The IT Humidor » MCSE

$100 Discount on TechNet Plus

Slowhand — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 22:28:51 +0000

TechNet Plus, (download only, not the kind where they ship you DVDs,) from Microsoft usually runs $349 to sign up for a year, then $249 per year after that. A friend of mine shot me an email today for a $100 dicount on a subscription. I’m not sure if it’s part of a special event or it’s simply a discount code for the sake of signing up new customers, but it’s a great opportunity to save some money and pick up just about every piece of software Microsoft makes. Keep in mind, this not only includes the software that is out now, but any new software that’s eligible for TechNet, as well as updates to things like Office or Windows, (think Office 2010 and Windows 7). Sadly, developer-tools like Visual Studio are not included in TechNet since they are considered to be under the MSDN umbrella. This is good for a new subscription only, not renewals.

The subscription page can be found here.

Select Microsoft TechNet Plus Direct Subscription, enter the promo code TW7OBA in the field that reads If you have a Promotion Code, please enter it here and then hit the button to go to the next page. Enjoy!

Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Beta Available for Download

Slowhand — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 19:58:25 +0000

Go download it!

Microsoft Announces Beta Exam for 71-680: TS: Windows 7, Configuring

Slowhand — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 19:42:16 +0000

Microsoft has announced that April 27th will be the day that they make the Windows 7 beta exam open to the public. This will be a similar exam to 70-620 which focuses on configuring Vista, and 70-270 which is all about Windows XP Pro. No news yet if the Windows 7 exam will count towards MCSA/MCSE, but you’d better believe that it’ll count towards MCITP: Enterprise Administrator. You will obtain a stand-alone Technology Specialist (TS) designation with the exam, just as with other next-generation Microsoft exams. For some documentation, take a look at the Windows 7 Technical Library Roadmap. For a good discussion on the ins and outs of the exam check out the dedicated thread on TechExams.net.

Register with Prometric starting April 27th. The actual testing window is from May 5th – May 18th. Oh, and you have to use promo code WIN7J in order to sign up for the exam.

Also, today is National High-Five Day.

Free Expo Pass for the RSA Security Conference in San Francisco

Slowhand — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 21:32:19 +0000

Since this is available to everyone, I felt that I should share. The following is a link to IBM’s voucher for free admittance to the expo floor of the RSA Security Conference in San Francisco, running from April 20th until April 24th.

Free Expo Pass – Be IBM’s Guest

You have to sign up before April 17th to redeem the freebie.