I have recently completed a set of exams [CRM 2011 and .Net 4.0] and almost thrice a week I check if new exams are released on CRM 2011, especially Extending Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 as this one is very important for CRM/xRM developers out there.
And good news is this exam is already out. Surprisingly the release date is 29th December 2011, I mean how many of us would have thought of checking released exams during the holiday season?

Anyways I am glad it is finally here and I intend to give it a shot ASAP. If you are looking for more information about the exam then follow this link.

http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/Exam.aspx?ID=MB2-876

Today Microsoft announced an increase in for various Microsoft Certifications.

This is what the official announcement has to say:

Effective July 1, 2011, the retail price of Microsoft Certifications will increase worldwide.* This change reflects the significant value that our certifications provide to our customers and our continual investment in new and enhanced Microsoft Certifications and other program improvements.

Microsoft recognizes the increased pressures on students and academic institutions during these challenging economic times. Although some of the prices for Microsoft Certification exams for students and academic institutions will increase, the discount will remain significant. Microsoft is dedicated to helping students become more employable for entry jobs in the IT industry. IT Academy members, high school, college, or university students enrolled in a degree or diploma program will continue to receive a discount off the retail price of select Microsoft Certification exams.

Exam prices can vary by country or region. See the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) information below for more information regarding this change.

Use our pricing tool to determine your current and future Microsoft Certification exam prices. (requires Microsoft Silverlight)[This is pathetic, they are trying so hard to push silverlight :|]

Note Microsoft Learning does not anticipate that this price increase will impact Microsoft Certified Master (MCM), Microsoft Certified Architect (MCA), Microsoft Technology Associate (MTA), and Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) Certification exams.

*Price change will be effective in India on August 1, 2011.

The prices in India are going to be USD 80 compared to the old price USD 50, this is 60% increase in the fees. So rush and take advantage of the low prices before 1st August 2011.

You can find the official announcement at : http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/certification/cert-pricing-FAQ.aspx

If you have been waiting for CRM 2011 certifications to come out then here is the first one.This certification exam measures your ability to understand and articulate how to customize and configure Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 including configuring a Microsoft Dynamics CRM organizational structure, managing users & teams and security, customizing attributes and entities, customizing relationships and mappings, configuring auditing, managing forms & views and charts, and implementing a Microsoft Dynamics CRM solution.

Exam Topics Covered

• The following list includes the topic areas covered on this exam.
• Configuring a Microsoft Dynamics CRM Organizational Structure
• Managing Users & Teams and Security
• Customizing Attributes and Entities
• Customizing Relationships and Mappings
• Configuring Auditing
• Managing Forms, Views, and Charts
• Implementing a Microsoft Dynamics CRM Solution

For more information visit : http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/exam.aspx?ID=MB2-866

This book is a gift from the Windows Phone 7 team at Microsoft to the programming community, and I am proud to have been a part of it. Within the pages that follow, I show you the basics of writing applications for Windows Phone 7 using the C# programming language with the Silverlight and XNA 2D frameworks. For more information, check out this page : http://blogs.msdn.com/b/microsoft_press/archive/2010/10/28/free-ebook-programming-windows-phone-7-by-charles-petzold.aspx

You can download a PDF here (12.5 MB).

You can download an XPS here (26.7 MB).

And you can download the ebook’s sample code here (5.03 MB).

Microsoft Press has been providing free ebooks on regular interval and this very handy book has come out as a gift to the developers who are moving to Visual Studio 2010.

Here are the links for the book and related code download
 

You can download a PDF of the book here.

You can download an XPS of the book here.

And you can download the book’s sample code here.

So Here comes one more product based on SilverLight, the following is taken from the official LightSwitch site : http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/en-us/lightswitch. The free, public beta will be available starting August 23rd. I am eager to get my hands on this one. I've some interesting things to try with this one. Will keep you guys posted here.

Microsoft Visual Studio LightSwitch Beta helps you solve specific business needs by enabling you to quickly create professional-quality business applications, regardless of your development skills. LightSwitch is a new addition to the Visual Studio family. Visit this page often to learn more about this exciting product.

QUICKLY CREATE PROFESSIONAL-QUALITY BUSINESS APPLICATIONS

With LightSwitch, you can build custom applications that rival off-the-shelf solutions. Get a head start by using pre-configured screen templates that give your application a familiar look and feel. LightSwitch also provides prewritten code and other reusable components to handle routine application tasks, along with helpful step-by-step guidance. However, if you need to write custom code, you can use Visual Basic .NET or C#. You can deploy to the desktop, browser, or cloud (post-Beta) to share your application with others more easily without the cumbersome installation processes.
 

EASILY ACCESS EXISTING SYSTEMS AND DATA

Applications created with LightSwitch support exporting data to Microsoft Office Excel for fast and easy sharing and reporting. You can also attach your application to existing data sources, which makes it easy to collect, analyze, and reuse information from a variety of data sources including Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft SQL Azure, SharePoint, Microsoft Office Access (post-Beta), and other third-party data sources.

BUILD FOR TODAY, PREPARE FOR TOMORROW

With LightSwitch you can create custom applications for the way you do business. Keep your technology and business options open, while building a practical yet scalable application that matches your current needs now and in the future. The pre-built templates and components in LightSwitch are fully extensible, so you can get the specific functionality your application demands. In addition, your application can grow to meet the increasing demands of popular applications using the Microsoft Windows Azure Cloud Hosting option.

In this article, Madhivanan of SqlServerCurry.com demonstrates how you can find the most time consuming code on your SQL Box. I hope you can put it to a good use, as the article says not every time consuming code is inefficient but it won't kill you to cross check those joins right?

Ever tried designing a WPF form? I have and it was no fun when I started. After a while I figured out what my development style is and how I want a particular design in place. After that it all became easy but before that I had to struggle a lot. Anyways, I stumbled upon this nice article that explains Layout designing in detail. I hope it will be useful to you as well.

Check out this blog entry by Somasegar on new Visual Studip Process Template which can be very useful for Dev teams employing Scrum model.

FYI the Update Rollup 12 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 is available for download at : http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2028381.