2/7/2002 -- The Microsoft Office User Specialist certification program announced last month that it has granted its 500,000th certification.

"We are pleased with the popularity of the MOUS program as a means of measuring worker proficiency," said Barbara Decker, training and certification product manager, Microsoft, regarding the milestone.

The MOUS program, designed to certify users and support personnel in Microsoft Office programs, began in 1997. Certiport, the organization that manages the program for Microsoft, told CertCities that it issued that milestone certification to a test taker in Japan in January.

According to Certiport, the program issues more than 20,000 certificates each month. About 20 percent of those certified are IT professionals, the company told us.

For more information on MOUS, visit http://www.microsoft.com/mous/. -B.N