Microsoft Too Cheap to Issue Paper Certs for Our Training, Speak O
 

The following is a copy of an email I submitted to the Cert Center at
e-learn@microsoft.com, I urge you to send your own email and let them know
what you think:

Dear sirs:

In reference to why Microsoft does not provide paper certificates, quoting
from your website:

Q. I just became certified, why do I have to spend more time and money to
print my certificate?

A. To help reduce waste in the landfills, reduce carbon dioxide emissions
and raw materials, along with lower energy consumption overall helps create a
more sustainable global environment.


Has Microsoft become so cheap that certificates for exams are not being
issued on paper? You claim that it’s “to reduce waste in the landfills,
reduce carbon dioxide emissions and raw materials, lower energy consumption
overall to help create a more sustainable global environment.” Frankly, that
is a load of crap. Who is going to send their certificate to a landfill? I
toss more paper from junk mail every DAY than all the certificates I will
ever possess.

You couldn’t even make the downloadable certificate include the name of the
exam passed, or the date it was taken?

I note that “being green” isn’t worth more than $9.95 to you, a person can
order a paper certificate for that amount. I’ll buy paper and print my own.

How dare you deprive students who have worked very hard studying to become
proficient in Microsoft technologies, which furthers your product penetration
and therefore increases your profits, from the certificates we deserve. How
cheap you are to not only deprive us of a certificate we have earned, only to
provide us with a very generic-looking downloadable certificate, while
insulting us with the bogus reason of “being green”.

Signed,

Peter M. Stallone, CCNA, MCP

Re: Microsoft Too Cheap to Issue Paper Certs for Our Training, Speak O
 

"pstallone" <pstallone@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:94B59CD5-80FF-4B37-9227-6DFCF36BFA12@microsoft.com...
> The following is a copy of an email I submitted to the Cert Center at
> e-learn@microsoft.com, I urge you to send your own email and let them know
> what you think:
>
> Dear sirs:
>
> In reference to why Microsoft does not provide paper certificates, quoting
> from your website:
>
> Q. I just became certified, why do I have to spend more time and money to
> print my certificate?
>
> A. To help reduce waste in the landfills, reduce carbon dioxide emissions
> and raw materials, along with lower energy consumption overall helps
> create a
> more sustainable global environment.
>
>
> Has Microsoft become so cheap that certificates for exams are not being
> issued on paper? You claim that it's "to reduce waste in the landfills,
> reduce carbon dioxide emissions and raw materials, lower energy
> consumption
> overall to help create a more sustainable global environment." Frankly,
> that
> is a load of crap. Who is going to send their certificate to a landfill? I
> toss more paper from junk mail every DAY than all the certificates I will
> ever possess.
>
> You couldn't even make the downloadable certificate include the name of
> the
> exam passed, or the date it was taken?
>
> I note that "being green" isn't worth more than $9.95 to you, a person can
> order a paper certificate for that amount. I'll buy paper and print my
> own.
>
> How dare you deprive students who have worked very hard studying to become
> proficient in Microsoft technologies, which furthers your product
> penetration
> and therefore increases your profits, from the certificates we deserve.
> How
> cheap you are to not only deprive us of a certificate we have earned, only
> to
> provide us with a very generic-looking downloadable certificate, while
> insulting us with the bogus reason of "being green".
>
> Signed,
>
> Peter M. Stallone, CCNA, MCP
>

I certainly sympathize with your feelings on this issue, and no, I'm not an
appologist for Microsoft.

But I do want to point out that neither Microsoft, or anyone else for that
matter, ever shows what tests you took and when you passed them on your
certificate or diploma, that is the purpose of a transcript (which you can
again print out on your own). Quite frankly, nobody has ever asked for a
copy of my certs or diplomas, but several have asked for transcripts.

