Microsoft isn't upset that training material exists; it's not even upset that material written specifically for particular exams exist. Instead, it's upset because the Pass4Sure practice exams contain questions "identical or substantially similar" to those on the real exams. Microsoft says this is wrong.

Never mind the fact that it's silly to still be using multiple-choice questions to verify IT expertise; Microsoft maintains Pass4Sure is just flat-out stealing. Using Microsoft's train of logic, if a studying company published the actual questions, identical questions or even "substantially similar" questions, test takers have a chance of passing the exam solely because they memorized the answers, not because they understand the topic. I can see where that could be the case.

Just for giggles, I typed the phrase "actual questions" Microsoft into a Google search box and clicked "I'm Feeling Lucky." I expected to be taken to braindump heaven, but Pass4Sure didn't come up, nor did any similar site. Instead, what came up was this.

A Microsoft-owned site? Surely it had to be a honeypot! One that would trick me into thinking I was reading actual Windows Vista exam questions but is really a way for Microsoft to legally hunt me down and make me cry!

With trepidation I read on, but all my fears quickly dissipated. The page isn't about any IT certification at all. In fact, it's about another type of exam, one required for U.S. citizenship. What I read, though, shocked me like a 220-volt line being placed directly on my tongue (the emphasis is mine):

U.S. Citizenship Test: Could You Pass?
If you were born in the United States, you didn't have to do anything to become a citizen. But each year, thousands of people have to take a test to gain citizenship. Recently the exam was updated to include a more diverse group of contributors to American history and more recent historical events. This quiz includes actual questions asked on the exam given by the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services, including some of the new ones.

Following this introduction were 11 multiple-choice "actual questions asked on the exam" (the exam consists of only 100 questions). Isn't anyone, including U.S. District Court Judge Warren Eginton who issued the injunction for Microsoft, worried that 11 percent of the exam could be passed by someone who just memorized the answers from Microsoft's Encarta site?

Perhaps it's not as simple as I'm making it out to be, and that there's a distinction between where it's OK to post actual exam questions and where it's not. After all, the law is a tricky thing, and if I wanted to understand it better, it might do me more good to change my search phrase to "actual questions" LSAT. But that would only bring up over 1,600 results showing books from major publishers and other sites offering products that would allow me to memorize questions for an admission exam.

Is Homegrown Coming Back?
A recent press release from Cisco stirred some feelings of nostalgia. Apparemtly, the first cohort has graduated from Cisco's Global Talent Acceleration Program, a "long-term Cisco initiative aimed at developing next-generation local network consulting engineers (NCEs) for the company."

In the days of old, there was nothing so valuable as true vendor training, and it could all be lumped under the umbrella of an acceleration program. The reason that administrators spent $2,000 or more a week was because they were able to sit in authorized classrooms and learn from the best. It wasn't uncommon to sit in a Novell-authorized classroom and have as your fellow students Novell employees who wanted (or needed) to get up to speed on a technology. This was the way to go about it.

The same was true for Microsoft and other vendors, as well. Some of my fondest memories from my early computing days involve sitting in classrooms for five days, trying to keep up with the best and brightest.

Over time, and almost universally, the content in the classrooms became watered down, the instructors became freelancers brought in for short gigs, and anyone with a couple of computers was allowed to proclaim themselves an authorized training center. Administrators began to question whether their $2,000 would be well-spent. And when they stopped going, the classes stopped taking place -- meaning the employees who were sitting in on the classrooms and paying only with budget transfers were now no longer allowed that venue.

In their place came boot camps geared toward cramming for specific items as much as possible. There was a dearth of qualified instructors and a decrease in training quality across the board. Everyone suffered.

I may be an old sentimentalist, but press releases like this one -- highlighting vendor training that's promising -- give me hope.

CompTIA To Update Linux+
The second phase of the Linux+ update is now under way. Previously, CompTIA conducted a job task analysis to determine what responsibilities should be turned into objectives for the 2009 revision of this single-test, entry-level certification.

Those tasks have now been placed into a survey which Linux subject matter experts can take to help determine the weighting of the final objectives and domains. It takes about 20 minutes to complete, and everyone who participates becomes eligible to win American Express gift checks.

CompTIA's Linux+ is targeted at administrators with six to 12 months of experience and a level of comfort at the command line. As it now stands, the domains will be: Security, Applications and Services, Intallation and Configuration, Networking, and System Maintenance and Opearations.

More information on Linux+ can be found here.

Book of the Week: 'Strategies For E-Business'
Every now and then, someone writes a textbook that isn't so dry and boring that you fall asleep just by turning the pages. Tawfik Jelassi and Albrecht Enders have done just that with the second edition of Strategies for e-Business: Creating Value through Electronic and Mobile Commerce. Being a textbook as opposed to a mass-market book means you can't find it at the local bookstore, but it's still available online and worth seeking out.

There are approximately 300 pages of text divided into 14 chapters, and 19 case studies -- many from the Harvard Business School and other great sources -- that take up another 300 pages. By applying what you learned in the first half of the book to the second half, it's possible to apply current technologies and strategies to real-world problems and see what challenges/issues are facing good-sized businesses today.

Intended for an MBA and upper-level undergraduate audience, Strategies for e-Business: Creating Value through Electronic and Mobile Commerce works well as a self-study manual, and it will be one that you're glad you sought out.