12/17/2003 -- Microsoft's soon-to-debut Microsoft Certified Desktop Service Technician (MCDST) is a welcome addition to the company's portfolio of certification offerings. Although the certification's two new exams (70-271 and 70-272) have yet to go live, from looking at the announced objectives, these exams broadly include much of the skills needed to provide desktop support. Since Microsoft pretty much owns the desktop today, a certification that covers the supporting the Windows XP operating system, Internet Explorer and the Office suite goes a long way to covering much of the information that someone in an entry level role today needs to know.

However, for a certification that is intended to "get you started in your IT career by ensuring that you have the skills to successfully troubleshoot desktop environments," I can't help feeling that a great opportunity has been lost here. These exams simply don't appear to go far enough in their coverage of basic PC hardware. (For those of you who have been reading this column for a while, you know I have commented in the past that this is also a flaw of the MCSE compared against the CNE program, where Novell want to ensure a good level of hardware knowledge in their program).

Now, the Computing Technology Industry Association's (CompTIA's) entry-level A+ certification covers a similar area, with a separate hardware exam plus an exam on supporting Windows. For those in the early stages of their IT career, I have often recommended the A+ plus an MCP exam in the most recent desktop OS. While from software point of view, it seems that the MCDST covers a more appropriate range of subjects than a desktop OS exam, this exactly what makes the lack of hardware knowledge expected a concern. Although I would love to recommend only the MCDST in the future, the lack of emphasis on hardware troubleshooting basics prevents me from doing so.

Ideally, the best thing that could happen for all would be the inclusion of the A+ hardware exam in the MCDST program. And that might still happen. While it would have been great for this to be announced from day one -- and would stop the complaints if the additional exam was added later -- however, Microsoft has already started to include CompTIA exams in their programs, so there is no reason why this couldn't be done in the future. Similarly, one could envisage in the future that CompTIA may want to think about accepting this new supporting Windows exam from Microsoft as a substitute for their Windows OS support exam.

While the MCDST looks good, until there's more hardware in the MCDST or more integration between MCDST and A+, I believe A+ will continue to play a vital role for technicians at this stage in their career. Microsoft did well, but I wish they had hit a home run with this new title.

What's your take on the MCDST? Let me know by posting your comments below.