Secondly, Microsoft, along with a lot of other vendors/suppliers/whatever,
have for a long time now been more and more involved in the process of
enlisting you to do their work for them. I, for example, don't even get pay
stubs anymore. If I want one, I have to log on to a website (ADP) and print
it out on my own. My mortgage company refuses to send statements to me,
again I have to log on to their website and print them. Same story with my
401K broker, etc. My bank has long since refused to return my cancelled
checks. I can get a printed image from where? Their website of course.

The fact is that they no longer have to print them, or spend money to put
them in envelopes and address them, or pay postage to mail them. They don't
have to pay employees to perform these tasks either. They don't have to
supply office space for these activities to happen. This saves them
significant money (which in a way makes them "greener". Sorry, bad pun).

I do give Microsoft credit for being creative enough to develop an excuse as
politically correct as they have, even if you and I both know it's a crock.

It's just the way of the world today. Expect it to get worse before it gets
better. Here's a dollar, go buy 1/3 of a drink. ;-)

John R.

Re: Microsoft Too Cheap to Issue Paper Certs for Our Training, Spe
 

"John R" wrote:

>
> "pstallone" <pstallone@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:94B59CD5-80FF-4B37-9227-6DFCF36BFA12@microsoft.com...
> > The following is a copy of an email I submitted to the Cert Center at
> > e-learn@microsoft.com, I urge you to send your own email and let them know
> > what you think:
> >
> > Dear sirs:
> >
> > In reference to why Microsoft does not provide paper certificates, quoting
> > from your website:
> >
> > Q. I just became certified, why do I have to spend more time and money to
> > print my certificate?
> >
> > A. To help reduce waste in the landfills, reduce carbon dioxide emissions
> > and raw materials, along with lower energy consumption overall helps
> > create a
> > more sustainable global environment.
> >
> >
> > Has Microsoft become so cheap that certificates for exams are not being
> > issued on paper? You claim that it's "to reduce waste in the landfills,
> > reduce carbon dioxide emissions and raw materials, lower energy
> > consumption
> > overall to help create a more sustainable global environment." Frankly,
> > that
> > is a load of crap. Who is going to send their certificate to a landfill? I
> > toss more paper from junk mail every DAY than all the certificates I will
> > ever possess.
> >
> > You couldn't even make the downloadable certificate include the name of
> > the
> > exam passed, or the date it was taken?
> >
> > I note that "being green" isn't worth more than $9.95 to you, a person can
> > order a paper certificate for that amount. I'll buy paper and print my
> > own.
> >
> > How dare you deprive students who have worked very hard studying to become
> > proficient in Microsoft technologies, which furthers your product
> > penetration
> > and therefore increases your profits, from the certificates we deserve.
> > How
> > cheap you are to not only deprive us of a certificate we have earned, only
> > to
> > provide us with a very generic-looking downloadable certificate, while
> > insulting us with the bogus reason of "being green".
> >
> > Signed,
> >
> > Peter M. Stallone, CCNA, MCP
> >
>
> I certainly sympathize with your feelings on this issue, and no, I'm not an
> appologist for Microsoft.
>
> But I do want to point out that neither Microsoft, or anyone else for that
> matter, ever shows what tests you took and when you passed them on your
> certificate or diploma, that is the purpose of a transcript (which you can
> again print out on your own). Quite frankly, nobody has ever asked for a
> copy of my certs or diplomas, but several have asked for transcripts.
>
> Secondly, Microsoft, along with a lot of other vendors/suppliers/whatever,
> have for a long time now been more and more involved in the process of
> enlisting you to do their work for them. I, for example, don't even get pay
> stubs anymore. If I want one, I have to log on to a website (ADP) and print
> it out on my own. My mortgage company refuses to send statements to me,
> again I have to log on to their website and print them. Same story with my
> 401K broker, etc. My bank has long since refused to return my cancelled
> checks. I can get a printed image from where? Their website of course.
>
> The fact is that they no longer have to print them, or spend money to put
> them in envelopes and address them, or pay postage to mail them. They don't
> have to pay employees to perform these tasks either. They don't have to
> supply office space for these activities to happen. This saves them
> significant money (which in a way makes them "greener". Sorry, bad pun).
>
> I do give Microsoft credit for being creative enough to develop an excuse as
> politically correct as they have, even if you and I both know it's a crock.
>
> It's just the way of the world today. Expect it to get worse before it gets
> better. Here's a dollar, go buy 1/3 of a drink. ;-)
>
> John R.
>
>
> .
>
Yes, I certainly have noticed the trend of "Give less, charge more". I agree
that it's probably going to get worse before it gets better.

