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Is this a lifetime certification, or will I have to retest after a certain
period of time? If so, how long?

There is currently no posted expiration date for the current MCDST
certification. Normally, when Microsoft stops supporting an Operating
System, they retire the certification. However, Microsoft tried to
retire the NT 4.0 MCSE certification when Widows 2000 came out. This did
not sit well with the I.T. community so they "extended/withdrew" the
expiration. So to answer your question, it is a possibility that the
certification may be life time (i.e. MCDST in Windows XP).

Michael D. Alligood
MCSA, MCDST, MCP, A+,
Network+, i-Net+, CIW Assoc.,
CIW Certified Instructor

"d20_9999" <> wrote in message
news:11241B2E-A3B6-43D3-AF04-:

> Is this a lifetime certification, or will I have to retest after a certain
> period of time? If so, how long?

Michael is right here.
Microsoft quietly added a disclaimer on their MCP page that the Microsoft
Certified Professional must have taken a current (non-discontinued) exam to
remain an MCP. So it is possible to be an MCSE on NT 4 or an MCSD on Visual
Studio 6 and NOT also be an MCP. They may do the same thing, eventually,
with the MCDST, but hopefully by then you will have taken more exams and it
will not matter anyway. I wouldn't even begin to start worrying about MCSDT
being retired until they release the exams that will be replacing 70-271 and
70-272. I would be very surprised and I don't foresee any exams being
discontinued prior to June 30, 2008.
--
Larry J. West, MCSD, MOUS, FLMI, ACS


"d20_9999" wrote:

> Is this a lifetime certification, or will I have to retest after a certain
> period of time? If so, how long?