Dear Blog,

Lately I've noticed a lot of people (no names, you know who you are) who are Microsoft Technologists writing articles, blogging, emailing, and suffixing their names like "Joe Blow - MCAD, MCSD, MCDBA, MCT, MCSE."  Is this really necessary?  Is it really informative?  Isn't it like "Joe Blow - I know my shit so step lively!"  Is it better to see all these certifications or would you rather see "Joe Blow - BS CS, MS CS, MBA, 1400 SATs, 158 IQ."  I have a great friend in Boston who's team is arguably the most certified on the planet.  It became a game for them.  For a while in 2000, one of his guys had passed every test MS offered. Sure, I'm MS Certified up the wazoo, who isn't?  Is/are certification(s) going to ship my product on time?  Will my product, written by an MCSD, scale to 20,000 concurrent users?  Is my SQL Server database, written by a MCDBA, indexed appropriately?  Certifications aside people...ship software.  Shrinkwrap it and sell it.  Run successful projects and deliver on time and under budget.  Enjoy your work and teach others.

Signed,
Scott Hanselman, MC*.*

This is insane and scary. Mike worked on the same Intel campus I did. There's no proof he's done anything. He gave a few thousand dollars to charity, many years ago. He's a US citizen who's been taken from his family with no due process. [KeithBa's Blog]

Yes, this is getting very disturbing.  I'm only one degree of separation from Mike, and I think about these things from an INS point of view as my wife isn't a U.S. Citizen yet, and may choose not to become one.  It's reminding me of The Seige, a medicore but disturbing movie where Arab-Americans are quarantined like the Japanese were in 1942.  This also makes me wonder if there's some unspoken rule of law that U.S. Citizens by Naturalization are somehow less protected than Citizens by Birth.  Know Your Rights.