If Microsoft had simply stated that the reason they're not issuing certs is
to save money, I would have thought "what a bunch of cheapskates" and not
have given it a second thought. But I just could not accept the insult to my
intelligence of the reason of "being green".

I do have other certs, which actually state the exam I passed, as well as
the date I took the exam:

1. Cisco CCNA
2. Network Cabling (Leviton)
3. Fiber Optic Technician (The Fiber Optic Association)
4. Five Nortel PBX certs

I guess I just got spoiled...

Re: Microsoft Too Cheap to Issue Paper Certs for Our Training, Spe
 

"pstallone" <pstallone@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:FEB91F0A-1C3D-4390-A229-32718A3B7353@microsoft.com...
>
>
>
> I do have other certs, which actually state the exam I passed, as well as
> the date I took the exam:
>
> 1. Cisco CCNA
> 2. Network Cabling (Leviton)
> 3. Fiber Optic Technician (The Fiber Optic Association)
> 4. Five Nortel PBX certs
>
> I guess I just got spoiled...
>

Try printing out your transcript on the MCP site. I think that might be
what you're looking for. It's actually pretty well done. It shows all of
the certs that you hold, and a list of all of the exams that you completed
along with all of the associated dates.

John R.

Re: Microsoft Too Cheap to Issue Paper Certs for Our Training, Spe
 

"John R" wrote:

>
> "pstallone" <pstallone@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:FEB91F0A-1C3D-4390-A229-32718A3B7353@microsoft.com...
> >
> >
> >
> > I do have other certs, which actually state the exam I passed, as well as
> > the date I took the exam:
> >
> > 1. Cisco CCNA
> > 2. Network Cabling (Leviton)
> > 3. Fiber Optic Technician (The Fiber Optic Association)
> > 4. Five Nortel PBX certs
> >
> > I guess I just got spoiled...
> >
>
> Try printing out your transcript on the MCP site. I think that might be
> what you're looking for. It's actually pretty well done. It shows all of
> the certs that you hold, and a list of all of the exams that you completed
> along with all of the associated dates.
>
> John R.
>
> .
>

Thanks :)

RE: Microsoft Too Cheap to Issue Paper Certs for Our Training, Speak O
 

You forgot to mention that the new VBC looks like crap.

MS doing away with the wallet card and 'welcome aboard' package is just not
good. I think that most people would be happy with that wallet card and a
CD/DVD explaining everything else that was in the welcome package, you know,
print the stuff you want...

Then there's the fact that MS will not allow us to pay for said wallet
cards. I really don't mind MS trying to reduce paper waste and all that good
stuff. But a MS certification should come with something to show for it.
Even if we have to pay for it. At least give us the option.

"pstallone" wrote:

