stated by kilowatt
it cost me $299 to get the certification study guide from apple. The guide comes on 1 cdrom, and is written in html.
I think you need to ask for your money back if you were that unhappy with the product. The
guide, which does come on one CD-ROM and is written in HTML, is trivial for someone experienced with Macintoshes in general. The other 7 CD-ROMs more than made up for the first for me.
An example of their value (again, for me) came up when I was asked by a client to repair a PowerBook 3400c/240. I've never owned a 3400, I had never
taken a part a 3400, and without the product manual (in PDF form on the
second CD-ROM) I would have had some problems taking a part and locating the problem with that system. Within an hour I had a completely dead PowerBook up and running again.
kilowatt displaying his famous temperament
Its utterly stupid too. There are many 404 errors within it. The macosx parts have been added basically as an afterthought.
If you had gotten your copy before Apple retired the TIL, yes, you most assuredly got a ton of 404 errors... or if you try doing thinks while not connected to the internet. And it didn't cover much of System 6 or 7, or A/UX, or Mac OS X Server 1.x, or AppleShare IP 5.x and 6.x as I recall. All subjects that I find to be very important on a daily bases. The program (like
Press3's) is designed to show a minimum competence in the materials. The difference is that Apple supplies you with the materials and
Press3 doesn't.
I am not suggesting that
Press3 provide those materials (which would increase the cost), just that they provide at least some direction on where they can be found. Also most certification programs help to make you competent in the information covered. It sounds more and more like
Press3 is only a test for those who know what is already on it. And to find that out you must pay the initial fee. This means that this program is for the elite and not someone like Wedge who is starting out.
Apple's solutions aren't allways the best either. For example, they recomend using sherlock to look at invisable files. Why not make them visable, mess with them, and then make them invisable? Stuff like that.
Like I said, Apple's program is trying to bring the average user up to the point of meeting their minimum standards for a service tech. That seems fair enough, and I realized that when I first saw the training CD. Funny how that concept seems to be so far beyond your ability to comprehend it.
Press3 certification is based off experiance as I understand it. And any experianced macintosh user knows to use Visability or ResEdit to view and edit invisable files. Not *sherlock*
Which is why it is not the best choice for someone who is looking to get started. If they want to make it such a choice, then they should help them learn what they need to know. Even the average experienced user doesn't have complete experience with all of Apple's products that they should to honestly do tech support.
Besides, is there any documentation that can make up for lack of experience?
Yes. even after more than ten years experience, I know that I have not seen or worked with every Apple product I may come across. The PowerBook 3400 was a good example were documentation off set my lack of experience with that product. If anything I would say that Apple doesn't provide enough documentation (weren't you complaining about that earlier with the Mac OS X part of the training guide?), but they do teach you where to find a lot of it.
kilowatt weighs in on another subject
1) It doesn't make her posts 'pointlessly subjective'. It simply puts them into a different perspective. Certainly not pointless in any way. If I was married (not untill I'm 30!!!), and I had a business or something, I would value the opinion of my spouce. And I think my customers would too.
Trust me when I say this, not every spouce has completely kind words to say about their partner.
With an attitude like that last statement, I would guess
not even when you are 30.
Mindy presented herself as an average member in her statements, and not as someone with as much of a vested interest in
Press3 as Admin. That does render her
we statements questionable at best. And her statements of having read the documentation of
Press3's site in passing deceptive at the least. Both of which hurt the credibility of both her and Admin, and
Press3. As Admin's wife she should have represented herself as an agent of the
Press3 organization in stead of the hapless bystander.
And of course she is not going to find Admin to be an
evil guy, and would do anything to support him publicly. Though in the context of this thread I find her statements disappointing... I would also judge her to be a loving and devoted wife.
2) Mindy's point about RacerX's avitar is completely relevant - In a discussion about scams and whatnot, questioning credibility is going to come up, and for good reasons.
And so it should. This is, in the end, a question about the credibility of the people involved. And lets look at some of them a little closer for kilowatt's benefit, shall we.
RacerX (me ): I have through out this made no false or misleading statements. I have ask the questions that I honestly have and am waiting responses. I do not work for Apple Computer, I do not work for Press3 (if you haven't guessed already), and I do not work for a Press3 competitor. My personal involvement in this started with Admin deleting my posts on the subject. My continued thorn in Admin's side status is based on actions he took against friends of mine (acts against my friends I shall always take personally). The fact that I continue to make constructive suggestions is based on the spirit of the original deleted thread by Jadey and my original post there (actually, I couldn't care less if Press3 fails at this point or not).
Jadey: Jadey's original thread was actually designed to rally support for Press3 and to make helpful suggestions that would answer the questions raised by the critics. Admin deleted her thread. Admin deleted her thread asking what happened to the first thread. Admin deleted the thread questioning censorship of topics on these boards. Admin threaten her.
Admin: As pointed out, Admin did a lot of deleting, but the reasons he has given (I suggest that they may sound strangely like this quote: I challenge anyone to go to Apple's forums to post a thread "Bad Press About Apple Certifications" and then proceed to link to various message board posts around the net on people who think Apple's Certifications are a joke. See how long that thread lasts.) are not actually good ones for an open forum as he had presented MacOSX.com to be. It should be noted that Press3 was using MacOSX.com member's for technical support. Admin also threaten Jadey, banned at least Sithious (if not others) and started a draconian censorship program that was only ended under duress. My questions have always been why the emotionally charge actions needed to take place in the first place. Because nothing that had happen up to the point of Admin deleting Jadey's first thread could have provided reason to the actions taken by Admin, therefore there must be some other aspect of Press3 that Admin feels the need to hide. (note: Apple's boards are by definition not an open public forum, and are for discussing support issues only)
Mindy: Admins loving wife, and more than an innocent bystander. If their relationship is as strong as mine is with my wife, I would take her feelings as being both her's and Admin's (I would hope they would have a united front). That would also explain the strong negative feeling from her (when we had never had any other encounters before this).
Sithious: Always one to defend a friend in need and to stand up for what he believes in... no matter what the cost.
Kilowatt: Comic relief.
That should put most of our respective credibilities into some perspective (avatars aside).
