11/2/2012 -- It seems as if anyone wanting to run for political office in my home state has to go out of their way to portray themselves as a country bumpkin. No one can make a political ad wearing a suit, but they can't make enough of them driving their pickup trucks with their 1950s "Roadmap to Success" unfolded across the front seat.

In the spirit of that genre, here is a list of more exams than you can shake a stick at that Microsoft has slated for retirement on July 31, 2013: 

For more information on retiring exams, go here.

CompTIA CDIA+ Beta
CompTIA launched the latest CDIA+ beta (Certified Document Imaging Architect) on Oct. 16 and it is available only to the first 400 before it will be taken offline for refinement before going live. It is intended for digital information imaging/management solutions professionals with at least 24 months of experience. It is only available at VUE testing centers and there is no charge for the beta, but pass/fail results will not be available until the new exam launches (summer 2013).

If you are interested, use the promo code CDIAENG for the English version, CDIAJP for the Japanese version (when registering only available in Japan). More information on the certification itself can be found here.

Technology Book of the Week: 'A Practical Guide to Linux, 3E'
If Linux administration is a part of your vocation, then you'll appreciated the newly updated third edition of A Practical Guide to Linux Command, Editors, and Shell Programming by Mark G. Sobell. With over 1,100 pages of useful information, the new edition includes coverage of topics missing from the previous, including a chapter on MySQL database management, OpenSSH secure communications utilities, and Python. Several new command-line utilities are now discussed and the bash chapter is the best of any I've read.

Much more of a reference than a number of other titles out there, this isn't the kind of book you'll take with you to read on the train. It is, however, the first one you will reach for when there is a problem with a script file and it is complete enough that it will be the only one you need to find the solution to the problem.