> The following is a copy of an email I submitted to the Cert Center at
> e-learn@microsoft.com, I urge you to send your own email and let them know
> what you think:
>
> Dear sirs:
>
> In reference to why Microsoft does not provide paper certificates, quoting
> from your website:
>
> Q. I just became certified, why do I have to spend more time and money to
> print my certificate?
>
> A. To help reduce waste in the landfills, reduce carbon dioxide emissions
> and raw materials, along with lower energy consumption overall helps create a
> more sustainable global environment.
>
>
> Has Microsoft become so cheap that certificates for exams are not being
> issued on paper? You claim that it’s “to reduce waste in the landfills,
> reduce carbon dioxide emissions and raw materials, lower energy consumption
> overall to help create a more sustainable global environment.” Frankly, that
> is a load of crap. Who is going to send their certificate to a landfill? I
> toss more paper from junk mail every DAY than all the certificates I will
> ever possess.
>
> You couldn’t even make the downloadable certificate include the name of the
> exam passed, or the date it was taken?
>
> I note that “being green” isn’t worth more than $9.95 to you, a person can
> order a paper certificate for that amount. I’ll buy paper and print my own.
>
> How dare you deprive students who have worked very hard studying to become
> proficient in Microsoft technologies, which furthers your product penetration
> and therefore increases your profits, from the certificates we deserve. How
> cheap you are to not only deprive us of a certificate we have earned, only to
> provide us with a very generic-looking downloadable certificate, while
> insulting us with the bogus reason of “being green”.
>
> Signed,
>
> Peter M. Stallone, CCNA, MCP
>

RE: Microsoft Too Cheap to Issue Paper Certs for Our Training, Spe
 

I think that eventually Microsoft's cheapness will come back to them in the
end. I don't believe in Karma as such, but I have been around long enough to
see that you do "reap what you sow".

By the way, sorry to be so naive, but what is VBC?

I'd heard that MS did give you wallet cards, so they stopped that too?!?


"ikky" wrote:

> You forgot to mention that the new VBC looks like crap.
>
> MS doing away with the wallet card and 'welcome aboard' package is just not
> good. I think that most people would be happy with that wallet card and a
> CD/DVD explaining everything else that was in the welcome package, you know,
> print the stuff you want...
>
> Then there's the fact that MS will not allow us to pay for said wallet
> cards. I really don't mind MS trying to reduce paper waste and all that good
> stuff. But a MS certification should come with something to show for it.
> Even if we have to pay for it. At least give us the option.
>
> "pstallone" wrote:
>
> > The following is a copy of an email I submitted to the Cert Center at
> > e-learn@microsoft.com, I urge you to send your own email and let them know
> > what you think:
> >
> > Dear sirs:
> >
> > In reference to why Microsoft does not provide paper certificates, quoting
> > from your website:
> >
> > Q. I just became certified, why do I have to spend more time and money to
> > print my certificate?
> >
> > A. To help reduce waste in the landfills, reduce carbon dioxide emissions
> > and raw materials, along with lower energy consumption overall helps create a
> > more sustainable global environment.
> >
> >
> > Has Microsoft become so cheap that certificates for exams are not being
> > issued on paper? You claim that it’s “to reduce waste in the landfills,
> > reduce carbon dioxide emissions and raw materials, lower energy consumption
> > overall to help create a more sustainable global environment.” Frankly, that
> > is a load of crap. Who is going to send their certificate to a landfill? I
> > toss more paper from junk mail every DAY than all the certificates I will
> > ever possess.
> >
> > You couldn’t even make the downloadable certificate include the name of the
> > exam passed, or the date it was taken?
> >
> > I note that “being green” isn’t worth more than $9.95 to you, a person can
> > order a paper certificate for that amount. I’ll buy paper and print my own.
> >
> > How dare you deprive students who have worked very hard studying to become
> > proficient in Microsoft technologies, which furthers your product penetration
> > and therefore increases your profits, from the certificates we deserve. How
> > cheap you are to not only deprive us of a certificate we have earned, only to
> > provide us with a very generic-looking downloadable certificate, while
> > insulting us with the bogus reason of “being green”.
> >
> > Signed,
> >
> > Peter M. Stallone, CCNA, MCP
> >

RE: Microsoft Too Cheap to Issue Paper Certs for Our Training, Spe
 

Yup. MS has stopped giving wallet cards.

VBC is the Virtual Business Card that is supposed to replace the wallet card.

"pstallone" wrote:

> I think that eventually Microsoft's cheapness will come back to them in the
> end. I don't believe in Karma as such, but I have been around long enough to
> see that you do "reap what you sow".
>
> By the way, sorry to be so naive, but what is VBC?
>
> I'd heard that MS did give you wallet cards, so they stopped that too?!?