The quality of training is determined most by the quality of your trainer, the MCT. Our MCTs are passionate about technology and we know that with more resources they will dig deeper into the technologies and as a result offer even better training. That is why we will be providing our MCTs with more tools in the next few months.

Good news never gets old, and if it does forgive me, I just want to make sure you did not miss this. Microsoft Certified Trainers, if you have not heard about our new benefits and renewal timelines, read on!

The new MCT Program will start in April and this year we will be opening 'Renewal' one month early, i.e. March 1st and you can renew until the end of April. This will give you an additional month to renew, the new program year will start in April, renewing in March will give you a full year in the program (April 1st 2009 - March 31st 2010).

You may have heard of the new MCT Benefits which focus on getting you the basic tools MCTs need: a FREE TechNet Plus Direct subscription will be provided to all MCTs that renew! TechNet is such a fantastic 'content treasure chest' with its technical libraries, TechNet magazine and access to over 70 Microsoft products and betas (no more downloading betas from BitTorrent, get the real deal!) and of course there are the newsgroups and 'concierge' offering you support 24/7. 

Another benefit that we feel may not have the attention it should have is the discount on what we call 'e-ref'. Microsoft Press has over 600 titles available online (e-reference) and more titles are added all the time. Retailing at 250USD, MCTs will get a 60% discount in the new program year.

Meanwhile, I'm still enjoying the fantastic performance of Windows 7 and discovering new stuff all the time, get the beta and check out www.microsoft.com/springboard!