Not with a bang but a whimper

I think an era is ending. (In one era out the other? Ho, ho very satirical.) In the same week:

1. Microsoft has released its "five years in development", "all hail to the chief" Vista - the new wonder version of Windows - to widespread indifference.
2. I've let my company's Microsoft Certified Partner certification lapse from today because the rigmarole that you have to go through to demonstrate that your organisation is qualified for one or more of the labyrinthine, utterly impractical "areas of specialisation" that they have invented is just not worth the aggravation.

We were doing intranets on Windows NT using Edinburgh University's EMWACS software before Microsoft even had a web server. If Microsoft had had this type of half cocked specialisation system in those days we wouldn't have been able to qualify at all because we were ahead of the curve. We could qualify against one of the fantasy categories now because we have so much experience under our belts, but it is fairly telling that I can't be bothered.

It is as if Redmond has been taken over by New Labour. Include me out!