solutions 443 Get Voucher
SQL 2005 Pro – Optiming and Maintaining DB Administration 444 Get Voucher
SQL 2005 Pro – Designing a BI Solution 446 Get Voucher
SQL 2005 Upgrade – MCDBA to MCITP 447 Get Voucher
Exchange 2007 Pro – Designing Messaging Solutions 237 Get Voucher
Exchange 2007 Pro – Deploying Messaging Solutions 238 Get Voucher
Visual Studio/.Net Pro – Designing and Developing Web-based Apps using .NET 547 Get Voucher
Visual Studio/.Net Pro – Designing and Developing Windows-based applications using .Net Framework 548 Get Voucher
Visual Studio/.Net Pro – Designing and Developing Enterprise Apps using .NET 549 Get Voucher
Visual Studio/.Net Upgrade – MCAD Skills to MCPD Web Developer by Using Microsoft .NET Framework for VS.NET 551 Get Voucher
Visual Studio/.Net Upgrade – MCAD Skills to MCPD using .Net Framework 552 Get Voucher
Visual Studio/.Net Upgrade – MCSD .Net skills to MCPD Enterprise Application Developer 553 Get Voucher
Visual Studio/.Net Upgrade – MCSD .Net Skills to MCPD Enterprise Application Developer, Part 2 554 Get Voucher
Visual Studio/.Net Pro – Designing and Developing Windows Applications using .Net Framework 3.5 563 Get Voucher
Visual Studio/.Net Pro – Designing and Developing ASP.Net Applications Using .Net Framework 3.5 564 Get Voucher
Visual Studio/.Net Pro- Designing and Developing Enterprise Application Using .Net Framework 3.5 565 Get Voucher
Visual Studio/.Net Upgrade – Transition your MCPD web developer skills to MCPD ASP .Net Developer 3.5 567 Get Voucher
Visual Studio/.Net Upgrade – Transition your MCPD Enterprise Application Developer Skills to MCPD Enterprise Application Developer 3.5, Part 1 568 Get Voucher
Visual Studio/.Net Upgrade – Transition your MCPD Enterprise Application Developer Skills to MCPD Enterprise Application Developer 3.5, Part 2 569 Get Voucher

If you have the chance to take these exams? Act on it! 25% off can’t be beat! (Well, unless you’re an MCT or MVP and your discounts massively out-rule that! ;)) but still! Act on these badboys! If you miss that window though, let me know and I’ll get you some vouchers to use before June 30th, 2010!

There is no better time than the present in order to get yourself certified! Take your future into your own hands – Did you hear there will be 4million IT jobs created in the next 5 years, but no qualified people to fill them? Hey.. Get Qualified! (but preferably at a discount ;))

Engineering Software for Accessibility by making it accessibly free!

You ever been tooling around the book store or Amazon and came across this fine title?

Well, I don’t know about you, but the only thing better than an amazing and great title.. is a great and –free– downloadable title too!   And yes, that is correct! This book is now available for free download from Microsoft! So I encourage you to check it out, it’s only 100 pages too, so definitely a quick read! I’d like to thank our good friends at the MSPress Blog for sharing this!

Introducing RichCopy – your Robocopy replacement!

Alright, for those of you in the know, we all know that RichCopy isn’t anything new.  Infact it’s been being used internally at Microsoft for the past 10 years – however after a near decade of ‘Seriously?! We haven’t released this to the public?!’ it is indeed now available!   There’s a whole slew of details at others blogs RichCopy Build 4.0.216 has been posted to the Microsoft Download Center  and the TechNet Magazine article Utility Spotlight RichCopy and especially, be sure to visit the creator of this amazing tool Ken Tamaru’s blog!

So, what is this amazing tool?!  It’s free first of all! And allows you even more granular control over your copy processes, including multi-threaded copy operations!

As you can see here in this image, I’m copying a number of various sized files in different locations simultaneously!    Though one of the major perks is not in the initial copy, but instead in the situation of changed file copies (in our common “what’s changed incremental” model? :) Well, notes about that, taken verbatim from Ken’s blog show:

RichCopy 10 threads 

There must be many users who use RichCopy to copy only updated files. Most of users assign only 1 thread for directory search; however you can dramatically accelerate the performance of source and destination comparison by assigning multiple threads, especially this works well when files are distributed to multiple directories as RichCopy assign 1 thread to each directory search, not a tree.

Here is an example. (local to local, but different storage)

(1 million files in source and destination)
Thread # for Directory Search
1 about 10 minutes
2 about 6 minutes
4 about 2 minutes
8 about 1 minutes

RichCopy Options

Hands down, one of the coolest things is the level of options you can set.

The specific options I’d like to highlight are number of threads you can assign to specific operations.  That way you can increase not only the number of directories you traverse looking for files (or changed files) but also the number of files you can copy simultaneously!  This is a lifesaver when you’re copying many small files which when operating sequentially tends to take a lifetime!

 

I did run a number of speed tests on my machine, however speeds when run from my SSD tend to suffer, compared to if I were copying from say, one SAN to another SAN (something more realistic especially in a migration scenario)

 

In any sense, it’s a great tool, which operates via CLI or GUI and I’ll be sure to use or introduce it into my future migration opportunities as applicable :) Oh and be sure to click on any instance of “RichCopy” in this post in order to get a direct link to its download! :)

Get on the bus, Magic Euro-Bus!

Hey, you remember the bus! Well, the locations have been published! Which is especially great if you’re a number of destinations along the path you will want to hook up and meet the bus along the way!

  • Milan, 26 Oct
  • Zurich, 27 Oct
  • Paris, 28 Oct
  • London, 29 Oct
  • Brussels, 30 Oct
  • Amsterdam, 2 Nov
  • Frankfurt, 3 Nov
  • Munich, 4 Nov
  • Vienna, 5 Nov
  • Prague, 6 Nov
  • Berlin, 9 Nov

 

Host a Career Express and/or a TechEd EMEA community event!

The best part of the tour are the local stops the Career Express makes at training partners and community events. On the Career Express USA tour in May, we stopped at a luau thrown by a partner, high schools, and colleges. What do you get when you host an event?

1) Company profile promoted on Get On The Bus Tour website

2) Event resources to facilitate local event in your area as part of Get On The Bus Tour stop

3) Increased visibility with TechEd EMEA registrants and/or attendees

4) Technical training on Microsoft Windows 7, Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2, and Microsoft Exchange Server 2010

If you would like to host a local event, we are taking applications until August 18. For more details, download the application form here: Bus Tour EMEA Event Application Form

Why yes, much of this was hijacked from Born to Learn, but hey! I had a lot invested in that trip and I equally want to see this one be successful! So get out there! Be a hosting location, or visit one of the hosting locations, it’ll be an experience unlike no other!

Getting Microsoft Certified in the United Arab Emirates!

I’m sure you’ve seen my ever so recently posted Microsoft Certification and MeasureUp Discounts 20% off Certs! which talks about how you can get 20% off on Microsoft Certification exams! Cool, right?

Well, there is one misfortune of Safari and it’s ability to actually recognize that I selected ‘u’ and scrolled down to United States – End result? I’ve generated a WHOLE bunch of vouchers for the United Arab Emirates! So if you’re in the United Arab Emirates and are looking for Microsoft Exam Certification discounts (The UAE discount is 10% off) but that’s better than full price!

Let me know and I’ll get you vouchers, and then we all win as you test and pay less!

So, Microsoft certifiers in the UAE! Come on down, let me know! email, comment, message on twitter, whichever! :)